Tonight PBS television airs its new documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. The six-hour feature (shown over three nights) is an in-depth look at …
Category: Physician stories
After work, a Stanford surgeon brings stones to life
Classrooms, research, grant writing, faculty meetings... It can be easy to forget that professors have a life outside of the classroom, perhaps with surprising hobbies …
Stanford neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, who touched countless lives with his writing, dies at 37
Neurosurgeon and writer Paul Kalanithi, MD, passed away on Monday. A death is almost always sad, but for me this one is indescribably so - though if he were alive he …
Stanford neurosurgeon/cancer patient Paul Kalanithi: “I can’t go on. I will go on.”
This 1:2:1 podcast features Paul Kalanithi, MD, a Stanford physician and author who was dying of lung cancer.
This 1:2:1 podcast features Paul Kalanithi, MD, a Stanford physician and author who was dying of lung cancer.
Author-physician Atul Gawande on dying and end-of-life care
When Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, witnessed the untimely and inevitable passing of patients, friends and his father, the shortcomings of our medical system’s approach to …
Abraham Verghese: “A saintliness in so many of my patients”
There's a quiet dignity that envelopes Abraham Verghese, MD. You can imagine other authors whose books have scaled to the top to be taken with themselves, …
A conversation with John Ioannidis, “the superhero poised to save” medical research
I always relish a good Q&A. As a writer, I know how hard it is to craft questions that elicit insights into a person — …
For this doctor couple, the Super Bowl was about way more than football
Earlier this month, football fans across the world watched as the New England Patriots shocked the Seattle Seahawks with a very dramatic last-minute win. While …
Helping those in academic medicine to both “work and live well”
One of the perks of working for a university is that I get, like a regular ol' student, a nice long winter break. I was off work …
Program for residents reflects “massive change” in surgeon mentality
“The old-school surgeon mentality is that surgery is your life. The very existence of the program is an acknowledgment that a cultural shift is occurring.” …
Stanford neurobiologist Bill Newsome: Seeking gains for the brain
Bill Newsome, PhD, knows the brain perhaps as well as the back of his hand. The Stanford neurobiologist was vice chair of the federal BRAIN Initiative launched …
A neurosurgeon’s journey from doctor to cancer patient
Earlier this week, I had the chance to hear Stanford neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, MD, discuss living with advanced-stage lung cancer in a conversation with palliative …
"Stop skipping dessert:" A Stanford neurosurgeon and cancer patient discusses facing terminal illness
Updated 3-11-15: Paul Kalanithi passed away on March 9. *** Updated 10-23-14: Paul Kalanithi spoke about this topic on campus earlier this week; more on the event, …
For group of Stanford doctors, writing helps them "make sense" of their experiences
At a Stanford Pegasus Physician Writers Forum last week, psychiatrist Shaili Jain, MD, told the 40-or-so attendees that writing and practicing medicine are synergistic. Medicine and motherhood: …
New surgeons take time out for mental health
I spent a recent morning watching about 30 Stanford surgical residents take time off from their operating rooms to participate in a series of team-building …
Abraham Verghese discusses stealing metaphors and the language of medicine at TEDMED
Few of us pay close attention to metaphors used in the language of medicine. Instead, our focus is typically on words relating to symptoms, test …