National Poetry Month has been called the “largest literary celebration in the world,” but some people just call it April. As this year’s NaPoMo winds …
Category: Physician stories
Day 2: “We have heard tales of miraculous survival” following Nepal earthquake
Paul Auerbach is in Nepal to aid victims of the recent earthquake and has been sending periodic reports. Today in Kathmandu was quite different from yesterday. The …
Day 1: Arriving in Nepal to aid earthquake victims
Under the auspices of International Medical Corps, I’ve just joined a team that will be growing to help meet the needs of Nepal following the …
Physician-author Abraham Verghese encourages journalists to tell the powerful stories of medicine
Stanford's Abraham Verghese, MD, greeted hundreds of journalists at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2015 conference last evening with a talk centered on the power of …
A lesson in voice and anatomy from an opera singer
This past Thursday, I watched an opera singer's throat as he sung. Not the bulging Adam's apple above his shirt collar, but the shiny lumps and …
A “grand romp through medicine and metaphor” with Abraham Verghese
For Stanford physician and author Abraham Verghese, MD, the language of medicine is as equally important as the skills used in diagnosing and treating patients. …
“Cancer will always be in our midst:” A conversation with physician-writer Siddhartha Mukherjee
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 …
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.” …