Abraham Verghese
| Abraham Verghese | |
|---|---|
Verghese in 2011
|
|
| Born |
May 30, 1955 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Occupation | Professor of medicine, author of three best-selling books |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Madras Medical College, Madras, now Chennai |
| Period | 1980 to present |
| Genre | medical book, autobiography, novel |
| Notable works | My Own Country, The Tennis Partner, Cutting for Stone |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Abraham Verghese (born 1955) is a physician-author, Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School and Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He is also the author of three best-selling books, two memoirs and a novel. In 2011, he was elected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine.
He was born in Ethiopia to parents from Kerala, India, who worked as teachers. In 2009, Knopf published his new book and first novel, Cutting for Stone. in 2010, Random House published the paperback version of the book and since that time, it has risen steadily up the bestseller charts, ranking #2 on the New York Times trade paperback fiction list on March 13, 2011. It has been on the New York Times list for well over two years.
Verghese began his medical training in Ethiopia, but his education was interrupted during the civil unrest there when the Emperor was deposed and a Marxist military government took over. He came to America with his parents and two brothers (his elder brother George Verghese is an engineering professor at MIT). Verghese worked as an orderly for a year before going to India where he completed his medical studies at Madras Medical College in Madras, now Chennai. In his written work, he refers to his time working as an orderly in a hospital in America as deeply influential in confirming his desire to finish his medical training; the experience had given him a deep understanding of the patient's hospital situation with its varying levels of treatment and care. He has said the insights he gained from this work helped him become a more empathic physician and resulted in the motto, "Imagining the Patient's Experience", that defined his later work at the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics in San Antonio, Texas, which he directed for five years from 2002 to 2007.
...
Wikipedia