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Lynette Charity's grit, grief, and gratitude will have readers rooting for this timeless memoir about growing up in the early ‘60s South and overcoming all the odds against her to become a doctor in a time when the idea of a Black woman physician was practically unheard of.At nine years old, Lynette Charity looked on, frozen in place, as her father hit her mother so hard that she flipped over their front porch railing and fell into the hedges below. That night, young Lynette hatched a plan: she would escape this life, no matter what it took. And a month later, after watching the first episode of a new show called Ben Casey, she decided that becoming a doctor was her way out. At some point, Lynette noticed that all the real doctors and nurses who took care of her were Black and all the make-believe doctors and nurses on TV were white. Did it make a difference? Not to her. Over the next decade-plus, she focused on her studies. At a time when segregation was still alive and well in Virginia, she forged her mother's signature on transfer papers so she could go to a better-resourced white school on the other side of town. Upon finishing high school, she got a full ride to Pittsburgh's Chatham College. And after graduating Chatham with honors, she became a member of Tufts University School of Medicine's Class of 1978, one of seven Black women in her class. Raw, candid, and inspiring, Escape Plan is the remarkable story of how, through perseverance and single-minded determination, a Black girl from the 1960s South faced down adversity, exceeded everyone's expectations, and fulfilled her dreams.

“A forthright, poignant, and heartwarming account of a storied and beloved career in nursing.” – Kirkus Reviews “...a powerful memoir that holds the uncommon ability to transcend personal experience alone…” – Midwest Book ReviewA Splendid Gift: Celebrating 60 Years in Nursing tells the story of Barbara Elle Prisceaux, who turned a childhood dream into an extraordinary career. As a young girl in Yonkers, New York, Barbara was drawn to the nurses walking from their residence at the end of her block to the hospital several streets away. She decided then and there that she would become a nurse too by age fifteen, when her family was living in West Lawn Pennsylvania, she accepted a part-time nurse's aide position at St. Joseph's Hospital in Reading, and she bused twenty miles each way after school, and sometimes, on weekends. At eighteen, she was accepted into the School of Nursing at Bellevue Hospital, Class of 1962. Including two enlistments in the Army Nurse Corps Reserves, Barbara spent most of her career on the West Coast. In 2003, she moved from California to Central Florida and changed her patient care focus from Emergency and Critical Care to Oncology Nursing. Combining her nursing career with her love of writing, Barbara developed and coordinated educational programs in Critical Care; designed legal defense protocols for Renal Transplant litigations; cofounded Paper Chasers Medical-Legal Consultations; edited documents for Northern California District Attorneys Association, and as an Oncology Certified Nurse in Florida, specialized in clinical research and advocacy for oncology patients and their families. Throughout her six-decade career, Barbara met challenge after challenge head-on, from ever-changing technology to hospital politics. When she retired at the age of seventy-seven, she was working two 12-hour shifts each week, providing hands-on care to patients in a medical center eighty miles from her home.

Marcello Costa is a Neuroscientist retired in 2022 as Matthew Flinders Distinguished Emeritus Professor after 47 years of teaching and research at the School of Medicine of Flinders University in South Australia.He published his first paper in Neuro-gastroenterology in 1965 while still a medical student at the University of Turin, Italy. He pioneered many methods to investigate the organization and functions of the so-called'little brain in the gut', the Enteric Nervous System. This monograph summarizes his extensive work in collaboration with close to 200 colleagues from different countries.He participated in and organized over 100 scientific meetings. In parallel to his numerous travels for scientific meetings he recounts some of his adventures in the wilderness and his plan to develop a novel broad perspective of the relation between the brain in the external world.

‘Tender, wise, and deeply true.'– Andrew Denton‘Do not be deceived by the size of this book. It is big in all the ways that matter.'– Sydney Morning Herald‘Blazingly beautiful and devastating. I wept but felt less alone as a human. I want everyone to read this book!'– Favel Parrett, author of Past the Shallows and There Was Still LoveThe fox sits on the outer waiting for me to discover him because at the moment, I am on the outer too. He watches me. Can you see him? He's clever at hiding.Just like fox, Heidi has lived on the outer. The ‘official record'of her life has been her mental health record: Primary diagnosis – Schizoaffective; Comorbidity – Major depression, juvenile autism, and not her own memories. This is the living, breathing version of Heidi's mental health file that psych wards, doctors, mental health staff or rehab workers know little about or worse, use as evidence of diagnoses. This is Heidi's account of what happened, shadowed by the story of a fox who knows he'll never belong. Part parable, part memoir, My Friend Fox is a story that might be familiar to some – searching everywhere to finally feel at home. With fox as her guide, Heidi comes to know how to live authentically, and venture into a future of her own making. A literary memoir about the the wonder, the humour, and the realities that exist beyond what is printed in a mental health file. Alongside Heidi's beautifully lyrical words are her exquisite line drawings, making My Friend Fox a book to be read, treasured, and gifted.Praise for My Friend Fox‘a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life.'– Books+Publishing‘My Friend Fox is a beautiful memoir about experiencing diverse mental health. Heidi Everett is generous and gentle in sharing her story in order to demand a better mental health system for all.'– Carly Findlay, author of Say Hello and editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia‘With breathtakingly original prose, Heidi Everett gently guides the reader through the complexities of living with mental illness. Humorous, heartfelt and humane, My Friend Fox is a deeply moving and essential read.'– Fiona Murphy, author of The Shape of Sound‘A raw and harrowing glimpse into life lived on the precipice, My Friend Fox boldly rips the facade from our sanitised perception of mental health treatment. And yet it is also tender and beautiful, with wisps of fable sprouting through the cracks; radiant art hewn from the darkness of the abyss.'– Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt‘If ever there was an authentic voice for survival from mental distress, then this is it. As painful as Heidi Everett's story is, it is told in the most inventive and magical way. Her use of language and imagery is that of poet who constantly surprises and startles. Creativity and imagination are the soul food that nourish Heidi back to sanity. As does her dog Tigger, her inseparable companion with whom she shares her life and struggles. This is a most wonderful book from a most wonderful writer.'– Sandy Jeffs, author of Flying with Paper Wings‘This book is a story of reclamation, resilience and resistance. Heidi reclaims her story from the mental health industry that has defined her based on diagnoses and rewrites it as her own, rich, important experience which holds lessons for us all. My Friend Fox is an evocative and emo

The alumni of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) have made remarkable strides in medicine, academia, public health, and industry. In this they follow in the footsteps of Samuel Bard (1742–1821), a prominent early American physician and a founder of what would become VP&S. In The Caring Heirs of Doctor Samuel Bard, Peter Wortsman offers a selection of profiles of Columbia-educated doctors who have made a fundamental difference in the lives of others.The physicians profiled in this book represent the complete spectrum of MDs. They have charted new fields of medicine, resolved long-standing biochemical mysteries, discovered the causes and cures of diseases, developed vaccines, pioneered surgical procedures, helped halt epidemics, and cared for imperiled populations. Some have run hospitals, medical schools, universities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, city health departments, and major pharmaceutical concerns. Others practiced at the White House, climbed mountains, or flew to outer space. Still others wrote pioneering papers, edited prestigious medical journals, and authored prize-winning books and best-selling novels. In each case, the clinical training, scientific thoroughness, and humanistic values inculcated at Columbia had a formative influence on their thinking and practice. In telling their stories, The Caring Heirs of Doctor Samuel Bard illustrates the importance of clinical rigor and humanistic caring in the practice of medicine and offers readers a rare insight into the heart and soul of American medicine at its best.

'This book is a search for ‘the real Anandibai Joshee'—— a search in which the readers are invited to participate.'In her short and eventful life, Anandibai Joshee, the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree, broke many stereotypes. Literate at a time when it was taboo for a girl to attend school or even ‘pick up a paper', she was courageous, articulate, and assertive. And ambitious. Fuelled by a desire to improve the healthcare that was available to Indian women at that time, she travelled across the seas to the United States to study medicine. Meera Kosambi's biography of Anandibai is more than just a retelling of the life of a woman who was ahead of her times. Drawing on a host of narratives, Kosambi recovers Anandibai's many voices, which have been submerged in history — that of a conflicted feminist, a nationalist, and a reformer, among others — and her engagement with the world at large. This volume is a testament to Meera Kosambi's commitment to social history. When she passed away in 2015, she left an incomplete manuscript that has painstakingly been put together by the editors. Drawing on archival research, including a host of Anandibai's letters, her poems in Marathi, newspaper reports, and rare photographs, this book will be of immense interest to scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, sociology, gender, and South Asian studies.

A remarkable account of the collapse of the Old South and the final years of a young boy's privileged but afflicted life.LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born in 1847 to an affluent slave-holding family in Macon, Georgia. After a horrific leg injury left him an invalid, the educated, inquisitive, perceptive, and exceptionally witty twelve-year-old began keeping a diary in 1860—just as secession and the Civil War began tearing the country and his world apart. He continued to write even as his health deteriorated until both the war and his life ended in 1865. His unique manuscript of the demise of the Old South is published here for the first time in The War Outside My Window.LeRoy read books, devoured newspapers and magazines, listened to gossip, and discussed and debated important social and military issues with his parents and others. He wrote daily for five years, putting pen to paper with a vim and tongue-in-cheek vigor that impresses even now, more than 150 years later. His practical, philosophical, and occasionally Twain-like hilarious observations cover politics and the secession movement, the long and increasingly destructive Civil War, family pets, a wide variety of hobbies and interests, and what life was like at the center of a socially prominent wealthy family in the important Confederate manufacturing center of Macon. The young scribe often voiced concern about the family's pair of plantations outside town, and recorded his interactions and relationships with servants as he pondered the fate of human bondage and his family's declining fortunes.Unbeknownst to LeRoy, he was chronicling his own slow and painful descent toward death in tandem with the demise of the Southern Confederacy. He recorded—often in horrific detail—an increasingly painful and debilitating disease that robbed him of his childhood. The teenager's declining health is a consistent thread coursing through his fascinating journals. “I feel more discouraged [and] less hopeful about getting well than I ever did before,” he wrote on March 17, 1863. “I am weaker and more helpless than I ever was.” Morphine and a score of other “remedies” did little to ease his suffering. Abscesses developed; nagging coughs and pain consumed him. Alternating between bouts of euphoria and despondency, he often wrote, “Saw off my leg.”The War Outside My Window, edited and annotated by Janet Croon with helpful footnotes and a detailed family biographical chart, captures the spirit and the character of a young privileged white teenager witnessing the demise of his world even as his own body slowly failed him. Just as Anne Frank has come down to us as the adolescent voice of World War II, LeRoy Gresham will now be remembered as the young voice of the Civil War South.Winner, 2018, The Douglas Southall Freeman Award

Biography of a Jewish doctor who survived and triumphed over the horrors of the Holocaust. Eli's Story: A Twentieth-Century Jewish Life is first and foremost a biography. Its subject is Eli G. Rochelson, MD (1907–1984), author Meri-Jane Rochelson's father. At its core is Eli's story in his own words, taken from an interview he did with his son, Burt Rochelson, in the mid-1970s. The book tells the story of a man whose life and memory spanned two world wars, several migrations, an educational odyssey, the massive upheaval of the Holocaust, and finally, a frustrating yet ultimately successful effort to restore his professional credentials and identity, as well as reestablish family life. Eli's Story contains a mostly chronological narration that embeds the story in the context of further research. It begins with Eli's earliest memories of childhood in Kovno and ends with his death, his legacy, and the author's own unanswered questions that are as much a part of Eli's story as his own words. The narrative is illuminated and expanded through Eli's personal archive of papers, letters, and photographs, as well as research in institutional archives, libraries, and personal interviews. Rochelson covers Eli's family's relocation to southern Russia; his education, military service, and first marriage after he returned to Kovno; his and his family's experiences in the Dachau, Stutthof, and Auschwitz concentration camps—including the deaths of his wife and child; his postwar experience in the Landsberg Displaced Persons (DP) camp, and his immigration to the United States, where he determinedly restored his medical credentials and started a new family. Rochelson recognizes that both the effort of reconstructing events and the reality of having personal accounts that confirm and also differ from each other in detail, make the process of gap-filling itself a kind of fiction—an attempt to shape the incompleteness that is inherent to the story. In the epilogue, the author reminds readers that the stories of lives don't have clear chronologies. They go off in many directions, and in some ways they never end.An earlier reviewer said of the book,'Eli's Story combines the care of a scholar with the care of a daughter.'Both scholars and general readers interested in Holocaust narratives will be moved by this monograph.

James Henry “Red” Duke Jr., MD, was an icon of twentieth-century medicine, a pioneer and visionary, and a lifelong son of Texas who, far from forgetting his roots, reveled in them. Bryant Boutwell's entertaining and meticulously researched biography of Red Duke, based on years of interviews with Duke and his family, friends, and colleagues as well as painstaking exploration of both public archives and personal papers and effects, not only pays tribute to a great surgeon and his influence but also crafts a detailed and intimate portrait of the man behind the larger-than-life television image. Not only did Duke found the Life Flight air ambulance service that helped place Memorial Hermann Hospital and the Texas Medical Center at the forefront of the nation's trauma units, he also advanced the use of media communications for reaching the public with both common-sense and cutting-edge health information. His famous tagline—“From the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston... I'm Dr. Red Duke”—delivered in the deadpan drawl of a Texan, could be heard in countless homes during the broadcast of the local evening news during the 1980s and 1990s. Beyond these accomplishments, Duke was an Eagle Scout, an ordained minister, a medical missionary, a conservationist, a hunting guide, and a tank commander. Featuring a wealth of previously unpublished images that help to chronicle Duke's life and storied career, I'm Dr. Red Duke opens with a foreword by fellow Houstonian George H. W. Bush, who calls Duke “one of the brightest Points of Light Barbara and I have had the privilege to know.”

An inspirational, powerful, and funny manual for coping and living with devastating pain. For two decades, Karen Duffy —New York Times bestselling author, former MTV VJ, Revlon model, and actress— has managed to live an enriching life despite living in a state of constant pain. Duffy has sarcoidosis, a disorder that causes the growth of inflammatory cells on different organs of the body. In her case, her sarcoidosis is located in her brain, causing her unimaginable pain. In this powerful, inspirational, funny, and important manual for surviving pain, Duffy draws on her experience as a patient advocate, certified recreational therapist, and hospital chaplain to illuminate gratifying methods people can use to cope with chronic pain and reinforces the sentiment that'circumstances determine our lives, but we shape our lives by what we make of circumstances'(Sir John Wheeler Bennet). More than one-third of the US population—nearly 113 million Americans—is currently living with chronic pain, while another 133 million Americans live with some form of chronic illness. Half of the US population lives with the challenges of these invisible illnesses where their symptoms are not always obvious to the casual observer. Addressing a country ravaged by both chronic pain and opioid addiction, Backbone offers a salve of self-sufficiency, spunk, and perseverance. With a light tone, deft wordplay, and interactive gems such as the Bill Murray Pain Scale, Mastectomy Paper Dolls, and a crown to wear just for getting out of bed, Duffy's serious—and seriously funny—book is for the massive population living with chronic pain who are eager to be understood and helped, and sends the message that despite the pain, there is a way to a good life.

Brutally dragged 780 metres beneath a taxi, a young woman's inspiring story of survival, courage, and the will to live. 13 September 2011. The story would shock thousands and be remembered by many for years to come. It would be plastered all over the papers and continue to attract interest well after the shock factor of what happened had passed. Reports and articles would be written, and'facts', as given to reporters by some of those involved and willing to be interviewed, would be recounted and repeated in all forms of public media over the months and even years that followed. And although these versions would generate widespread outrage, none was entirely accurate. The stories were about me. I was there. I am Kim McCusker,'the girl who was dragged by a taxi'. This, as I experienced it, is the true version of events.

National Book Award Finalist: The “amazing” New York Times bestseller about the power of laughter and optimism in fighting serious illness (Chicago Sun-Times). Norman Cousins's iconic firsthand account of victory against terminal disease, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient inspired a revolution, encouraging patients to take charge of their own treatment. A political journalist and activist, Cousins was also a professor of medical humanities at UCLA, where he studied the biochemistry of human emotions and their relationship to healing. When Cousins was hospitalized with a debilitating collagen illness, he decided to take his health into his own hands. Cousins and his doctor combated the disease together by creating a regimen of laughter and vitamin C specifically calibrated to his needs. Against all odds, the treatment worked, proving to Cousins that a positive attitude was key to his improvement. Years later, Cousins set pen to paper to tell the story of his recovery. In this humorous and insightful account, Cousins analyzes his own journey in relation to holistic medicine and discusses the astounding power of mind over body. The result is an inspirational and educational guide to health that continues to offer hope to many. This ebook features an extended biography of Norman Cousins by his daughter, Sarah Cousins Shapiro.

At the end of the Second World War, Britain had the highest incidence of lung cancer in the world. For the first time lung cancer deaths exceeded those from tuberculosis - and no one knew why. On 30 September 1950, a young physician named Richard Doll concluded in a research paper that smoking cigarettes was'a cause and an important cause'of the rapidly increasing epidemic of lung cancer. His historic and contentious finding marked the beginning of a life-long crusade against premature death and the forces of'Big Tobacco'. Born in 1912, Doll, a natural patrician, jettisoned his Establishment background and joined the Communist Party as a reaction to the'anarchy and waste'of capitalism in the 1930s. He treated the blistered feet of the Jarrow Marchers, served as a medical officer at the retreat to Dunkirk, and became a true hero of the NHS. A political revolutionary and an epidemiologist with a Darwinian heart-of-stone, Doll fulfilled his early ambition to be'a valuable member of society'. Doll steered a course through a minefield of medical and political controversy. Opponents from the tobacco industry questioned his science, while later critics from the environmental lobby attacked his alleged connections to the chemical industry. An enigmatic individual, Doll was feared and respected throughout a long and wide-ranging scientific career which ended only with his death in 2005. In this authorised and groundbreaking biography, Conrad Keating reveals a man whose life and work encapsulates much of the twentieth century. Described by the British Medical Journal as'perhaps Britain s most eminent doctor', Doll ushered in a new era in medicine: the intellectual ascendancy of medical statistics. According to the Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse, his work, which may have prevented tens of millions of deaths,'transcends the boundaries of professional medicine into the global community of mankind.''A well-crafted biography of Doll, [who] single-handedly saved millions of lives with his findings.'- New Scientist'As this fascinating and fair-minded biography makes clear, while Doll's political instincts were radical, he was nevertheless a conservative scientist, always cautious in causal inference... Impressive and engaging.'- International Journal of Epidemiology

On a September day in 1877, hundreds of Sioux and soldiers at Camp Robinson crowded around a fatally injured Lakota leader. A young doctor forced his way through the crowd, only to see the victim fading before him. It was the famed Crazy Horse. From intense moments like this to encounters with such legendary western figures as Calamity Jane and Red Cloud, Valentine Trant O'Connell McGillycuddy's life (1849–1939) encapsulated key events in American history that changed the lives of Native people forever. In Valentine T. McGillycuddy: Army Surgeon, Agent to the Sioux, the first biography of the man in seventy years, award-winning author Candy Moulton explores McGillycuddy's fascinating experiences on the northern plains as topographer, cartographer, physician, and Indian agent.Drawing on family papers, interviews, government documents, and a host of other sources, Moulton presents a colorful character—a thin, blue-eyed, cultured physician who could outdrink trail-hardened soldiers. In fresh, vivid prose, she traces McGillycuddy's work mapping out the U.S.-Canadian border; treating the wounded from the battles of the Rosebud, the Little Bighorn, and Slim Buttes; tending to Crazy Horse during his final hours; and serving as agent to the Sioux at Pine Ridge, where he clashed with Chief Red Cloud over the government's assimilation policies. Along the way, Moulton weaves in the perspective of McGillycuddy's devoted first wife, Fanny, who followed her husband west and wrote of the realities of camp life.McGillycuddy's doctoring of Crazy Horse marked only one point of his interaction with American Indians. But those relationships were also just one aspect of his life in the West, which extended well into the twentieth century. Enhanced by more than 20 photographs, this long-overdue biography offers general readers and historians an engaging adventure story as well as insight into a period of tumultuous change.

Can older racists change their tune, or will they haunt us further once they're gone? Rich in mystery and life's lessons, God's Waiting Room considers what matters in the end for older white adults and the younger Black nurses who care for them. An innovation in creative nonfiction, Casey Golomski's story of his years of immersive research at a nursing home in South Africa, thirty years after the end of apartheid, is narrated as a one-day, room-by-room tour. The story is told in breathtakingly intimate and witty conversations with the home's residents and nurses, including the untold story of Nelson Mandela's Robben Island prison nurse, and readers learn how ageism, sexism, and racism intersect and impact health care both in South Africa and in the United States, as well as create conditions in which people primed to be enemies find grace despite the odds. For copyright reasons, this edition is not available in the South African Development Community and Kenya.

Get the Summary of Anthony Fauci's On Call in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Dr. Anthony Fauci recounts his pivotal role in battling COVID-19, AIDS, and other global health crises in his memoir On Call (2024). Fauci chronicles his life and career from his birth to his retirement in 2022. His tenure under multiple presidents highlighted his commitment to public health. His retirement concluded a nearly 60-year career dedicated to combating infectious diseases and advancing medical research...

The inspiring life story of Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor: breaking political ground, navigating patriarchal tradition, and persevering through great personal loss Marking a milestone for women in state government, Marlene M. Johnson became Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor under Rudy Perpich's gubernatorial administration in January 1983. That same year, she met her husband, Peter, and their deeply loving relationship profoundly sustained her for twenty-seven years. Rise to the Challenge weaves these personal and professional stories together in a courageous portrait of dedication and leadership. Growing up in rural Minnesota, Johnson began organizing and advocating for change early, beginning with a campaign to introduce foreign languages into her high school curriculum. Pursuing a deeply felt commitment to improving the lives of others, she continued to sharpen her leadership skills throughout her life, participating in activist work in college, cofounding organizations to support women entrepreneurs and politicians, and eventually running an international education nonprofit. A stalwart supporter, her husband gave Marlene strength and encouragement to face the challenges of the political landscape and its gender biases. Then, in 2010, he suffered a traumatic brain injury that would change both of their lives. Learning how to be a medical advocate and, eventually, facing the sorrow of Peter's death, Marlene relied on the hard-fought resilience and belief in herself that Peter had helped her to develop. A story of learning and leadership in politics, business, and public service, Rise to the Challenge is a moving portrayal of spirit, perseverance, and grace in the face of daunting personal challenges, supported by unwavering faith in the public good.

A memoir of the Russian occupation of Ukraine in the 1930s and the mass deportation of Poles from the region.'Not an easy read, but an important one.” —Historical Novel SocietyThe end of the 1920s, the author's first memory: a knock on the door and the arrest of her uncle, guilty of “anti-Soviet activities.” He is to be executed. Born in 1923, a dozen or so kilometers from the pre-war Polish-Soviet border, Franceska Michalska is a citizen of occupied Ukraine. Her family, finding a nest of eggs to eat, miraculously survive the great famine of 1931–32 before falling victim to growing Stalinist terror and the mass deportation of Poles from the region to Kazakhstan. All the while, Franceska dreams of studying medicine. 8,000 km and infinite difficulties later, she enters Poland and becomes a doctor, finally obtaining the Polish nationality she never had. Writing in a heartfelt yet matter-of-fact style, Michalska brilliantly evokes daily life under Russian occupation. Now more than ever, this memoir reads like a warning against history repeating, while at the same time offering a testament to human strength and to hope.

I am my god is a captivating, inspiring, and thrilling autobiography. It addresses how to understand and heal from cancer, that true inner battle, that journey to the center of one's own hell, to face one's own demons. A story of overcoming, of a life,of sport, a test of courage, a handbook regarding the philosophy of life. After deciding to get to the very edge of death, to expose his life so that everything that had to die in him may die, until hearing his diagnosis and 24 hours later, knowing that he was cured and feeling like the happiest man in the world, the protagonist narrates in the first person this story that will leave the reader with the certainty that everything is possible.

I want to know what it was like to have crossed into the realm of madness. After all, I did it. I went mad. Why can't I have the secret knowledge that comes with it? How do you write a memoir when your memories have been taken? She awakens in hospital, greeted by nurses and patients she doesn't recognise, but who address her with familiarity. She decides to untangle the clues. How to Knit a Human is Anna's quest to find her self and her memory after experiencing psychosis and Electroconvulsive therapy in 2011, at the age of twenty-three. As the memory barriers begin to crumble, Anna weaves her experiences around the gaps of memories that are still not accessible. Anna writes and creates art on her own terms. This book is a reclamation of story and self. ‘How to Knit a Human is a precise and searching memoir that illuminates the fragile balance that can exist between memory and one's sense of self. The writing reflects superbly on the profound impact of memory loss caused by psychosis and its treatment, and shows us how storytelling can form part of healing through the sharing of experiences and a deeper understanding of them.'— Kári Gíslason ‘In this wise, wry and moving memoir Anna Jacobson reclaims her self from the institutions that sought to define her. As she asks vital questions about care, memory and inheritance, Jacobson reminds us of the recuperative joy of creative life.'— Mireille Juchau ‘This book is a revelation. If Leonora Carrington teamed up with Janet Frame you might get something close to the kind, gentle, weird and brutal brilliance of How to Knit a Human. Anna Jacobson has shifted my perspective on art and illness. 100 stars. Bravo!'— Kris Kneen ‘How to Knit a Human is a visceral and immersive memoir – carefully crafted as well as genre-bending. Jacobson delves deep into her own unquiet mind only to emerge artistically victorious. A triumph.'— Lee Kofman ‘Blazing, incantatory and furious, this is a work of unshakeable witness. Jacobson sorts through the shapes and shades of memory, dropped stitches and invisible repairs, to forge a blazing work of consolation and recuperation, a paean to resilience and creativity.'— Felicity Plunkett ‘In How to Knit a Human, Anna Jacobson gives us a sheaf of home made X-rays that net interior light. Her ability to stand both inside and outside of memory as an encased form has allowed Anna a rare set of insights, something akin to planting seeds in the air, that initially subsist then quietly grow under the moisture in her own breath. As writer, artist and musician, it is fortunate that Anna has the intellectual, emotional, familial and spiritual machinery to approach memory (as itself and herself), in a way that she can watch the pieces of the existential jigsaw move inside the box without her even touching them.'— Nathan Shepherdson

Early life experiences of the author in the northern province of Zambia in Africa, and training in healthcare with subsequent employment in the mining industry healthcare owned jointly by the Anglo-American Corporation and the Government of the Republic of Zambia, mark the beginning of the journey of duty. After working for eight years from 1990 to 1998, this initial part of the journey of duty becomes full of challenging encounters and adventure stories associated with copper mining operations. Moving to Britain as a migrant worker marks the second part of the long journey of duty. Over the next 22 years, the author is immersed in the busy National Health Service (NHS), an umbrella organisation for thousands of hospitals and allied institutions. Experiencing the British way of life becomes fascinating but then part of this way of life is about how politics influence the way healthcare is delivered by the NHS which takes the centre stage throughout the rest of this book. The NHS tales about itsorigins, evolution, inspiring radical transformation in the 21st century, traffic light targets, and the dark times of scandals with red tape are quite revealing especially for people intending to work, train or are working as healthcare professionals. In the thick of it are some of the shining stars with rare qualities of fixing the broken parts of the healthcare systems that end this book.

This memoir offers a compelling glimpse into the life of a Canadian cardiac surgeon who stood at the forefront of the transformative 20th-century revolution in heart surgery. Dr. Arvind Koshal guides readers through the doors of the operating room in Ottawa during the 1980s, when he was part of a team that leveraged the latest technology and techniques to advance cardiac surgery in Canada. The narrative transports us to an extraordinary era in heart surgery— a period made even more remarkable by Koshal's personal journey from India in 1975, a time when open-heart surgery was in its infancy.In this memoir, Koshal describes how he left India to settle first in Ottawa and finally in Edmonton, where he assumed the role of Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Alberta Hospital. There, Koshal orchestrated a significant transformation, drastically reducing the wait times for cardiac surgeries from over a year and a half to a mere week and a half— all while upholding excellent patient outcomes.Beyond the gripping surgical tales and medical milestones, this memoir underscores the story of a visionary surgeon who not only rescued lives but also orchestrated a profound metamorphosis within the medical landscape of Alberta. Koshal's narrative is an inspiring testament to his unwavering dedication, not just in the operating room, but in the halls where healthcare policies are forged. His journey serves to illuminate the possibilities of ushering positive change in the Canadian healthcare system.

Foreword by Tia Newcomer, CEO of CaringBridge When Cris Ross and Ed Marx were diagnosed with cancer, they thought they knew what to do next. They were, after all, executives at two of the premiere hospitals in the United States—Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic. But even decades of obsessing about effective delivery of patient care could not have prepared them for the emotional and logistical complexity of navigating the healthcare system. If it is this hard for them, how hard was it for everyone else? Diagnosed is the book Cris and Ed wish they'd had when they embarked on their medical journeys, offering guidance, strategies, and more than a few checklists on how to: Process the shock and grief of a diagnosis Advocate for yourself (or your loved one) Harness the power of shared decision-making Access resources and technologies to support your recovery Create a personalized plan that reflects your values and goals Celebrate your milestones, honor your losses, and embrace your new normal 100% of all author royalties from the sale of every book benefit important medical research at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“The Pain Project is ironically full of pleasure: on every page is another generous, original insight into this most intimate human subject.”—NAOMI KLEIN, author of Doppelganger“The Pain Project is a beautiful, humane, thoughtful inquiry into the challenge of living with chronic pain and how Stanley and Paradis navigate its impact on their lives. This is a tough subject but a joyful book; it takes on a daunting topic with heart and humor and determination. It's wonderful.”—SUSAN ORLEAN, author of The Orchid Thief and The Library BookTen years after her husband's catastrophic injury, author Kara Stanley embarks with him on a journey to understand his chronic pain and find pathways into joy and relief.Kara and her husband, Simon, are at a desperate crossroads. In 2008, Simon fell off a scaffold, causing severe injuries to his brain and spinal cord. He made a remarkable recovery, eventually adjusting to life in a wheelchair and returning to his career as a musician, but he continues to suffer from debilitating pain that is beginning to strip away his selfhood.On the ten-year anniversary of the accident, Kara and Simon decide to confront Simon's pain head-on by committing to a personal experiment. For one year, they will focus on researching, interviewing experts, and exploring both new, and age old, pain relief strategies. A decade ago, Simon was prescribed the pain-relieving drug hydromorphone. Can he discover an alternate therapeutic approach that is at least as effective as daily doses of opioids?As they navigate a difficult year, Kara's tenacity and Simon's wit shine through in their honest conversations, insightful journal entries, and affectionate banter. Throughout, they seek answers to profound questions about the nature of suffering and pain:Is it helpful to conceptualize pain as a disease, or not?What does it mean to understand that pain is always a creation of the brain?What is the difference between healing and curing? Is healing still possible even when all-better is not an option?Globally, at least one in five people suffer from chronic pain, placing an enormous burden on medical systems around the world. Not just a medical but also a social justice issue, chronic pain continues to be poorly understood and poorly treated. It is a challenging topic to discuss with friends and family because, as Simon says, no one really wants to lead with their cloud. Deciding to accept this challenge, Simon and Kara's experiment is a wide-ranging exploration of the definitions, treatments, science, myths, and meanings of the mysterious and multi-faceted force that is pain.As difficult as the topic is, it can also provide us with an opportunity to question our current course. What can we learn when we confront our pain head-on? Honest, deeply researched, insightful, and ultimately hopeful, The Pain Project is a must-read for anyone looking for a greater understanding of pain as a phenomenon and in their own lives.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A must-read for anyone who cares about their quality of life... Dr. Sharon Malone is the first person I turn to for a whole host of issues, especially my health.”—MICHELLE OBAMAA practical guide to aging and health for women who have felt ignored or marginalized by the medical profession, from a leading OB/GYN and expert on menopausal and post-reproductive healthThere's not enough talk around women's health, and what little there is rarely helps. Women are routinely warned, lectured, or threatened about their health. Or they are ignored, dismissed, or shamed. But they are rarely empowered. And empowerment, more than anything, is what women—and women of color, in particular—need.Grown Woman Talk is for every woman who has felt marginalized or overwhelmed by a healthcare system that has become more impersonal, complex, and difficult to navigate than ever. It's also for any woman who is simply standing at the intersection of aging and health, anxious and wanting solutions.Part medical handbook, part memoir, and part sister-girl cheerleader, this book is filled with useful resources and real-life stories of victory and defeat. It not only highlights the current data around women's health issues, but it also places that data in a helpful context.In a tone that is lively and intimate but unflinchingly direct, Dr. Sharon Malone details how to live better, age better, and get better medical treatment, especially when it's most needed. This is not a medical activism book designed to fight the power. This is a book designed to show women that they already have the power—they need only to increase their capacity and willingness to use it.Most important, Grown Woman Talk seeks to eradicate the silence that surrounds women's health by facilitating discussion between women of all ages and encouraging more accurate and productive medical insights. It is Dr. Sharon's belief that giving women more agency can, literally, give them life.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTUAL PEOPLE IN GLOBAL HEALTH“This book is more than a memoir—it also serves as a call to action to create a more equitable healthcare system for patients of color, particularly Black women.” —Essence One of NPR's 11 Books to Look Forward to in 2024 One of Good Morning America's 15 New Books to Read for the New Year “Legacy is both a compelling memoir and an edifying analysis of the inequities in the way we deliver healthcare in America. Uché Blackstock is a force of nature.” —Abraham Verghese, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water “[An] extraordinary family story.” —Dr. Damon Tweedy, The New York Times Book Review “This book should be required reading for all medical students.” —Gayle King, CBS Mornings The rousing, captivating story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare systemGrowing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives.What Dr. Uché Blackstock did not understand as a child—or learn about at Harvard Medical School, where she and her sister had followed in their mother's footsteps, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school—were the profound and long-standing systemic inequities that mean just 2 percent of all U.S. physicians today are Black women; the racist practices and policies that ensure Black Americans have far worse health outcomes than any other group in the country; and the flawed system that endangers the well-being of communities like theirs. As an ER physician, and later as a professor in academic medicine, Dr. Blackstock became profoundly aware of the systemic barriers that Black patients and physicians continue to face.Legacy is a journey through the critical intersection of racism and healthcare. At once a searing indictment of our healthcare system, a generational family memoir, and a call to action, Legacy is Dr. Blackstock's odyssey from child to medical student to practicing physician—to finally seizing her own power as a health equity advocate against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Revealing his fight against a diagnosis of'incurable'brain cancer, this is the remarkable story of 2024 co–Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer.A dedicated doctor. A devastating diagnosis. A chance for a medical revolution.Skin cancer is this country's most common cancer, and melanoma the deadliest form of it. Richard, together with his colleagues at Melanoma Institute Australia, has dedicated years to groundbreaking research and succeeded in transforming even the most advanced forms of melanoma into a largely curable disease, bringing hope and healing to many.Then in 2023, at the peak of his life, Richard was diagnosed with brain cancer.As an internationally respected leading clinician and researcher, Richard was never going to accept the status quo—a medical approach unchanged in nearly two decades and an expectation of little more than a year to live. He instead chose to undertake world-first experimental treatment based on melanoma science.His brave decision could shorten his life or save it—the only certainty is that it will advance scientific understanding and ultimately help save the lives of others.'Whether Richard Scolyer has three weeks or thirty years left, his story is a testament to the power of living with boldness, hope and a sense of possibility. Richard Scolyer gives us all hope, not only that we could one day find a cure for brain cancer but also that when life deals us a terrible hand it's possible to respond with boldness and generosity.'- Leigh Sales'Passionate about his family and his work, an outstanding medical researcher and mentor always seeking to help others, Richard Scolyer is facing the greatest challenge of his life with courage and characteristic determination, inspiring the nation.'- Emeritus Professor John Thompson AO, Melanoma Institute Australia

No Way Out of This is not the kind of Alzheimer's memoir where you read about a noble, self-sacrificing wife who gives up everything to take care of her husband. We see such spouses in books and movies—but they're not telling the whole story. Nobody's that good. Certainly Sue Lick isn't. Sue's much-older husband, Fred, is a forgetful man. She's always found that charming. But when his absentmindedness worsens into full-blown dementia, she suddenly finds herself dealing with his illness alone. Struggling to care for Fred and manage their two loveable but incorrigible dogs and still find time to write and play music, Sue constantly faces impossible choices. Tell people about his illness? Let him drive? Put him in an institution? Treat his medical problems, or let him go? Every decision feels wrong—but in the end, their love carries them through it all.More than 6 million Americans suffer from dementia. One in three seniors have it. Add in the spouses, siblings, adult children, and professionals responsible for their care, and we all have a stake in this story. While some caregivers have loving families to support them and enough money to pay for the best care, more often the situation is a lot messier. Here the author, a longtime journalist, tells the truth about nursing homes, Medicaid, mental health, and more.

Join holistic veterinarian Marcie Fallek on an unconventional healing path that puts love of animals and their wellness first. In this funny, honest, and illuminating memoir, Marcie Fallek, a skeptical New Yorker and animal lover, embarks on a journey to become a veterinarian. She begins her quest at an Italian veterinary school, where most students flunk out. Her struggles lead her to India, in search of Divine help. She vows, following a series of cathartic experiences there, to devote her life to caring for animals, with her conscience as her guide. Eventually licensed and working, Marcie discovers that the driving force for many of her colleagues is money, not a love of animals. Unscrupulous vets fake test results, perform unnecessary procedures, and prescribe drugs and food to line their pockets. In fact, Marcie discovers that many of the very prescriptions and procedures designed to heal her charges might, in fact, be leading to more injury and illness. Though she risks losing everything that took so long to build, she sets out to learn the truth. This quest is not without consequences. Yet Marcie stays true to her ethical compass, refusing to compromise her morals and values. At each dark turn, a succession of instances (coincidences? miracles?) leads her down an unconventional healing path, where her spiritual and professional self merge. Marcie finds her true purpose in life: healing animals—including those destined for end-of-life measures—using her wits, wisdom, intuition, love, and holistic care.

#1 New York Times BestsellerThe memoir by the doctor who became a beacon of hope for millions through the COVID pandemic, and whose six-decade career in high-level public service put him in the room with seven presidents“An eventful autobiography [and] a classic American story…Gripping.”—The Washington Post“One of the most consequential and most prominent [careers] in American medicine in the past fifty years.”—Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker Anthony Fauci is arguably the most famous – and most revered – doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero.His memoir reaches back to his boyhood in Brooklyn, New York, and carries through decades of caring for critically ill patients, navigating the whirlpools of Washington politics, and behind-the-scenes advising and negotiating with seven presidents on key issues from global AIDS relief to infectious disease preparedness at home. ON CALL will be an inspiration for readers who admire and are grateful to him and for those who want to emulate him in public service. He is the embodiment of “speaking truth to power,” with dignity and results.

8 Seconds defies easy categorization – it's a compelling blend of mystery, fantasy, historical exploration, and philosophical inquiry. At its core is the character Harry Avramov, a modern-day Lucifer who emerged from a fractured childhood and damaged dignity. Driven by revenge, Harry becomes a spellbinding anti-hero who bends the rules of morality, flitting between this world and the otherworld while questioning the very nature of choice and destiny. Unfettered by genre conventions, the novel avoids expected resolutions, opting instead for a trio of unexpected, yet inevitable, endings. Steering clear of cliché, the story delves into the complex fabric of family and the consequences of its collapse. It draws inspiration from literary giants like Dante and Byron, as well as timeless Biblical themes, shaping the narrative into a contemporary parable rich with age-old wisdom. As Harry navigates the trials of existence and ambition, he ultimately finds himself journeying through time, from a cycle initiated 50,000 years ago to the present. It takes him a mere 8 seconds to confront the ultimate Truth – the essence of what truly matters in life.

Me, Myself & My Multiple Myeloma is a cancer-patient memoir written by Ray Hartjen, a multiple myeloma patient diagnosed in March 2019.In this intimate and inspiring account, Ray reflects on every step of his relentless battle with cancer, from working toward a final diagnosis, through an initial induction treatment and an autologous stem cell transplant, and on to maintenance and continuing active treatment. Through it all, Ray shares personal insights into his fight, tending to his systemic physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.Fighting cancer or any serious health issue, particularly a chronic condition, can be a daunting quest. Me, Myself & My Multiple Myeloma shows the importance of being mission-forward. Mission, of course, is unique to each individual, and based on values, roles, and the accountabilities associated with each that matter most.Written for cancer patients, their caregivers, and their friends and family, Me, Myself & My Multiple Myeloma is a personal story of proactive accountability, stubborn perseverance, evolving perceptions, growing maturity, and, ultimately, hope.

Undetectable is a story of love, loss, and viral loads, a memoir of long-term survival with HIV. From New York graduate student in 1989, who contracts the virus from the love of his life to Montana writer in 2018 visiting the slums of Nairobi, the author finds his own drama intertwined with the astonishing stories of his HIV+ peers, narratives that intersect the path of his travails and act as foils to the foibles of a gay man who comes out, falls in love, and faces a death sentence at the beginning of his career. In his fight for drugs, friends, and support, Charles learns the power of linking self to other as he confronts stigma, heartbreak, and fear with a visceral resilience. By discovering the power of community, Undetectable explores a generation of long-term HIV survivors who have lived to tell the story of an AIDS pandemic now in its fifth decade without cure or vaccine.

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this “essential work that provides lasting insights and lessons for the individual and society” (Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Times bestselling author), a young pediatric surgeon and mother reveals her dramatic, cathartic diary, written as she worked on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic at one of New York City's busiest hospitals. For many of us, the experience of the peak pandemic was eerily incongruous. We were sequestered in our quiet homes but reminded of the devastation by the never-ending ping of news alerts. Dr. Cornelia Griggs's experience was altogether different. A pediatric surgery fellow in New York City, she was entering the final victory lap at the end of nine grueling years of training. She was set for a big graduation celebration and looking forward to spending some real time with her husband and kids. Then came COVID-19. Initially, Griggs encouraged her friends and family not to panic. However, as mysterious cases began showing up in the hospital, and then hospital supplies started disappearing from shelves, she couldn't hold back the feeling that this was going to be worse than she had thought. She wrote a startling op-ed in The New York Times called “The Sky Is Falling” that went, for lack of a better word, viral. The piece was read by over a million people, and Griggs appeared on CNN. Having once aspired to be a journalist, Griggs found that the only way to make sense of what she was witnessing around her and maintain her sanity was to keep a diary. The Sky Was Falling is her day-to-day account of what most of us were grateful to only see in the news—the sharply increasing case numbers, the dwindling supply of respirators, the lack of clarity on how to treat this new disease. Harrowing, deeply personal, and page-turning in the way of the best medical memoirs, it tells the story of healthcare professionals who went beyond what they thought they were capable of to heal their patients, and themselves.

From the crime scene to the courtroom, a gripping insider perspective from a former CSI Despite his childhood fear of death, Ciaran Prior chose to become a Garda crime scene investigator, a role that brought him face-to-face with what he once feared most. In this revealing memoir, Ciaran sensitively details his work on some of Ireland's most shocking killings, from the murder of chip shop owner Franco Sacco to the double assassination of Eddie McCabe and Catherine Brennan in 1995, offering the reader a unique insight into the role of a CSI in modern-day policing, as well as describing the impact that frontline encounters with death had on Ciaran's own outlook. Much more than just a forensic police procedural, Traces of Truth is both a fascinating glimpse into the techniques, instinct and judgement required to see justice done, and a moving reflection on life, death and the traces that a career spent dealing with mortality leave on a man's psyche.

'An absolute must-read for all healthcare providers and parents alike.'- Stefanie Gauguet, MD, PhD, Pediatric Intensive Care PhysicianThis is the true story of a four-year-old girl with a life-threatening illness, the desperate fight of her doctors to keep her alive, and her family's navigation of life-changing events. It offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a large hospital's pediatric intensive care unit, and the ability of a family to overcome unexpected changes.

The brain weighs just three and a half pounds, but it governs every aspect of our lives...'A fascinating and wide-ranging account of what neurosurgery is really about – the past, present and future.'Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm Since its inception in the early twentieth century, brain surgery has maintained an air of mystery. As the saying ‘it's not exactly brain surgery'suggests, the specialty has become synonymous with a level of complexity and meticulousness rivalled only by, well, rocket science. Warm, rigorous and deeply insightful, neurosurgeon Theodore Schwartz reveals what it's really like to get inside someone's head – where every second can mean the difference between life or death. Drawing from Schwartz's experience in one of New York's busiest hospitals, Gray Matters explores the short but storied history of brain surgery. From the dark days of the lobotomy to the latest research into the long-term effects of contact sports on athletes'cerebral health, Schwartz unfolds the fascinating story of how we came to understand this extraordinary, three-pound organ, which not only keeps us alive, but makes us who we are.'Fascinating... Schwartz's way with words is as skilful as his wielding of microscissors.'Mail on Sunday

For The Love of Jeremy— A Memoir of a Family Affliction: Mental Illness and Addiction is a memoir inspired by the loss of my son. The story is about my family's experience with mental illness and how it intersects with suicide and substance use disorder. As Bipolar Disorder affects one member in each of three generations, join me in searching for light through the darkness in this journey. Sometimes we need to find the gifts of grief if we are going to survive it.

Janet Vaughan was a woman of huge energy and passion, who always sought to improve the lives of others. As a doctor and medical researcher, and also a social and educational reformer, she aimed to relieve suffering and to enable people – especially women – to develop and use their talents so as to live fulfilled lives. When young, married, living in Bloomsbury and building a career in haematology in spite of the barriers faced by women in medicine and science, she inspired Virginia Woolf in her writing of A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas. At the same time her work for Spanish Medical Aid and membership of the Communist Party put her on the Nazi ‘black list', and so destined to be executed in the event of a successful invasion of Great Britain. During the Second World War, she ran the busiest of London's emergency blood transfusion depots while serving on groups looking at the reform of medical education in preparation for the NHS, as well as the Royal Commission on Equal Pay; and finally making a harrowing trip to the Belsen concentration camp to test a treatment for starvation. Moving to Oxford after the war as Principal of Somerville College, she continued with research, becoming a leading authority on the effects of radiation on bone. She was eminent within the university on scientific and medical matters, and hugely influential more widely through her work for the Royal College of Physicians, the Nuffield Foundation and the University Grants Committee. Her influence in scientific and educational fields continued after retirement. After her death in 1993, Sir Raymond Hoffenberg, former head of the Royal College of Physicians and president of Oxford's Wolfson College, called her ‘unquestionably one of the great figures of medicine of this century'.

A revisionist biography of Andreas Vesalius—the father of modern anatomy—as deeply shaped by Renaissance culture. In 1543 the young and ambitious physician Andreas Vesalius published one of the most famous books in the history of medicine, On the Fabric of the Human Body. While we often think of dissection as destroying the body, Vesalius believed that it helped him understand how to construct the human body. In this book, Sachiko Kusukawa shows how Vesalius's publication emerged from the interplay of Renaissance art, printing technology, and classical tradition. She challenges the conventional view of Vesalius as a proto-modern, anti-authoritarian father of anatomy through a more nuanced account of how Vesalius exploited cultural and technological developments to create a big and beautiful book that propelled him into imperial circles and secured his enduring fame.

Sandra Lindsay, the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, takes the reader on her journey from humble immigrant beginnings in 1980s Bronx to national health equity advocate and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.Sandra Lindsay immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in 1986 with ambitions of becoming a nurse and living the American Dream. In December 2020, she became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and was subsequently honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Lindsay tells her inspiring story, from leaving a stable home in Jamaica only to experience years of struggle in the Bronx, NY, as a single mother and struggling student. Her tenacity led to a successful thirty-year nursing career, including her leadership as the director of critical care at Northwell's Long Island Jewish Medical Center during the country's worst health crisis in 2020. In First in Line Lindsay lays out her triumphs and setbacks as a single mother and working student who overcomes barriers with the love of her family and the support of mentors and leaders. Her beginnings as a four-dollar-an-hour grocery store fortified her with the resilience to persevere over decades to become an executive at a globally recognized nationally known healthcare system. Lindsay recounts working through the darkest months of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 and leading the critical care units at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. The suffering and losses she witnessed ignited Lindsay's passion for seeing an end to inequities in healthcare. First in Line tackles a variety of issues: bias and inequity in healthcare; chronic disease in marginalized communities; maternal, infant, and Black and Brown women's health; and mental health. While Lindsay continues to beat the drum for vaccination as COVID-19 continues to impact our lives, she advocates for a holistic approach for improved, equitable healthcare for all people who live on the margins.

In the 1980s, as HIV/AIDS ravaged queer communities and communities of color in the United States and beyond, a straight white teenager named Ryan White emerged as the face of the epidemic. Diagnosed with hemophilia at birth, Ryan contracted HIV through contaminated blood products. In 1985, he became a household name after he was barred from attending his Indiana middle school. As Ryan appeared on nightly news broadcasts and graced the covers of popular magazines, he was embraced by music icons and well-known athletes, achieving a curious kind of stardom. Analyzing his struggle and celebrity, Paul M. Renfro's powerful biography grapples with the contested meanings of Ryan's life, death, and afterlives.As Renfro argues, Ryan's fight to attend school forced the American public to reckon with prevailing misconceptions about the AIDS epidemic. Yet his story also reinforced the hierarchies at the heart of the AIDS crisis. Because the'innocent'Ryan had contracted HIV'through no fault of his own,'as many put it, his story was sometimes used to blame presumably'guilty'populations for spreading the virus. Reexamining Ryan's story through this lens, Renfro reveals how the consequences of this stigma continue to pervade policy and cultural understandings of HIV/AIDS today.

A timely biography of General William C. Gorgas, the US Army doctor whose pioneering fight against infectious disease around the world set the stage for the American Century

Tending to My Thoughts continues the story of Sharon Hastings, a medical doctor and Christian living with severe mental illness. Her personal experience of recovery offers a starting point to help readers think through what recovery could look like for them or their loved ones.Peppered with personal anecdotes, shot through with medical knowledge and chock-full of helpful explanation, this book inspires hope and provides evidence that life with mental illness can improve. Sharon Hastings writes to encourage those who walk alongside people who are suffering, as well as to equip individual Christians and churches to effectively support those in recovery, particularly from severe mental illness.'Wise and real.'Emma Scrivener'A book that needs to be read by every pastor.'Rachael Newham'I recommend it unreservedly.'Revd Will van der Hart'Threaded with realism, practicality and hope.'Mark Meynell

A raw and masterful memoir about becoming a woman and going mad—and doing both at once. When Suzanne Scanlon was a student at Barnard in the 90s, grieving the loss of her mother—feeling untethered and swimming through inarticulable pain—she made a suicide attempt that landed her in the New York State Psychiatric Institute. After nearly three years and countless experimental treatments, Suzanne left the ward on shaky legs. In the decades it took her to recover from the experience, Suzanne came to understand her suffering as part of something larger: a long tradition of women whose complicated and compromised stories of self-actualization are reduced to “crazy chick” and “madwoman” narratives. It was a thrilling discovery, and she searched for more books, more woman writers, as the journey of her life converged with her journey through the literature that shaped her. Transporting, honest, and graceful, Committed is a story of discovery and recovery, reclaiming the idea of the madwoman as a template for insight and transcendence through the works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Janet Frame, Audre Lorde, Shulamith Firestone, and others.

No stranger to operating in conflict-torn countries, Richard Villar, a former SAS Medical Officer and current war surgeon, volunteered to provide medical support in Central Gaza during the 2024 invasion. In Gaza Medic, he offers a gripping and harrowing first-hand account of his experiences working in the war zone, where he faced his most daunting challenges yet.After traveling overland from Cairo across the Sinai Peninsula, Villar found himself working in a 200-bed hospital overrun with 700 patients, including many women and children. Conditions were dire and there was nowhere safe in Gaza. The hospital was under constant threat from drones, missiles, naval shells, and machine gun fire, making it one of the most perilous environments imaginable. Despite these dangers, he and fellow medics performed complex surgeries on victims of bombings. Medicines were limited, equipment minimal, and basic necessities such as clean water and sufficient food were luxuries.Villar's moving account transcends the politics of war to focus on the raw, often brutal, realities faced by medical professionals in conflict zones. Each day brought more mass casualties, with a healthcare system on the brink of collapse and the population facing decimation.Gaza Medic is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the true impact of the Israel/Palestine conflict on individuals and communities. Villar's narrative is a vivid reminder that courage can be found when there is chaos all around.

Surgical Wisdom for Embracing Your Inner Beauty Take control of your plastic surgery journey by using medical authors Robert A. Hardesty, MD, FACS, and James Polakof, PhD's life-changing advice.Be a success story and not a cautionary tale. Millions of women every year undergo plastic surgery, but almost all do it alone. That's why plastic surgeon Robert A. Hardesty and medical consultant James Polakof are here to help you with all of the answers you are looking for. The Real You, Only Better is a procedures book that explores every side of the cosmetic surgery world so you can stay informed during your own procedure. Featuring what types of surgery would best work for you, stories of severely botched procedures, and in-depth evaluations of before and after photos, you'll be ready for anything during your surgical journey. Take control over your transformation. Everyone wants to feel like they're glowing by the end of their cosmetic journey, which is why you should take control over bringing your inner beauty to the surface. Full of life-changing information and true stories from female patients, you'll be able to work with your surgeon for a safe and productive operation. That way, you can reduce recovery and risk to receive the transformation you've always wanted. Not only can you expect expert advice and empowerment from The Real You, Only Better, you can also find surgeon recommendations such as: Why surgical aftercare is so important for physical, mental, and emotional health How body-shaming has impacted and patients and surgeons Recommended questions to ask your surgeon about their history and credentials How to work with your plastic surgeon to incorporate your inner beauty assets into an aesthetic procedure So if you like cosmetic and medical empowerment books such as Fast Like a Girl, The Piercing Bible, or Restore Your Life from Chronic Pain, you'll love The Real You, Only Better.

Community-minded Utah mom and preschool teacher Brianne Dressen wanted to play her part in helping to end the pandemic that shut down the world in 2020. What better way than to roll up her sleeves and participate in a clinical trial for the eagerly anticipated Covid vaccines? But something went terribly, terribly wrong. Part memoir, part medical mystery, part social commentary, Worth a Shot? tells the true story of what happened to Brianne's body, mind, and spirit as she found herself embroiled in a medical, political, and cultural nightmare that had been looming over America for decades. This compelling page-turner reveals how Brianne uncovers unsettling truths about the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry, leading her to question its control not just over doctors and drug trials, but also over free speech and the federal government. Worth a Shot? chronicles Brianne's journey as she discovers the intricate web of systemic failures that affect the health of millions worldwide, and unwittingly becomes a global advocate for a cause that nobody wants to believe exists. As she bravely battles the far-reaching influence of giant corporations, readers will be touched by the surprising allies who come to her aid, and the unexpected friendships made along the way. Worth a Shot? is a beautifully written and inspirational real-life account that will leave you questioning your own worldview. So much more than a whistleblower's story, this book ultimately serves as a poignant reminder of the power of the human spirit as it fights to emerge from adversity with love... love for oneself, love for one's community, and love for one's country.(All proceeds from the sale of Worth a Shot? will be donated to React19 and UKCVFamily.)

This personal narrative recounts a psychiatrist's experiences treating Vietnamese civilians and the Aborigines of the Malayan jungle during the Vietnam War, which inspired a lifelong commitment to refugee care. The book chronicles the establishment of a psychiatric clinic for refugees from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, focusing on culturally sensitive treatment approaches and the profound stories of loss and trauma from patients. Through these narratives, readers gain insight into the human tragedies endured by refugees, as well as their remarkable paths to healing. The author also reflects on the personal challenges of providing care to those who have survived unimaginable trauma. This collection of stories aims to foster empathy and understanding for the hardships faced by refugees.

Dr Myron Weisfeldt's own story is a jumping off point for understanding elements of discovery and political skill that foster a successful leadership career in American Academic Medicine. The book is a jumping off point for understanding of the elements of discovery that lead to a successful leadership career. His work includes many examples of pioneering efforts to improve human health based on the understanding of disease. Those efforts include treatment of common heart ailments including aging and heart attacks, and prevention of sudden death and survival from sudden death. This book is concluded with a simple guide to career success that is relevant beyond medicine. The book will likely have particular value to trainees in medicine and research, physicians already on an academic career journey and an international audience wanting to understand factors leading to the prominence of American medicine.