Dr. Abraham Verghese on medicine and his literary career

Abraham Verghese, MD and MACP, is Professor in Stanford's Department of Medicine, and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine. He previously served for five years as Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas. He is the author of two bestselling books: My Own Country: A Doctor's Story details his experiences in displacement, diaspora, responses to foreignness and the human lives affected by the AIDS epidemic. The Tennis Partner: A Story of Friendship and Loss, deals with physician drug abuse and the death of a friend. A new novel, called "Cutting for Stone" is forthcoming in January 2009.