Abraham Verghese Receives National Humanities Medal

On September 22, 2016 Abraham Verghese received a
National Humanities Medal, at the White House from
President Barack Obama.

There are few who combine a career as physician, teacher and author as well as Abraham Verghese, whose name is a frequent byline in newspapers and magazines across the world, and more recently, in demand as a TED speaker. He himself is also a regular focus of attention in media – both medical and general – that range from National Public Radio, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the New York Times to The Guardian, and The Times of India.

His work as a physician informs his writing and the reflection that comes through his writing helps him empathize with his patients, and to see them individually, as human beings who are suffering, fearful and in need not just of treatment, but of comfort and reassurance. Imagining his patients’ experience has driven his work throughout his medical career. His emphasis on empathy and healing is the focus of his talks, nationally and internationally, as he stresses the importance of the patient-physician relationship in an era of advances in medical technology that often tend to de-personalize medical care.

“I still find,” he says, “the best way to understand a hospitalized patient is not by staring at a computer screen, but going to see that patient. For it is at the bedside that I can figure out what’s important to the patient and how the data you have accumulated makes sense.”