Writer, physician Abraham Verghese to speak at school commencement

Abraham Verghese

Writer and physician Abraham Verghese, MD, a leader in advocating the importance of the patient-physician relationship in an era of increasingly sophisticated medical technology, will be the commencement speaker for the School of Medicine Class of 2014.

The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 14 on the Alumni Green in front of the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge.

Verghese is vice chair for the theory and practice of medicine in the Department of Medicine and the Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor. He is the author of the bestselling novel Cutting for Stone. His first book, My Own Country, a memoir about AIDS in rural Tennessee, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

He has published extensively in the medical literature, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic, among other publications. His emphasis on empathy and healing is the focus of his talks both nationally and internationally.

On his website, Verghese said that "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."