Physicians

Biographer Janice Nimura tells the Blackwell sisters' story in the new book, The Doctors Blackwell. Nimura says Elizabeth was "greeted with everything from rejection to hilarity" during her years at Geneva Medical College in upstate New York.

President Trump's daily briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic have introduced millions of Americans to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. At times, the specialist in infectious diseases has differed with the president during the briefings, correcting him on the seriousness of the virus or on the timeline for developing a vaccine. That's fueled speculation that Fauci's tenure might be cut short.

In his new memoir, Doctored, Sandeep Jauhar describes a growing discontent among doctors and how it's affecting patients. He says rushed doctors are often practicing "defensive medicine."

In a new book, bioethicist and internist Barron Lerner recalls how he came to question some of his father's medical practices — practices that were common among many doctors of that generation.

Dr. David Ansell's experiences treating patients at Chicago's public hospital for 17 years turned him into a strong advocate for national health care reform. He details what it was like to work with Chicago's uninsured patient population in a new memoir and social history.

William Halsted is credited with creating the United States' first surgical residency program and transforming the way operating rooms are sterilized. He was also a morphine addict. Plastic surgeon Gerald Imber details Halsted's dual lives in the new biography Genius on the Edge.

Navy surgeon Richard Jadick earned a Bronze Star for his service during the battle of Fallujah, treating the wounded during the worst street fighting Americans had faced since Vietnam. His memoir is On Call in Hell. (This interview as first broadcast on March 7, 2007.)

Navy Cmdr. Richard Jadick earned a Bronze Star with a "V" for valor for his service as a doctor during the Battle of Fallujah, which featured some of the worst street fighting seen by Americans since Vietnam. His new memoir, written with Thomas Hayden, is On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story.

Abortion has been a defining issue since 1973. But for Eyal Press, it was a defining element of his childhood. A colleague of Press's father was killed for performing abortions. And Dr. Press received threats. Eyal Press offers a front-row view in Absolute Convictions.

Farmer is an infectious disease specialist and a recipient of the MacArthur "genius" grant for his work treating tuberculosis in Haiti. He is the subject of the new book Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder.