Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande was a world-renowned surgeon, TV personality, and author, whose 2014 book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, became an immediate bestseller. Born in Brooklyn to Indian immigrants, and raised in the city of Athens, Ohio, Gawande grew up as a precocious young boy. After excelling academically in high school, he enrolled in Stanford University, eventually earning his undergraduate degree in 1987. After graduation, Gawande was awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, and spent a single year studying medicine at Oxford University in England. Then in 1992, Gawande took a break from his medical studies to become a Senior Advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration. The job, although demanding, was a dream come true for Gawande. However, the day-to-day grind of working in the White House eventually proved to be too exhausting, and in 1994, Gawande returned to medical school. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1995. By the late 90s, Gawande's medical career took an unexpected turn when an editor from Slate.com asked him to start writing about his experiences as a surgical resident. His revealing essays eventually caught the eye of the The New Yorker's editor-in-chief David Remnick, who soon commissioned Gawande to write similar essays for his magazine. Gawande's provocative essays for The New Yorker soon landed him a book contract, and in 2002 his first book, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, became a National Book Award Finalist for Non-Fiction. Several magazine articles and books would follow, including the 2014 best-seller, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Throughout the 2000s and well into the 2010s, Gawande continued to raise his profile by appearing as an authoritative voice on the medical community on talk shows like "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 1999-) and "Charlie Rose" (PBS, 1991-) while continuing his practice at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.