To be awarded by Obama at the White House on Sep. 22.
Writer and physician Abraham Verghese, 61, is among the recipients of the 2015 National Humanities Medal.
Verghese, who received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1991, is a professor and vice chair for the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Verghese was selected “for reminding us that the patient is the center of the medical enterprise. His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities; from his efforts to emphasize empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama.”
Verghese’s first book, ‘Cutting for Stone’, was one of five chosen as Best Book of the Year by TIME magazine in 2010 and later made into a Showtime movie. He also wrote ‘The Tennis Partner: A Story of Friendship and Loss’, about his friend and frequent tennis partner’s losing struggle with addiction, and ‘My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story’, about treating an AIDS patient in a rural Tennessee hospital. His upcoming book is titled ‘The Maramon Convention’.
President Obama will present the recipients with their medals at the White House on Sept. 22.
The National Humanities Medal, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broadened citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects. Up to 12 medals are awarded each year.
“Abraham Verghese is not only an exemplary clinician, he is an exemplary humanist,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. “Every day in the classroom, he teaches his students that professions such as medicine benefit from an understanding of the human condition.”
“I am humbled and excited by this honor,” Verghese said in a statement issued by the Stanford University. He completed his education at the Madras Medical College.
“The names of previous recipients include writers I most admire. It is a wonderful affirmation of a path that in the early years I wasn’t sure was the right path, even though it was one I felt compelled to follow,” Verghese, who is also the Linda R Meier and Joan F Lane Provostial Professor, said.