Alumni in Print

Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice

Henry Buchwald’57

Springer, 2022

Dr. Buchwald has witnessed and experienced changes in health care and its delivery for 60 years, inspiring him to write about the history, historical data, and personal experiences of the health care system. He describes it as a system that “has moved away from caring, first and foremost, for patients.” In addition to examining the changes along the route from medical school to doctor/patient relationship, Dr. Buchwald offers thoughts on how money for health care can be better spent. “I believe the system has been turned upside down to serve the administrators of the system and away from its basic function of offering the best care for patients. All of us are not getting a fair return for what we are paying.”

Learning the Art of Medicine, a Memoir

Gordon Noel’67

Quimby House Press, 2021

Dr. Noel’s memoir describes how his Montana upbringing and English literature studies at Harvard made him feel less prepared than many of his classmates to study medicine. He uses humor and honesty to detail stories of his successes and failures throughout training, his time as an Army doctor during the Vietnam conflict, and his years as a teacher and practitioner at what was then Columbia-Presbyterian. It was in the latter role that he gradually realized the struggle between missing out on family life and being a part of a revered institution, with colleagues and patients he deeply cared about. The memoir reveals the journey of finding a balance between being a good doctor and being a good father, husband, and friend.

Brief Supportive Psychotherapy: A Treatment Manual and Clinical Approach

John Markowitz’82

Oxford University Press, 2022

This book by Dr. Markowitz is a treatment manual for brief supportive psychotherapy, a widely practiced but poorly defined, often misunderstood, and unfairly disparaged treatment. This time-limited, affect-focused treatment, which Dr. Markowitz and colleagues developed more than 30 years ago, has been tested against more common established psychotherapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy. Brief supportive psychotherapy, an emotion-focused, bare-bones treatment based on Carl Rogers’ client centered therapy, has proved itself to be a robust treatment in multiple randomized controlled treatment trials. Some therapists previously trained only in cognitive and behavioral approaches have found this affect-focused approach adds a new dimension to their thinking and to their patients’ lives. The book shows therapists and patients the importance of emotion as an essential aspect of effective treatment

Anjali the Brave: All about Vaccines

Adjoa Smalls-Mantey’15 and Maria Abraham

Indies United Publishing House, 2022

Dr. Smalls-Mantey co-authored this picture book geared toward children ages 3 to 8. The book invites readers to take a trip with Anjali and her father to the doctor to get her COVID-19 vaccine shot. There the doctor explains the science behind vaccines, how they work, and the history of the scientists who create them. “The purpose of this book,” says Dr. Smalls-Mantey, “is to help children, parents, and educators understand that even though vaccine shots may be scary, they are important to keeping us safe and healthy.” The book features diverse characters—an Indian child, a father portrayed as a strong caregiver, and a Black female doctor—in roles not traditionally highlighted in a majority of children’s books, says the author.

A History of Present Illness

Anna DeForest’17

Little, Brown and Company, 2022

Dr. DeForest, who has an MFA from Brooklyn College, began the novel as her fourth-year scholarly project, reported Publishers Weekly. The book follows a medical student from her first day as a student doctor through anatomy class, a surgical rotation, difficult births, and sudden deaths. Reviews for Dr. DeForest’s debut novel have been positive: The New York Times called it “a revelation.” Booklist called the novel “brutal and brave,” describing it as one of the best in the “making of a doctor” genre. Lit Hub listed the novel as one of its most anticipated books of 2022. The publisher calls the novel “a boldly honest meditation on the body, the hope of healing in the face of total loss, and what it means to be alive.”