Leading cancer researcher Bryant Lin distills the lessons for living that he’s learned as a physician—and as a patient, after being diagnosed with his own terminal illness.
About the Book
“A powerful, moving memoir. I learned so much, not only about illness and caregiving, but finding resilience, joy, and even humor, in some of the hardest moments we all must face.”—Daniel Mason, author of North Woods
Over the course of his twenty-year career, Dr. Bryant Lin treated many patients with lung cancer. He never smoked, and never imagined that he would be diagnosed with the same terrible disease. And yet, there it was all the same.
After cycling through the stages of grief and two rounds of chemo, he realized that his diagnosis presented an opportunity to learn. For the first time, he experienced the cancer diagnosis and the complexities of treatment as a patient, rather than a doctor.
Determined to give back and to keep teaching, Dr. Lin created a course at Stanford Medical School called From Diagnosis to Dialog: A Doctor’s Real-Time Battle with Cancer, to share his experience with a terminal illness as both a doctor and a patient. The class was a sensation on campus and soon attracted international media attention.
Now, Dr. Lin brings us into the classroom to offer us an inspiring exploration of how to live when you are dying. How can we prepare for intimidating medical news and navigate treatment? How can we find hope in the face of terminal diagnosis? In Sunshine, Dr. Lin offers both philosophical and scientifically grounded insights into how we can make the most out of life even in the most challenging moments.
About the Speakers
Bryant Lin, MD is a primary care physician in Stanford’s Department of Medicine. In 2018, he co-founded (and currently co-directs) the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE), to this day the only medical center among top universities in the US committed to improving the health of Asian communities worldwide. In 2021, he was appointed the Director of Medical Humanities and Arts which supports diversity of educational programming and integrates philosophical and cultural teachings into medical students’ lives and careers. Sunshine is his first book.
Laurel Braitman is a bestselling author, speaker, educator and trailblazer in the field of medical storytelling. Laurel inspires healing and mental wellness through her books and her work as the Director of Writing and Storytelling at the Stanford School of Medicine. She is author of the memoir What Looks Like Bravery (Simon & Schuster) and the popular science book Animal Madness: Inside their minds. She holds a PhD in Science, Technology, and Society from MIT and is the founder of Writing Medicine, a global community of writing healthcare professionals. Her work has been featured on the BBC, NPR, Good Morning America, and Al Jazeera. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, on Radiolab, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, National Geographic, and other publications. Laurel lives on her family’s citrus and avocado ranch in Southern California.
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