Joseph D. Stern is a neurosurgeon and author of Grief Connects Us: A Neurosurgeon's Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion.

Tackling racial disparities in cancer care by creating new ways for institutions to operate

Conditions
October 31, 2021

At 84, Emma Shuford found a lump in her breast. After a lumpectomy, she was diagnosed with locally aggressive breast cancer. Her doctors said it was treatable but she needed radiation to help stop it from growing.

At first, she refused. Because of her age and a chronic leg injury, she didn’t feel safe driving to the cancer center. The bus would take 90 minutes each way, and she couldn’t walk …

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Tackling racial disparities in cancer care by creating new ways for institutions to operate

Emotional agility is an essential element for patients and practitioners

Physician
June 21, 2021

An excerpt from Grief Connects Us: A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion.

Brené Brown describes the importance of allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and holds up the surgeon as an example of someone who is exempted from this by the technical nature of their work. Yet, as I have come to appreciate, it turns out no one gets a …

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Emotional agility is an essential element for patients and practitioners

A neurosurgeon on call with coronavirus

Physician
May 4, 2020

Last weekend, my partner witnessed some of the pandemic’s collateral damage in an upsurge of violent deaths via car wrecks and shootings. A patient of mine, chief of the local SWAT team, had predicted as much: he gave people two weeks at home before they started acting out.

I expected a similar weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how few calls I received by late Saturday night. But it doesn’t take …

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A neurosurgeon on call with coronavirus