Noted medical writer Abraham Verghese to speak at Coastal
Verghese is director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Humanities for the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. He has published extensively in the areas of pneumonia, infections in the elderly, HIV infection and on topics related to medical humanities. Verghese recently published an essay in the New York Times Magazine on the ethics of organ transplants for prison inmates. He has received the President's Medal for Teaching from Texas Tech University and the Nicholas Davies Award from the American College of Physicians.
Verghese is the author of My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, a personal account of the author's years treating AIDS patients in a small Tennessee town. The book was nominated for the National Book Critic's Circle Award and was made into a television movie for Showtime. That book is now being taught in many medical schools across the country. His second book, The Tennis Partner: A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss, was also a national bestseller. Verghese's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Granta, The New York Times, The Washington Post and numerous other publications.
Verghese graduated from Madras Medical College in India in 1979 and later completed his residency in internal medicine at East Tennessee State University. He attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1991.
The Writers in the Real World series was initiated by the Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts to showcase authors and to offer a forum for students, faculty and members of the community who are interested in the practical aspects of writing.
The Sara L. Hicks and Fred W. Hicks IV Honors Speakers Series was established in 2000 by former Coastal Chancellor Fred W. Hicks III, as part of Coastal's Honors Program.
For more information, call 349-2444 or 349-2712.