My Own Medicine
Geoffrey Kurland, MD

The diagnosis of Kurland's recurrent chest pain marked the beginning of a series of medical conditions, including leukemia and tuberculosis, that threatened the 42-year-old pediatric pulmonologist's life while forcing him to slow down and examine his relationships with his own patients. Kurland's remarkable medical journey, as recounted in this compelling memoir, paralleled his personal quest to run a 100-mile marathon through the mountains of California. Recalling patients who underwent harrowing treatments similar to those he now had to endure, Kurland realized that the necessity of these treatments didn't lessen their painful, terrifying, and humiliating reality. His epiphany regarding his former failure to understand the patient's perspective is deeply felt and communicated; anyone who has experienced the uncertainty of his own or a loved one's disease will find this account illuminating.

Geoffrey Kurland, MD
Pediatric Pulmonologist
Medical Director,
Pediatric Lung Transplantation
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
3705 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-692-5630
Fax: 412-692-6645