I still think that Lewis Thomas was just an amazing writer. His The Lives Of The Cell was his book that I have admired over the years. Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) is another physician whose writings I love. His clinical observation and ability to turn his writing into a kind of poetry with ideas.

But then there's also the kind of folks who may not have much to do with medicine who have that kind of observation and way of thinking that physicians have. What comes to mind, is Ernest Hemingway.

A third of his Farewell to Arms takes place inside a hospital. I don't think anyone beats his description of what life is like inside a hospital.

Some people believe mainstream American doctors do not have enough warmth when they deal with their patients, but many immigrant doctors have better bedside manners.

I think there is a range to all doctors. Again, there are immigrant doctors who have difficulty communicating and are unprofessional; and at the same time, you can hear about doctors accessing their larger culture and their connection to roots to draw in the warmth and humanity.

My father is someone who tells people in our hometown Athens in Ohio about his roots in Ohio and in India, all the time. You will see near his village [Uti in Maharashtra], he built a college. It was built with the money from his Ohio town. People have donated from this small town even though they do not have a whole lot of money. They have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That's a reflection of, I think, that despite being from a different cultural background, you can find common elements across all kinds of people. This is one example of an immigrant doctor being a positive deviant.

Image: A convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.
Photograph: Paresh Gandhi

Also see: Fighters for a corruption-free India

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