In the Foothills of Medicine shares one doctor’s intriguing true story from the front lines of medicine. Dr. Robert McKersie writes vividly and passionately about the patients whom he saw, touched, and thought about during his intense inner city internship in family medicine and medical treks to remote villages in Nepal.
McKersie has produced a marvelous memoir, fusing his journey to become a
physician and his encounter with humanity in inner-city Chicago and, yes,
Nepal! Along the way, he rejects society’s failure to provide vital health services,
offering an alternative vision of solidarity and caring. The result: a thrilling and
imaginative narrative, giving voice to an emerging physician leader.
—Dr. Quentin Young, Co-founder of Physicians for a National HealthProgram,
and Former President of the American Public Health Association
The book shelves are lined with memoirs, personal accounts, and narratives by
young doctors, residents, and graduating medical students. In the Foothills of
Medicine, written candidly in clear and simple prose that goes beyond the usual
account of the experiences of becoming a physician, ranks far above the best. The
power of the idealism explodes from the pages without once mentioning it. The
sense of social responsibility and humanitarianism, the value conflicts, and the
awareness of medicine’s imperfections are stated forthrightly. Most importantly,
it is not only the story of a young doctor engrossed in his vocation, but a young
man finding himself as a person.
—Edward J. Eckenfels, Emeritus Professor
Rush University Medical Center
