We humans
The most critical factor in medicine? Human bias
Oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Siddhartha Mukherjee explains why doctors aren't so much looking for disease as bias in their work.
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Siddhartha Mukherjee
Cancer physician and writer
When he’s not ferreting out the links between stem cells and malignant blood disease, Siddhartha Mukherjee writes and lectures on the history (and future) of medicine.
Why you should listen
While discussing a diagnosis with a patient, Siddhartha Mukherjee realized that there were no easy answers to the question, “What is cancer?” Faced with his hesitation, Mukherjee decided to do something about it.
Over the next six years, Mukherjee wrote the influential, Pulitzer-winning The Emperor of All Maladies, a 4,000-year “biography” of cancer. He collaborated with Ken Burns on a six-hour documentary for PBS based on his book, updating the story with recent discoveries in oncology.
In his new TED Book, The Laws of Medicine, he examines the three principles that govern modern medicine -- and every profession that confronts uncertainty and wonder.
What others say
“Mukherjee’s powerful and ambitious history of cancer and its treatment is an epic story he seems compelled to tell, like a young priest writing a biography of Satan.” — The New York Times, November 24, 2010
Siddhartha Mukherjee’s TED talk
More news and ideas from Siddhartha Mukherjee
Live from TED
Radical reframe: The surprising talks in Session 6 of TED2015
“We need a different view of the world,” says Chris Anderson, the host of Session 6: Radical Reframe, on the Wednesday morning of TED2015. Enjoy these recaps of the speaker in this session, who might just flip your thinking on things you thought you knew — from antibiotics to papayas. New metaphors, not new medicines. We […]
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