Indo-American physician to be awarded

Indian-American physician-author Abraham Verghese, whose work emphasises empathy in medicine, has been selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal, the White House has announced.

US President Barack Obama will confer the honour upon Verghese, along with 11 others, and the recipients of 2015 National Medal of Arts at ceremony on September 21.

A professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, 61-year-old Verghese has authored several books, including ‘My Own Country’ and ‘Cutting for Stone’.

In a statement, the White House said on Wednesday Verghese has been given the award for reminding “us” that the patient is the centre of the medical enterprise. “His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities, from his efforts to emphasise empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama,” it said.

“Abraham Verghese is not only an exemplary clinician, he is an exemplary humanist,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. 

Started in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honours individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities website. “I am humbled and excited by this honour,” Verghese 

said.