Dr. Sanjay Gupta...on writing his new book "World War C", becoming a great listener, and cultivating trust in those around him.

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Abhay is joined by fellow physician, Sanjay Gupta MD, author of "World War C", and CNN chief medical correspondent. They chatted about Sanjay's experiences during his career and during the pandemic, how his Indian American identity informs him, and the rewards of being a practicing and teaching neurosurgeon. episode note - Steve Gupta was nowhere to be found.

In September of 2005, I was serving as the pediatrician on a mobile medical clinic, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I had the privilege to care for kids and their families in both Houston, TX and Biloxi Mississippi. They were really sobering experiences, exhausting long days and nights of working in makeshift locations with devastated and displaced communities. This was definitely before heavy social media and the iPhone, so staying up to date was dependant on...well...the news, and as a physician, trying to comprehend the ineffective and paralyzed institutional responses was simply discouraging. I was so proud and compelled to be there, but it was frustrating to some degree and it felt like no one really cared or really understood what was going on. But everyday I found a glimmer of reassurance, camaraderie, and hope, in the form of 2-5 minute segments on television, that reminded me that someone understood the situation, was sharing it through an informed and intelligent lens, and was exuding the trust that we..that I was craving. For me and so many others, that form of solace, empathy, and honesty came from another doctor, a neurosurgeon and medical correspondent on CNN named Sanjay Gupta. For over 20 years now, through times of crisis and times of calm, Sanjay has been a wealth of medical knowledge, in many ways serving as a medical compass for the American and global public. Originally from Michigan, where he grew up and completed medical school, he now practices medicine and lives with his family in Atlanta. I was grateful to catch up with him to talk about life as an Indian American in 2021, about his first days at CNN, about navigating through the challenges of combating misinformation and disinformation, and we even shared notes about raising teenagers - I told him how my daughter is in college about 3 miles from home and he seemed very excited by that prospect for his own daughter- Go BEARS by the way. We started out though, by welcoming him and sharing a very important endorsement….

Dr. Sanjay Gupta...on writing his new book "World War C", becoming a great listener, and cultivating trust in those around him.
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