Pauline Chen (Surgeon/Writer)

A liver transplant and liver cancer surgeon, Pauline Chen thinks deeply about the practice and process of medicine.

In her online column "Doctor and Patient," on nytimes.com,  Chen writes about the way we train and maintain doctors, and about the shifting nature of the doctor-patient relationship.

She's intereste in tech-enabled medical advances that bring up fundamental philosophical and emotional questions of life and death.A fascinating thread through her work is the deeply frustrating nature of lifestyle-related illness -- how a doctor can remain committed and caring while a patient is eating to obesity, forgetting to take meds or unable to manage their own care.

Her 2007 book Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality, was a best-seller that examined her developing thoughts on managing illness and death, wrapped around a personal narrative.

In this short interview, she talks about how she became both a surgeon and a writer:

Related Links:
paulinechen.typepad.com
Twitter: @paulinechen
The 21 Amazing TEDWomen Speakers Of TEDGlobal 2011