This journal would become the basis of his first memoir, Intern: A Doctor's Initiation. During his first few years as an intern, he kept a daily journal in which he documented his experiences, cases, thoughts, and feelings. Louis, where he graduated with his medical doctorate in 1998 Career Medicine Īfter graduating medical school in 1998, Jauhar began his internship at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, then known as New York Hospital. He then went on to study at the Washington University of Medicine in St. Jauhar studied at University of California, Berkeley, from 1985-1995, where he earned his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and Ph.D. His father was also a medical doctor, as well as his brother. We must look at not only our bodies but also ourselves.” (P.Jauhar was born in 1968 and grew up in Riverside, California with his parents who had immigrated from India. Jauhar rightly says, “To treat our hearts, we must repair our societies and minds. Reading the book constantly reminded me of this narration of Prophet Mohammed recorded in the book of Sahih Muslim, The Prophet peace be upon him said “Indeed in the body there is a lump of flesh, if it is good, the entire body will be good, and if it is corrupted, the entire body becomes corrupted, and that is the heart.” This statement can be gauged at mere face value and exists as a biological reality but also extends to spiritual and metaphysical truths.

The mysterious connection of the emotional heart to its biological counterpart is a concept that Jauhar introduces, and it made me curious for more. Jauhar writes, “ If our family was a body, my mother was it heart: the piece that nourishes and ensures the workings of the rest.” (P.226) My favourite chapters in the book are named ‘Vulnerable Heart’ and ‘A Mother’s Heart’. Each medical term is explained in non complex terms with engaging insights and lifestyle implications of the same. He explains “Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy” or the Broken heart syndrome, patient autonomy, medical paternalism, the first heart-lung machine, the first cross-circulation operation, cardiac resusciation, ventricullar fibrillation, the implantable pacemaker, the furious debate about the artificial heart among others. An ocean of medicine terms were introduced, and I was happy to swim (read, learn) in them. I felt like a student in biology class, as Dr Jauhar’s stories moved from labs to hospitals to classrooms to the ICU.

The amount of information and history that he manages to condense in these 229 pages deserves appreciation.

This section sets the stage for the next 2 parts namely ‘Machine’ and ‘Mystery’, where we are introduced to the heart from entirely different perspectives, but each are enriched with reflections and anecdotes from Dr Jauhar’s practice as a heart-failure specialist. The book is divided into 3 distinct parts.

Sandeep jauhar heart a history