Jerome Groopman

Synthetic Thinking

“In medicine, you don’t have an answer when you start out. It’s the same kind of synthetic process as political philosophy, but in a different dimension.”

Seeing the Power in Blindness

A writer narrating his increasing loss of vision asks fundamental questions about sight and cognition.

Saving Lives and Making a Killing

A new book reveals the split personality of the biotech industry: an altruistic enterprise that creates breakthrough treatments for patients in need, and a bare-knuckle business that seeks to generate astronomic profits and stop competitors from developing better treatments.

A Titan in Molecular Biology

Understanding Diabetes—and Paying for It

Advances in our knowledge of the causes of diabetes, and in our ability to treat the disease, have long been hampered by racial prejudice and exorbitant drug prices.

What Does the Microbiome Do?

In Gut Feelings, Alessio Fasano and Susie Flaherty remind us that despite exaggerated claims from marketers, few applications of microbiome manipulation have been proven effective by clinical studies.

Lessons from the Worst Years of AIDS

Medicine in the Gray Zone

The Body Strikes Back

The Elusive Artificial Heart

The Bugs Are Winning

‘Superbugs: An Arms Race Against Bacteria’ by William Hall, Anthony McDonnell, and Jim O’Neill

Lend Me Your Ear

On the value of cochlear implants

The Sounds of Silence

Putting Profits Ahead of Patients

Health care in the US is enormously costly, often in ways that are baffling not only to patients but to doctors themselves.

Sick But Not Sick

‘Is It All in Your Head? True Stories of Imaginary Illness’ by Suzanne O’Sullivan

Cancer: A Time for Skeptics

‘The Death of Cancer’ by Vincent T. DeVita Jr. and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn

A Doctor’s Body Language

The Victory of Oliver Sacks

His work inspires the next generation to think and create

Vaccinate or Not?

The natural world of unopposed pathogens is full of danger

When Doctors Admit They Went Wrong