Today's episode is an encore presentation of a conversation I had back in 2023 with physician

and best-selling novelist Abraham Vakies. There's an old adage that says, nice guys finished last.

While Abraham is an incredibly compelling refutation of that idiotic old saying, the way Abraham

has lived his life could be a model for all of us.

Now, guest today, Abraham Verghese is a professor of medicine at Stanford University.

But as you're here today, he's also so much more.

He's been a leading voice in the medical profession

calling for a greater focus on bedside manner

and attention to patients' emotional needs.

Most physicians I know share these same sentiments,

but we are trapped.

We are actually prisoners in what has become the health care business.

Welcome to people I mostly admire with Steve Levitt.

Well, that's his day job. He also writes novels, Blockbuster award-winning bestsellers like

Cutting for Stone, and more recently, The Covenant of Water.

How in the world can one person do all that?

Yet, Abraham's own story is as compelling as the ones he writes.

He was born and raised in Ethiopia, his life thrown into chaos when the Ethiopian Civil War broke out in the 1970s.

So, Abraham, you've built a remarkable life for yourself.

You're both a superstar physician at Stanford University and a best-selling novelist.

But I'm personally so curious to hear about your early life. You grew up in Ethiopia.

You were born to Indian parents who are Christian. Before I read your books, I didn't even realize there was a long Christian tradition in India. Could you talk about that? Sure. My parents come from a

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