Paul Kalanithi Explained

Paul Kalanithi
Education:Stanford University (BA, MA)
Darwin College, Cambridge (M.Phil)
Yale Medical School (MD)
Work Institution:Stanford University School of Medicine
Birth Date:April 1, 1977
Spouse:Lucy Goddard
Children:1

Paul Sudhir Arul Kalanithi (April 1, 1977 – March 9, 2015) was an American neurosurgeon and writer. His book When Breath Becomes Air is a memoir about his life and illness with stage IV metastatic lung cancer. It was posthumously published by Random House in January 2016.[1] It was on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list for multiple weeks.[2]

Early life and education

Paul Kalanithi was born on April 1, 1977, and lived in Westchester, New York. He was born to a Christian family hailing from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India. Kalanithi had two brothers, Jeevan and Suman; Jeevan is a computer/robotics engineer and Suman is a neurologist. The family moved from Bronxville, New York, to Kingman, Arizona, when Kalanithi was 10. Kalanithi attended Kingman High School, where he graduated as valedictorian.[3]

Kalanithi attended Stanford University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in English literature and a Bachelor of Science in human biology in 2000.[4] After Stanford, he attended the University of Cambridge, where he studied at Darwin College and graduated with a Master of Philosophy in the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine. Although he initially considered pursuing a Ph.D. in English Literature, Kalanithi then attended the Yale School of Medicine, where he graduated in 2007 cum laude, winning the Dr. Louis H. Nahum Prize for his research on Tourette’s syndrome.[5] He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society.

At Yale, Kalanithi met fellow medical student Lucy Goddard, who would become his wife.[4]

Career

After graduating from medical school, Kalanithi returned to Stanford to complete his residency training in neurosurgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at Stanford University School of Medicine.[4]

In May 2013, Kalanithi was diagnosed with metastatic stage IV non-small-cell EGFR-positive lung cancer.[4] [6] He died on March 9, 2015, aged 37.[4]

Personal life

Kalanithi was married to Lucy (née Goddard), with whom he had a daughter in 2014, Elizabeth Acadia ("Cady").[7] Lucy is an associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and wrote the epilogue to When Breath Becomes Air.[8] [9] [10] [11] She is the twin sister of Joanna Goddard of the blog A Cup of Jo.[12]

Although Kalanithi was raised in a devout Christian family, he turned away from the faith in his teens and twenties in favor of other ideas.[13] However, he retained "the central values of Christianity — sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness" and returned to Christianity later in his life. In his book, he writes that if he had been more religious in his youth, he would have become a pastor.[13]

He never smoked.[14]

Bibliography

Non-fiction books

Essays

Scholarly articles

Only first-authored articles are listed below

Notes and References

  1. News: Maslin. Janet. Review: In 'When Breath Becomes Air,' Dr. Paul Kalanithi Confronts an Early Death. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20220111213441/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/books/review-in-when-breath-becomes-air-dr-paul-kalanithi-confronts-an-early-death.html. 11 January 2022. New York Times. 6 January 2016 . 16 January 2016.
  2. News: Print and E-book Nonfiction . . 10 March 2016.
  3. Web site: Steele. Kim. Obituary: Paul Kalanithi. Daily Miner. 17 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160723032338/http://kdminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=167&subsectionID=468&articleID=65141. 23 July 2016. dead.
  4. Web site: Paul Kalanithi, writer and neurosurgeon, dies at 37. Rosanne. Spector. 11 March 2015. Stanford Medicine News. Stanford University School of Medicine.
  5. Web site: Reisz. Matthew. Paul Kalanithi, 1977–2015. Times Higher education. 16 January 2016. April 2015.
  6. Web site: Kalanithi. Paul. My Last Day as a Surgeon. 11 January 2016. New Yorker. 16 January 2016.
  7. Web site: Lucy Kalanithi: "Paul's view was that life wasn't about avoiding suffering". Lisa. O'Kelly. 14 February 2016. The Guardian.
  8. Web site: CAP Profile .
  9. Smith . Duncan . Lucy Kalanithi: Work, life, grief, love . BMJ . 25 April 2018 . k1220 . 10.1136/bmj.k1220. 13850394 .
  10. Web site: My Marriage Didn't End When I Became a Widow. Lucy. Kalanithi. 6 January 2016. The New York Times.
  11. Web site: Lucy Kalanithi. Stanford University School of Medicine. Stanford University School of Medicine.
  12. Web site: Goddard. Joanna. 2018-01-03. An Update on My Twin Sister. 2021-01-22. A Cup of Jo. en-US.
  13. Web site: Paul Kalanithi: Why I gave up on atheism. Paul. Kalanithi. 27 May 2016. Fox News. Fox News Network.
  14. Web site: Br . Michelle . For this doctor couple, the Super Bowl was about way more than football . Scope . 16 January 2022 . 12 February 2015.
  15. News: How Long Have I Got Left?. Kalanithi. Paul. 2014-01-24. The New York Times. 0362-4331. 2016-12-27.
  16. Web site: Kalanithi. Paul. Before I Go. 23 February 2015 . Stanford Medicine Magazine. 17 January 2016.
  17. News: My Last Day as a Surgeon. The New Yorker. 2016-01-11. 2016-02-22. 0028-792X. Paul. Kalanithi.
  18. Web site: Remembering Sherwin B. Nuland, the author of How We Die. Kalanithi. Paul. www.theparisreview.org. 2016-12-27. 2014-03-13.
  19. O'Shea. Daniel J.. Kalanithi. Paul. Ferenczi. Emily A.. Hsueh. Brian. Chandrasekaran. Chandramouli. Goo. Werapong. Diester. Ilka. Ramakrishnan. Charu. Kaufman. Matthew T.. 2018-04-30. Development of an optogenetic toolkit for neural circuit dissection in squirrel monkeys. Scientific Reports. 8. 1. 6775. 10.1038/s41598-018-24362-7. 2045-2322. 5928036. 29712920. 2018NatSR...8.6775O.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paul Kalanithi".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.