Abraham Verghese (born 1955) is an American physician, author, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine and Vice Chair of Education at Stanford University Medical School. He is also the author of four best-selling books: two memoirs and two novels. In 2011, he was elected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine. He received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2015. He is the co-host with Eric Topol of the podcast Medscape Medicine and the Machine.He was born in Ethiopia to Christian parents from Kerala, India, who worked as teachers. In 2009, Knopf published his first novel, Cutting for Stone. In 2010, Random House published the paperback version of the book and it rose on the bestseller charts, achieving a rank of #2 on The New York Times trade paperback fiction list on March 13, 2011. It remained on The New York Times list for well over two years. Over a decade later, his new novel The Covenant of Water was published in May 2023 by Grove Atlantic, promptly becoming an Oprah’s Book Club pick. In 2014, Verghese received the 19th Annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities. Source: Wikipedia (en)