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BECOMING A PHYSICIAN Previous Volume 352:1844-1847 May 5, 2005 Number 18 Next

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I grew up in Africa, the younger of two sons of Indian parents who taught college physics. Around the time that my brother's precocious ability with numbers was revealing itself, I discovered that I had no head for math — or for any other subject in the school curriculum.

Middle-class Indian parents worshipped the professions, and only three existed for them: medicine, engineering, and law. When my brother announced, while still in short pants, that he was going to be an engineer, my parents' joy was astonishing to behold. Nothing I had ever said had produced such a reaction. I . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Dr. Verghese is a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio.

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