Indian-American to receive National Humanities Medal

US President Barack Obama would confer the honour upon Verghese, along with 11 others, and the recipients of 2015 National Medal of Arts at ceremony on September 21. Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, 61-yearold Verghese has authored several acclaimed books, including “My Own Country” and “Cutting for Stone”. In a statement, the White House on Wednesday said Verghese has been given the award for reminding “us” that the patient is the centre of the medical enterprise. “His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities, from his efforts to emphasise empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama,” the White House said. 

“Abraham Verghese is not only an exemplary clinician, he is an exemplary humanist,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. “Every day in the classroom, he teaches his students that professions such as medicine benefit from an understanding of the human condition. We are so proud that his breadth of scholarship has been recognised with this honour,” Tessier-Lavigne said. 

Inaugurated in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honours individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities website. Up to 12 medals are awarded each year. “I am humbled and excited by this honour,” Verghese said in a statement issued by the Stanford University. He completed his education at the Madras Medical College. Verghese is known for his emphasis on empathy for patients in an era in which technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine, the university said in a statement.