Archives de catégorie : Medecine

OUTSMARTING CANCER d’Adam Barsouk

OUTSMARTING CANCER aims to share the history and latest data on cancer prevention interwoven with narratives of patients that have inspired Dr. Adam Barsouk to see oncology in a new light.

OUTSMARTING CANCER:
Risk Reduction and the Power of Prevention
by Adam Barsouk, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University Press, Winter 2026
(via Vertical Ink)

Dr. Adam Barsouk will break down the most common risk factors for cancer worldwide, sharing historical anecdotes, the latest epidemiological statistics, and studies on the best lifestyle and public health interventions, all interspersed with patient narratives and personal anecdotes. In sharing his patients’ and his family’s stories, Dr. Barsouk gives cancer a face and prevention the urgency it deserves. While virtually every cancer prevention book on the market today focuses on a specific type of diet that people should follow to avoid getting cancer, Dr. Barsouk takes a much broader approach, dealing with a wide variety of cancer risk factors and how to avoid them practically in people’s everyday lives. Dr. Barsouk’s writing and storytelling ability is on par with Dr. Atul Gawande or even an Dr. Oliver Sachs, and he is able to relate the humanity and pain and tragedy and triumph that he has seen firsthand through the stories of not only his patients, but also his own family, and translate the science of cancer into relatable and practical everyday advice.

Adam Barsouk, M.D.’s medical journey began at a young age, when in the 2010’s he acted as his Ukrainian grandparents’ translator at the cancer clinic in Pittsburgh where they both received treatment for rare blood cancers which were, in all likelihood, due to exposure to radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. After they passed, Adam knew he wanted to continue to change lives through medicine, and he started volunteering with cancer patients and in cancer research labs at the University of Pittsburgh. Working with patients, he got to translate not just Russian or Spanish, but also the complex science of oncology to ordinary people in need. He became their advocate, and he continued that advocacy by publishing articles in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, the DailyMail, and more, and through numerous appearances on television to talk about healthcare and policy. He went on to graduate summa cum laude from the accelerated undergraduate medical program at Penn State University, and top of his class from Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is currently a resident physician in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he rotates in the oncology ward and clinic.

WIR SUPERHELDINNEN de Dorothee Biener

What the female body does so exceptionally, and how there is much more to it than we suspect.

WIR SUPERHELDINNEN
(We Superheroines)
by Dorothee Biener
Penguin Germany, March 2025

Gynecologist Dr. Dorothee Biener is always surprised at how little most women, young and old, know about their bodies. Yet every woman’s body is a true marvel!

In her book, she describes just how the female body operates and what extraordinary powers it has. This includes in short, all of fascinating and unexpected things that makes women superheroes and each woman so special. The author also explains what is important at every age and what women should definitely be aware of according to their stage of life. She also focuses on female diseases – how to identify them and what can be done to prevent them – as well as explaining and dispelling the many myths still out there.

Female sexuality is just as much a topic as are interesting cases from the gynecologist’s practice. In an entertaining, accessible and trustworthy way, Dorothee Biener offers deep and comprehensive insights into the miracle of the female body and everything you need to know about it, as well as a guide to a healthy, happy, and mindful life along with it.

• Amazing facts, debunked myths, and fascinating cases from a gynecologist’s practice

Dorothee Biener holds a degree in biology and a doctorate in gynecology. She has worked for many years in gynecology in hospitals and practices, and has been conducting research into breast cancer and gene distribution in the cell nucleus. While her scientific mind is dedicated to research into the fantastic female body, her heart belongs to her patients and anyone else who wants to explore the marvelous topic of womanhood. WIR SUPERHELDINNEN is her first non-fiction book.

RISING UP de Brennan Spiegel

As long as life has existed on Earth—from the simplest organisms to Homo sapiens—gravity has inexorably shaped our world.

RISING UP
How Gravity Shapes Our Bodies and Minds
by Brennan Spiegel
St. Martin’s Press, Fall 2025
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

Although this hidden force strains every fiber of our bodies, every moment of our lives, we often neglect its relentless impact on our health. But to what extent does gravity shape our sensations, our emotions, and our overall wellbeing? The answers will astonish you.

In RISING UP, Professor Brennan Spiegel presents a groundbreaking exploration into how gravity influences not just celestial bodies, but also underlies conditions of body and mind that have puzzled medical professionals for centuries. Beginning with a simple observation at a family dinner and culminating in a landmark study by the author that garnered worldwide attention, RISING UP invites you on a captivating journey through the human body’s inner struggle to keep us upright and healthy.

Why do people with depression literally feel like they’re being dragged to the ground? Why do you get that butterfly feeling in your stomach when falling on a rollercoaster? Why do you get it when “falling” in love? What can we learn from astronauts with heartburn and swollen faces to inform our lives back on Earth? How do gut microbes help us fight gravity? And most important, just how do we change our relationship with gravity for the better?

In answering these questions, Spiegel unveils the concept of “gravity resilience” and introduces the “personal gravity profile” to help readers understand gravity’s imprint on their own mind and body. Understanding your profile can illuminate why certain activities feel more challenging or why you might experience discomfort in situations where gravity’s influence is altered, like on a rollercoaster, or during a yoga class, or up in an airplane.

Moreover, he introduces a new way of thinking about weight loss, exercise, diet, and meditation. Rather than just being lifestyle choices, these treatments are united by a profound and unexpected commonality: they all enhance our resilience to gravity. Throughout the book, Spiegel offers additional practices for withstanding gravity’s demands.

Equally rooted in hard science and compelling storytelling, Rising Up turns a new page in our understanding of what it means to be a human living on Earth. This isn’t merely a book about medicine or science; it’s a startling revelation about the very essence of the human condition.

Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, is the Dorothy and George Gourrich Chair in Digital Health Ethics at Cedars-Sinai, Assistant Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Founding Director of the Cedars-Sinai Master’s Program in Health Delivery Science. He is the immediate past Editor-in-Chief for the American Journal of Gastroenterology and inaugural Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Medical Extended Reality. Dr. Spiegel has published widely in the fields of health services research, digital health science, and clinical medicine with 280 peer-reviewed manuscripts that have been cited over 23,700 times in the biomedical literature.

THE CAVE d’Amani Ballour

Written in the tradition of I Am Malala and based on the Oscar-nominated documentary The Cave, this searing memoir tells the inspiring story of a young doctor and activist who ran an underground hospital in Damascus, illuminating and humanizing the enduring crisis in Syria.

THE CAVE
A Secret Underground Hospital and One Woman’s Story of Survival in Syria
by Amani Ballour, M.D.
National Geographic, March 2024
(via Kaplan/DeFiore)

Growing up in Assad’s Syria, Dr. Ballour knew she wanted to be more than a housewife, even as her siblings were married off in their teens. As the revolution unfolded, she volunteered at a local clinic and was immediately thrown into the deep end of emergency medicine. Here, she found her voice and the courage to continue.

Among the facets of this powerful tale: Becoming a hospital director. Shielding children from a horrific sarin attack. Losing colleagues. Starvation during the hospital siege. Attempting to employ more women in the hospital and challenging the patriarchy. Abandoning the hospital. Becoming a refugee. Living with trauma. Moving forward.

Amani Ballour is a role model and a game changer who, like Malala Yousafzai, will be remembered as one of history’s great heroines. She is an incredibly brave, passionately committed young humanitarian who, though deeply wounded by her experiences, is not content to quietly deal with her own trauma. Instead, Ballour is determined to seek justice and to do her utmost to ensure that others will not have to face the horrors that she survived.

Rania Abouzeid is a multi-award-winning Lebanese-Australian journalist who has reported from across the Middle East for some two decades. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Time magazine, National Geographic, and other outlets. She lives in Beirut, Lebanon.

THE CAVE d’Amani Ballour

THE CAVE:
A Woman’s Story of Survival in Syria
by Amani Ballour
National Geographic, March 2024
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Simply put, there is no one in Syria with a story like Dr. Amani Ballour. The only woman to have ever run a wartime hospital, she saved her peers from the atrocities of war while contending with the patriarchal conservatism around her.
Growing up in Assad’s Syria, Dr. Ballour knew she wanted to be more than a housewife, even as her siblings were married off in their teens. As the revolution unfolded, she volunteered at a local clinic and was immediately thrown into the deep end of emergency medicine. Here, she found her voice and the courage to continue.
Among the facets of this powerful tale: Becoming a hospital director. Shielding children from a horrific sarin attack. Losing colleagues. Starvation during the hospital siege. Attempting to employ more women in the hospital and challenging the patriarchy. Abandoning the hospital. Becoming a refugee. Living with trauma. Moving forward.
Amani Ballour is a role model and a game changer who, like Malala Yousafzai, will be remembered as one of history’s great heroines. She is an incredibly brave, passionately committed young humanitarian who, though deeply wounded by her experiences, is not content to quietly deal with her own trauma. Instead, Ballour is determined to seek justice and to do her utmost to ensure that others will not have to face the horrors that she survived.

Amani Ballour graduated from the University of Damascus in 2012. She began her pediatrics specialization before abandoning her studies to help the people of her hometown, under attack from the Assad regime, in an underground medical facility known as The Cave. In 2018, as Assad’s forces closed in, Ballour was forcibly displaced to northern Syria before settling in the United States with her husband in 2021. She is the recipient of the Council of Europe’s prestigious Raoul Wallenberg Prize. She lives in Patterson, New Jersey.
Rania Abouzeid is a multi-award-winning Lebanese-Australian journalist who has reported from across the Middle East for some two decades. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Time magazine, National Geographic, and other outlets. She lives in Beirut, Lebanon.