Halsted R. Holman and the Struggle for the Soul of Medicine was originally conceived as a biography of a great academic leader in the US. Hal Holman was considered a charismatic figure, a brilliant bench scientist, an innovative educator for emerging clinician scientists, a mentor to many leaders in American medicine, and a beloved physician. He was also a change agent who challenged injustice and arrogance during a time of social unrest in America, and he took others to a vision they could have never imagined.

Holman batted over .500 as a UCLA baseball star, was enticed by professional baseball, led the Association of Interns and Medical Students and the International Union of Students, was shadowed by the FBI, was stripped of his passport while overseas, and made a major scientific discovery all before the age of 35—when he became the youngest Chief of Medicine ever in 1960. With less than a dozen faculty and a new physical plant, he helped build Stanford University into an international academic powerhouse from its roots as a regional institution.

In the initial development of the manuscript, we were asked, “Why are you writing this?” by many who were trying to help, including, by the subject himself. They probably still remained unsure after they were told. In the second year of the project, we switched to another concept and started over again, à la Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie.” However, this format did not appeal to us, so we revisited the idea that Dr. Brian Hoffman had first suggested: highlighting the critical events in US healthcare over the period of almost a century and Holman’s attempts to redress them.

These changes in US healthcare included the medical education reform after the Flexner Report of 1910, the rapid growth of medicine’s scientific basis and technologic capacity, increasing costs, and the specialization of medical care. Holman’s responses were singular—humanitarian, principled, action-oriented, evidence-driven, collaborative with patients, and skeptical that technology will solve all ills and that only experts can solve the problems.

Then, on November 6, 2016, we awoke at 3 am to sobbing over the surprise election of Donald Trump and, increasingly, to a world about which we knew little. In fact, that world of his handlers and aggrieved supporters was one we had either demeaned, dismissed, demonized, or ignored.

We tossed the last two chapters about the fate of the Affordable Care Act that Trump vowed to end. Our writing took on a new urgency as we saw Holman’s story and discussions with him as a way for us to understand what was happening and what could be done. Riveted to daily accounts of unbelievable events and behavior, we felt we could not keep up our narrative and intentionally ended it at the 2022 Inauguration.

That was before the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2022. The rule of law, democracy, and truth itself were being violently threatened by another wave of authoritarian leaders worldwide. COVID-19, an acute challenge, aggravated numerous slow-motion disasters and the social determinants of health. Seemingly small, almost petty assertions, distortions, and lies unanswered fester and grow. In the absence of them being called out for inconsistency, inaccuracy, or errors, they are replaced by disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda.

As the book progressed, we lost many such persons who called out. Two quotes, one of uncertain vintage and author, came to mind:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

…and…

“A man dies, a baby cries”

Unknown

Wonderful people, with questions and acts, cut through the lies, the haze, and tortuous justifications for self-interest, selfishness and made each person they met feel they were the center of the world.

Rosemarie Seiler-Wehrli, Diethelm Prowe, Gary Prowe, Tom Lansdale, Jack Geiger, Ron Tompkins, Martin Vosseler, Bernie Lown, Jeremiah Stamler, Sam Strober, Jim Fries, Fred Hiatt, Paul Farmer, and John Charles Phillips II—truth seekers all—have passed away during our project; Teo Yuan Liang was born on March 28, 2021.

Matthew H. Liang is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A founding faculty of General Medicine and Primary Care at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Clinical Effectiveness Program at Harvard’s School of Public Health, he is recipient of the Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize, the American College of Rheumatology Award of Distinction for Clinical Research, the Kirkland Scholar Award, the Wallace Epstein Award, and the Marian Ropes Award, among others.

Edward R. Lew is a graduate of Middlesex Community College and is completing a degree in Legal Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has worked as a Research Analyst at the US Department of Veterans Affairs for a nationwide clinical trial in suicide prevention, and he aspires to serve in government to empower oppressed groups and individuals.

Halsted R. Holman and the Struggle for the Soul of Medicine is available now in Hardback at a 25% discount. Enter code PROMO25 at checkout to redeem.

Read Extract