The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age

Robert Wachter in conversation with Abraham Verghese

Join us for a very special evening with Drs. Robert Wachter and Abraham Verghese as they discuss Wachter's new book, The Digital Doctor, a tempered view of where the field of medicine is headed, what medicine is going to look like in an increasingly digital and technological landscape, the pitfalls and advantages of the landscape, the true hype of electronic health records, and what truly needs to be done to overhaul our healthcare system, told by a seasoned insider, not a politician.

It's a very different viewpoint from another book we held an event for earlier this year, Eric Topol's, The Patient Will See You Now. Dr. Wachter's view is that no amount of digitization will take the place of doctors who can see beyond just data. Written with a rare combination of compelling stories and hard-hitting analysis by one of the nation's most thoughtful physicians, The Digital Doctor examines healthcare at the dawn of its computer age. It tackles the hard questions, from how technology is changing care at the bedside to whether government intervention has been useful or destructive. And it does so with clarity, insight, humor, and compassion. Ultimately, it is a hopeful story.

Robert M. Wachter, MD is Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine at UC San Francisco, where he directs the 60-physician Division of Hospital Medicine. Author of 250 articles and 6 books, he coined the term "hospitalist" in 1996 and is generally considered the "father" of the hospitalist field, the fastest growing specialty in the history of modern medicine. In 2004, he received the John M. Eisenberg Award, the nation's top honor in patient safety. For the past seven years, Modern Healthcare magazine has named him one of the 50 most influential physician-executives in the U.S., the only academic physician to receive this recognition.

Abraham Verghese is an internationally popular author and a prominent voice in medicine with a uniquely humanistic view of the future of healthcare. His memoirs and novels on medical themes have sold millions of copies, been translated into many languages and topped bestseller lists, while his New York Times articles, making the case for greater physician focus on the patient in an era of technology advances in medicine, have made waves in the medical community. His most recent novel, Cutting for Stone, was a runaway hit, topping the New York Times bestseller list for over two years and quickly optioned for a movie. His first book, My Own Country, a memoir about treating AIDS in rural Tennessee, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for 1994 and was made into a movie. His second book, The Tennis Partner, was a New York Times notable book and another bestseller. His highly anticipated upcoming novel, The Maramon Convention, is currently scheduled for publication in 2015.