Joseph Stern, MD
Author, Grief Connects Us:
A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion
ALC2024 Kickoff | Sunday, September 15
Propelled by his younger sister Victoria’s surprise diagnosis of acute leukemia, an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant, and later her death, followed by her husband Pat’s death from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, orphaning their two children, Dr. Joseph Stern has been exploring the impact her illness had on him, as well as the personal experiences of physicians and patients going through similarly disruptive losses. Victoria wrote a powerful journal about her nearly eight-month hospitalization, which Dr. Stern has incorporated into a memoir: “Grief Connects Us: A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion,” published by Central Recovery Press in 2021.
In this book, Dr. Stern advocates for greater compassion and empathy in the way we treat each other and our patients and makes specific suggestions of how we can improve health care delivery to achieve these goals. In his TED Talk he discusses the importance of abandoning emotional armor in favor of greater emotional agility.
Dr. Stern earned undergraduate and medical school degrees, as well as completed internship and residency, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has trained in Palliative Care through Harvard Medical School. He is Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He teaches medical students and directs the “Medical Humanities” program at Cone Health in Greensboro, NC. He practiced Neurosurgery through Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates (CNSA) and co-directed the Cone Health Cancer Center Brain Tumor Program.
Articles and Essays by Dr. Stern
The New York Times
- “Grief as My Guide: How My Sister Made Me a Better Doctor,” Nov. 14, 2018
- “Moral Distress in Neurosurgery,” Aug. 15, 2019
- “Dying in the Neurosurgical ICU,” Jan. 14, 202
The Washington Post
- “You See the Best of Us Now: What we are learning about ourselves and each other during the pandemic,” May 18, 2020
- “As a doctor, I’m Trying to have more empathy for my patients—and myself,” May 29, 2021
- “Tackling racial disparities in cancer care by creating new ways for institutions to operate,” Nov. 29, 202
World Neurosurgery
- “Compassion Belongs in the Operating Room,” 132: 441-442, October 201
Journal of Palliative Medicine