When Adam Grant, the author of the book Give and Take and professor at the Wharton School of Business, defined givers as someone who strives to be generous in sharing their time, energy, knowledge, and skills with other people who might benefit from them, he must have been talking about today’s guest, Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran.
She is a pediatric resident and health journalist, who has written for publications like The New York Times, The Walrus, The Atavist, The Boston Globe, ABC News, and the Huffington Post. She also served as a fellow in global journalism at the Munk School of Global Affairs.
In addition, this multi-talented woman has launched a start up, trained as a yoga instructor, and holds a Masters in Public Health. She has even published a children’s book.
True to being a giver, she shared her time with me by meeting me at a bookstore in New York City to drop knowledge on how she became a writer, how she crafts her stories, and where she believes the future of medicine lies. I felt inspired after our conversation, and I bet you will too.
Show Notes
- (00:02:23): Tell us about your path into journalism
- (00:03:36): Medical journalism vs the medical memoir
- (00:05:24): How did the Global Journalism Fellowship at the Munk School of Global Affairs prepare you for working as a writer?
- (00:06:55): How do you decide when a story is worth pursuing?
- (00:08:01): Do you start working on a story before you pitch it?
- (00:08:56): Did you always enjoy writing?
- (00:10:46): Why do you write?
- (00:11:30): How did you even break into writing?
- (00:12:55): What is your writing process?
- (00:14:09): How do you pitch your articles?
- (00:16:05): What is your philosophy on creativity?
- (00:19:33): How did you report from Japan on forest bathing?
- (00:23:18): How did you research and write “Losing Conner’s Mind” for The Atavist?
- (00:34:06): Writing about one’s own patients
- (00:38:02): Talking about curiosity in medicine
- (00:46:36): Lessons from launching a start up
- (00:52:53): Who do you look up to?
- (00:58:38): What books have made the biggest impact on you?
- (01:03:43): What are your next projects?
Selected Links
- Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran Twitter: @DrAmithaMD
- Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran Instagram: @DrAmithaMD
- Amitha Kalaichandran Contently
- Why I Write: My Antibiography – Huffington Post Canada
- Take A Walk In The Woods. Doctor’s Orders – The NY Times
- Design Thinking for Doctors and Nurses – The NY Times
- Losing Conner’s Mind – The Atavist
- Doctor’s Should Have Open Conversations With Patients About Alternative Therapies – Stat News
- How Much of a Doctor’s Intuition Is Gut Feeling – The Walrus
- Cancer’s Invasion Equation by Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Munk School of Global Affairs
- Narrative medicine
People Mentioned
- Sanjay Gupta
- Sandeep Jauhar
- Atul Gawande
- Danielle Ofri
- Oliver Sacks
- Adam Grant
- Bon Ku
- Adam Hayden
- Robert Sternzsus
- Sarah Stillman
- Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Tim Ferriss
- Ryan Holiday
Books
- Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Originals by Adam Grant
- A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Mastering Civility by Christine L. Porath
Music
Music by Lee Rosevere – Sad Marimba Planet from freemusicarchive.org
“This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
– Adam Grant (Give and Take)