Welcome to Beyond the Stethoscope!
Reflections on Medicine, Psychology, Science, Faith, and the Human Condition
Some of the most important things we learn about medicine, psychology, and the human condition cannot be found in a textbook, measured in a laboratory, or captured in a diagnostic code. They emerge from years of caring for people, wrestling with difficult questions, challenging conventional wisdom, and occasionally discovering that what we thought we knew was not quite the whole story.
Welcome to Beyond the Stethoscope, a collection of essays, reflections, and occasional provocations from four colleagues who share a deep commitment to medicine, science, faith, and, above all, the dignity of the human person. I am delighted to be sharing this endeavor with three extraordinary physician colleagues from the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds): Dr. Michelle Cretella, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, and Dr. Russell Gombosi. I have known these wonderful physicians for years, and my admiration for them has only grown. Each brings a remarkable depth of knowledge, clinical experience, intellectual courage, and genuine compassion to the work they do. They are physicians for whom I have the highest professional and personal regard, and I consider it a privilege to call them colleagues and friends.
Our backgrounds are different, our experiences are varied, and our individual voices are distinctly our own. But we share something important: a conviction that good medicine and good psychology require more than technical proficiency. They require wisdom, curiosity, humility, moral courage, and a willingness to see the whole person rather than simply the diagnosis. And, as anyone who knows me will appreciate, we are not particularly interested in avoiding difficult questions just because they might make someone uncomfortable!
Here you will find essays exploring the developing brain, the practice of medicine, psychological healing, medical ethics, the challenges confronting children and families, spirituality, faith, and the remarkable complexity of being human. Some reflections will be deeply scientific. Others will be personal, philosophical, or unapologetically provocative. Still others may simply invite you to reconsider something you have long taken for granted.
We do not expect to agree on every issue, nor do we expect our readers to agree with everything we write. That is part of the adventure. Our hope is to encourage thoughtful reflection, honest inquiry, and meaningful conversation rather than simply add more noise to an already noisy world.
This collection is also the beginning of something larger. We are collaborating on a forthcoming book, Beyond the Stethoscope, which will bring many of these ideas together in a more enduring form. This webpage offers a place to share our developing reflections, explore important questions, and invite you into the conversation along the way.
At this stage of my life, I have come to appreciate something that matters just as much as the work itself: the people with whom we get to do it. Scholarship is rewarding. Clinical practice is meaningful. Writing is a joy. But sharing those pursuits with colleagues whom you genuinely respect and enjoy makes the journey all the richer.
So pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and spend a little time with us. We intend to be thoughtful, occasionally provocative, hopefully inspiring, and perhaps even a little entertaining along the way.
After all, there is a great deal more to medicine, psychology, and life than what we can see through a stethoscope.
Welcome aboard. We are glad you are here.
