How did this book come about?
 
The authors, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and David R. Shlim, M.D., became friends during the 15 years that Dr. Shlim ran the world’s busiest destination travel medicine clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was the abbot of a large Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Dr. Shlim became interested in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and found that this training was extremely useful in helping him take better care of patients. He asked Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche to come to the United States and teach a course on Medicine and Compassion for doctors and nurses. The first course was held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in September 2000. A second course was offered in June 2002.

Dr. Shlim recorded and transcribed the lectures at both courses and edited them into the current book, Medicine and Compassion. The book features an introduction by Dr. Shlim on the current problems of providing compassionate care in modern medicine, and how this book addresses these issues. The book also features a forward by Harvey Fineberg, M.D., PhD, the former head of the Harvard School of Public Health, and now the President of the Institute of Medicine, the nation’s highest public health think tank. Donald Fineberg, M.D. co-wrote the foreword. Click here to read the foreword to Medicine and Compassion.