Sherwin B. Nuland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sherwin B. Nuland
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Shepsel Ber Nudelman
December 8, 1930 New York City, U.S.
|
| Died | March 3, 2014 (aged 83) Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
|
| Alma mater | Bronx High School of Science New York University Yale School of Medicine |
| Known for | How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter |
| Spouse(s) |
Sarah Peterson
(m. 1977) |
| Children | 4, including Victoria |
| Awards | 1994 National Book Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Surgeon, writer, educator |
| Institutions | Yale School of Medicine |
Sherwin Bernard Nuland (born Shepsel Ber Nudelman; December 8, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American surgeon and writer. He taught about bioethics (medical ethics), the history of medicine, and general medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. His 1994 book, How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, became a New York Times Best Seller. It also won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 2011, Dr. Nuland received the Jonathan Rhoads Gold Medal from the American Philosophical Society. This award was given for his "Distinguished Service to Medicine." He also wrote articles for famous magazines like The New Yorker and Time. He was a fellow at the Hastings Center, which is a group that studies medical ethics.
Sherwin Nuland was the father of Victoria Nuland. She is a well-known diplomat who served as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs for the United States government.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Education
Sherwin Nuland was born on December 8, 1930, in The Bronx, New York City. His birth name was Shepsel Ber Nudelman. His parents, Meyer Nudelman and Vitsche Lutsky, were immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father was a garment repairman.
He grew up in a traditional Jewish home. Later, he considered himself agnostic, meaning he wasn't sure if God existed, but he still went to synagogue. When he applied to college, he changed his name to Nuland. This was because he had seen his cousin face discrimination for being Jewish.
Nuland was a student at The Bronx High School of Science. He then went to New York University. After that, he studied at the Yale School of Medicine. There, he earned his M.D. degree. He also completed his training to become a surgeon.
Family and Personal Life
Sherwin Nuland had four children, two from each of his two marriages. At the time of his death, he lived in Connecticut with his second wife, Sarah Nuland. His daughter, Victoria Nuland, is a career foreign service officer. She served as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024.
Writing and Public Speaking
Dr. Nuland had a special interest in the topic of death. His 1994 book, How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, explored this subject. It won the National Book Award for nonfiction.
In 2001, he gave a TED Talk that was released in 2007. In this talk, Nuland shared his personal experience with severe depression in the early 1970s. He believed it was caused by his difficult childhood and the end of his first marriage.
When medicines didn't help, a brain surgery called a lobotomy was suggested. However, his doctor suggested electroshock therapy instead, which helped him recover. Years later, the head of TED, Chris Anderson, said Nuland's talk was "one of the most powerful moments" in the conference's history.
Nuland also taught at One Day University. In 2005, he gave a series of lectures for The Teaching Company's The Great Courses. These lectures were about the history of Western medicine. They were titled Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography.
Later Years and Death
Sherwin Nuland passed away on March 3, 2014. He died at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, from prostate cancer.
Books
- Doctors: The Biography of Medicine (New York: Knopf, 1988) ISBN: 0-679-76009-1
- Medicine: The Art of Healing (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. Distributed by Macmillan, 1992) ISBN: 0-88363-292-6
- How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter (New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1994) ISBN: 0-679-41461-4
- The Wisdom of the Body (New York: Knopf, 1997) ISBN: 0-679-44407-6
- How We Live (New York: Vintage Books, 1998) [originally published as The Wisdom of the Body in 1997] ISBN: 0-09-976761-9
- Leonardo Da Vinci (Penguin Lives) (New York: Viking, 2000) ISBN: 0-670-89391-9
- The Mysteries Within: A Surgeon Explores Myth, Medicine, and the Human Body (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000) ISBN: 0-684-85486-4
- The Doctors' Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever and the Strange Story of Ignac Semmelweis (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003) ISBN: 0-393-05299-0
- Lost in America: A Journey with My Father (New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2003) ISBN: 0-375-41294-8
- Maimonides (Jewish Encounters) (New York: Nextbook: Schocken, 2005) ISBN: 0-8052-4200-7
- The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being (New York: Random House, 2007) ISBN: 1-4000-6477-5
- The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine (New York: Random House, 2008) ISBN: 1-4000-6478-3
- The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside (New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2009) ISBN: 1-60714-055-1
