This book is a synopsis of Professor Sedaghat's early years in Iran, his father's decision to leave that country for the United Kingdom in 1949, the graphic details of his education at a boarding school in Yorkshire and his arrival at St. Mary's Hospital in London to study medicine in 1959.
Following graduation, four years later, he was trained in Anesthesia, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pathology before returning to St. Mary's Hospital School of Medicine as a Registrar in Internal Medicine. Having obtained his MRCP, he went to America's Cornell University Medical Center in New York, where he noted the superiority of training in postgraduate education. He obtained his boards in Internal Medicine and spent several years doing research in lipid metabolism at the famous Rockefeller University in New York.
Professor Sedaghat returned to Iran and joined the faculty of Shiraz Medical Center's Department of Medicine in 1974, providing much needed teaching in Internal Medicine to the students and residents. Four years later, he returned to the USA on his sabbatical where he carried out research on the mechanism of gallstone formation at San Diego's VA Medical Center. The study was published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" in 1980. He then spent several years in the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, where he won first prize for his grand rounds presentation in 1984. In 1990, he was made Chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the VA Medical Center, a position he held for 16 years. During this period, the section increased from 5 to 40 physicians of high caliber, providing excellent care to many veterans.
During these years, Professor Sedaghat was presented with multiple teaching and leadership awards. He leaves a legacy of bedside patient evaluation with empathy, selective and relevant testing, diagnostic acumen, and his love of teaching clinical medicine. The escalating cost of healthcare and lack of medical insurance in millions of Americans is highlighted.
