Book Review - The Masters of Medicine by Andrew Lam, MD

Andrew Lam is an ophthalmologist and retina specialist practicing in Western Massachusetts who studied history as an undergraduate at Yale. His passion for and knowledge of history is evident in his latest work. This is his fifth book with two of his other publications being historical novels. In this survey of medical history, Dr. Lam chronicles humanity’s battles against the leading entities which have been complicit in shortening our lifespans and causing human suffering. He indicts seven of mankind’s medical challenges, devoting a section each to heart disease, diabetes, bacterial infection, viral infection, cancer, trauma, and childbirth.

In each section the collaboration of the physician and historian inhabiting the same mind is obvious as Dr. Lam skillfully introduces each section with an anecdote involving a notable individual from history pitted in a struggle against a health challenge. He briefly discusses the essential science, and where appropriate, the medical physiology and anatomy necessary to understand the disease process or medical challenge, and in the case of heart disease enhances the explanation with diagrams. His storytelling maintains our interest with the tales behind each medical discovery or invention, tales which display the competitive and sometimes adversarial nature of the great individuals who advanced health science.

Dr. Lam emphasizes the often-serendipitous nature of medical discoveries which may not have been realized were it not for a fortuitous combination of necessary conditions as in the case of Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, the assistant’s error allowing for Pasteur’s development of a vaccine against cholera in chickens, and the sequelae of a deadly World War II bombing which inspired the development of nitrogen mustard as the first cancer treating chemotherapeutic agent. Dr. Lam writes of the determination of individuals who persisted in their work, despite headwinds of rejection and skepticism, to solve medical dilemmas. Examples are Werner Forssmann who utilized chicanery to give him access to materials which allowed him to catheterize his own heart in developing cardiac catheterization, Frederick Banting who continued research to isolate insulin despite lukewarm support from his supervisor, and Katalin Kariko’s decades long work on m-RNA in the trenches of the medical research establishment which ultimately resulted in the breakthrough culminating in the m-RNA vaccine for COVID-19. The stories revealing the humanity underlying the work to resolve each of the medical challenges make this a tremendously enjoyable book which I recommend to the lay reader without medical background as well as healthcare professionals who will gain from learning about how our various medical fields evolved.

Peter Zacharia is an ophthalmologist in private practice in Worcester who has been on the editorial board of Worcester Medicine for several years.