Sunshine

With remarkable insight and vulnerability, a leading cancer researcher distills the lessons for living that he's learned as a doctor and as a patient, after being diagnosed with his own terminal illness—based on his enormously popular Standford class.

Over the course of his twenty-year career, Dr. Bryant Lin treated many patients with lung cancer. He never smoked, and never imagined that he would be diagnosed with the same terrible disease. After cycling through the stages of grief and two rounds of chemo, he realized that his diagnosis presented an opportunity to learn. For the first time, he experienced the cancer diagnosis and the complexities of treatment as a patient, rather than a doctor. 

Determined to give back and to keep teaching, Dr. Lin created a course at Stanford Medical School called From Diagnosis to Dialog: A Doctor’s Real-Time Battle with Cancer, to share his experience with a terminal illness as both a doctor and a patient. The class was a sensation on campus and soon attracted international media attention.  

Now, Dr. Lin brings us into the classroom to offer us an inspiring exploration of how to live when you are dying. How can we prepare for intimidating medical news and navigate treatment? How can we find hope in the face of terminal diagnosis? In Sunshine, Dr. Lin offers both philosophical and scientifically grounded insights into how we can make the most out of life even in the most challenging moments.Dr. Bryant Lin is a primary care physician in Stanford’s Department of Medicine. In 2018, he co-founded (and currently co-directs) the Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE), to this day the only medical center among top universities in the U.S. committed to improving the health of Asian communities worldwide. In 2021, he was appointed the Director of Medical Humanities and Arts which supports diversity of educational programming and integrates philosophical and cultural teachings into medical students’ lives and careers. Sunshine is his first book.