Virtual Event: David Weill

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes pulmonologist, organ transplant specialist, and patient advocate DAVID WEILL for a discussion of his book Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant. He will be joined in conversation by acclaimed physician and author DANIELLE OFRI, founder and editor-in-chief of Bellevue Literary Review.

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While payment is not required, we are suggesting a $5 contribution to support this author series, our staff, and the future of Harvard Book Store—a locally owned, independently run Cambridge institution. In addition, by purchasing a copy of Exhale on harvard.com, you support indie bookselling and the writing community during this difficult time.

About Exhale

A young father with a rare form of lung cancer who has been turned down for a transplant by several hospitals. A kid who was considered not “smart enough” to be worthy of a transplant. A young mother dying on the waiting list in front of her two small children. A father losing his oldest daughter after a transplant goes awry. The nights waiting for donor lungs to become available, understanding that someone needed to die so that another patient could live.

These are some of the stories in Exhale, a memoir about Dr. Weill’s ten years spent directing the lung transplant program at Stanford. Through these stories, he shows not only the miracle of transplantation, but also how it is a very human endeavor performed by people with strengths and weaknesses, powerful attributes, and profound flaws.

Exhale is an inside look at the world of high-stakes medicine, complete with the decisions that are confronted, the mistakes that are made, and the story of a transplant doctor’s slow recognition that he needed to step away from the front lines. This book is an exploration of holding on too tight, of losing one’s way, and of the power of another kind of decision—to leave behind everything for a fresh start.

Praise for Exhale

“Maturing from a hard-driving transplant doctor into a more compassionate clinician who finally allows himself to feel the anguish of the patients and their family, Dr. Weill finds he must confront his own unrelenting focus on treatment success. This is a riveting read.” —Laurence M. Westreich, M.D, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine

"Exhale should be read by every doctor—and by anyone—who stays up too late and works too much" —Philip C. Breen, MD, PhD

“Exhale is a compelling exploration of the beguiling world of transplantation. David Weill cranks up the hood to show us the engine—the stunning technological wizardry and the towering human dedication, as well as the oil-stained innards of profit and ego. You won’t look at your lungs in the same way again!" —Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error