Blog

Sachin H. Jain: Every so often you read a book that you feel compelled to recommend it to everyone you know.

Photo of the book “My Father’s Brain.” from us.macmillan.com

Sep 11, 2023, 18:10

Sachin H. Jain: Every so often you read a book that you feel compelled to recommend it to everyone you know.

Quoting Sachin H. Jain, President and CEO of SCAN Group & Health Plan, on LinkedIn:

”’Every so often you read a book that you feel compelled to recommend it to everyone you know. That, most recently, for me was Sandeep Jauhar’s book, “My Father’s Brain.”

Sandeep is a cardiologist and physician-writer at Northwell Health. I first became aware of him when his writings began appearing in the The New York Times and also when he serendipitously became the personal physician of a close family member.

The book is about Sandeep’s personal and family journey as his father’s Alzheimer’s disease was diagnosed and progressed.

While the book is ostensibly about losing a parent to Alzheimer’s dementia (and does a great job explaining the basic neuroscience of dementia and its history), it is also about:

the perils of caregiving (regardless of the condition) and immigrant guilt about one’s obligations to one’s parents
challenging family dynamics amidst different values and goals of care
the bargaining one experiences when presented with an untreatable disease in oneself or a loved one
the personal crisis and denial one experiences when they are knowledgeable about a medical condition and experience it unfolding in a love one

Full disclosure — I’ve been a Sandeep fan since his first book about residency and continue to love his writing and his work.
If you’re not yet familiar with his work, you should be and you should invite him to speak at your company. He was gracious enough to hold a book club at SCAN and I know people loved the book and his candid perspectives.

Do yourself a favor and read “My Father’s Brain.” You won’t regret it.”

Source: Sachin H. Jain/LinkedIn