I oversee clinical care, research, and education for Michigan Medicine, which includes the medical school and University of Michigan Health, an $8 billion organization. I also continue to provide patient care and teaching in cardiology and participate in research on the causes of heart disease.

A highlight of previous Alumni Association trips has been the chance to discuss some of the exciting initiatives we are advancing to improve care. These include:

• Emerging therapies for common diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, and the use of new types of medications, such as those that use RNA technology
• How we are responding to the many “disrupters” that will impact health care in the near future — what are these and how “real” is what they promise?
• The benefits and drawbacks of mass collection of medical records, including privacy concerns
• How much of my novel “Coded to Kill” (see below) is grounded in reality?

Fun Fact
Some of you may have thought about writing a book — a novel, memoir, or maybe a family history. Here’s how I turned that dream into a published reality.

One day, nearly 20 years ago, a new patient came to my cardiology clinic. After a few visits, he brought me a copy of “The Firm” by John Grisham. I had not read any of his novels and was immediately hooked. This patient, who became a friend as many patients do, could have been one of Grisham’s characters — an attorney who had fallen on hard times and who was clawing his way back.

About five years later, after reading every Grisham, David Baldacci, Michael Crichton, and Robin Cook novel I could get my hands on, I decided I wanted to write a medical thriller. After 15 years of early morning and weekend writing, I completed my debut novel and found an agent and a publisher. That medical thriller, “Coded to Kill,” was published last year.

Set in a fictional hospital, “Coded to Kill” describes the promise and peril of cutting-edge medical technology through a story filled with murder, mayhem, and a little romance. I took up fiction writing as a form of creative revenge — when people really aggravated me at work, I turned them into nefarious characters. But mainly, I enjoyed weaving aspects of my medical experiences into the novel, along with some of my favorite places in Texas — where I grew up — and in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina. Writing was pure escapism from whatever the day had thrown at me. I had found a hobby that I really loved.