Adam was a physician before he was ever a patient. In 2018, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of kidney cancer, leading to a new perspective from the intersection of patients and doctors. He has written extensively on this topic, and these are some of his published essays.
Breakthrough in brain stimulation offers cautious hope for depression
Breakthrough in brain stimulation offers cautious hope for depression
You may already be living the life of your childhood dreams
A perspective piece written for Psychology Today
My Incurable Cancer Compels Me to Imagine How My Sons Might Look After I’m Gone
Moms Don’t Have Time to Grieve Essay on the complexities of anticipatory grief
The best medical memoirs that will make your heart ache with emotion
Adam’s recommendations for the 5 best medical memoirs.
Stories Help Me Cope With My Cancer. They Can Help Us Through The Pandemic
Cognoscenti section on the ways that narrative can help heal our shared trauma.
Hope: Why it matters
From the tenuous bonds that connect us with one another to the ever-present vulnerability we share as humans in a chaotic world, our lives are forever saturated in the possibility of catastrophe.
My Son Is Too Young to Understand My Cancer Diagnosis—So We Turn to the Cosmos
Staring up at the leaves swaying in the invisible breeze, my mind imagined the radiation that had passed equally quietly through my body, transposing images of my organs to the radiologist behind the glass.
Seeking solace, finding resilience in a pandemic
In times like these, it can feel wrong to feel happy. There is so much suffering in the world that appreciating the goodness that still exists can seem unempathic, if not altogether futile.
Mindfulness of the Moment as an Antidote to Emotional Death Spiraling
Remaining in the current moment is a good way to avoid toxic negative thoughts.
Nothing but Time
A father with metastatic kidney cancer embraces moments with his 3-year-old son while pondering how he’ll be remembered.
Do Something: The Importance of Patient Advocacy in Healthcare
A call to arms for advocacy.
Chasing My Shadow as a Cancer Patient in Talk Therapy
Chasing my shadow as a cancer patient in therapy.
Feeding the Beast: Could Eating the Right Diet Starve Cancers Like Mine?
An exploration with science writer Dana G. Smith at Elemental about the nutrition of cancer and the lack of good evidence-based approaches.
I see you, but don't ask me how I'm doing
A piece on the flippant ways we ask about each other and a request to be more genuine in everyday interactions.
‘The most peaceful sleep’: Cancer is nudging me to picture dying in a new way
Exploring the concept of death as a peaceful experience.
The not-so-terrible twos
About navigating a serious illness with the only person in my orbit who doesn’t know anything about it: my little boy.
Cancer At Passover Makes Me Feel Like The Seder’s Simple Child — And That’s Okay
Revisiting the story of the four children as a way of understanding my place in the Jewish community as someone struggling with the faith.
Lessons From Behind the Curtain
Exploring the lessons I wish I could learn from those who have traveled this cancer road before me.
Lessons From Behind the Curtain
This piece explores the massive serendipity that both allows us to live and also threatens our lives, and the persistence needed to overcome the biggest obstacles.