The history of medicine is replete with advances made by hard-working maverick doctors who, through intelligence, serendipity, and perseverance, made astonishing progress against humankind’s deadliest diseases.

Yet surgeon and author Andrew Lam says one factor spurred more medical breakthroughs than any other: war. He reveals how D-Day, Luftwaffe bombing raids, top-secret Liberty ship cargo, and aerial dogfights during World War II bequeathed to humanity innovations in surgery, cancer treatment, and trauma care that still serve us today.

An in-depth look at the mavericks, moments, and mistakes that sparked the greatest medical discoveries in modern times—plus the cures that will help us live longer and healthier lives in this century . . . and beyond

In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam, distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. He brings to life heroic tales of embattled mavericks who endured ridicule and sometimes risked their own lives to conceive the incredible, life-saving cures we depend on, and often take for granted, today.

The Masters of Medicine is a fascinating chronicle of human courage, audacity, error, and luck. This riveting ode to mankind expertly highlights the battle against deaths from heart attacks, diabetes, infection, cancer, trauma, and childbirth, revealing why the past is prelude to the game-changing breakthroughs of tomorrow.

Andrew Lam, M.D., is a retina surgeon and the award-winning author of three prior books: Saving Sight, an Amazon best seller about his surgical career, and two novels of WWII: Two Sons of China and Repentance. Before attending medical school he earned a history degree from Yale University. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today. He is currently an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School