Paul Kalanithi

Paul Kalanithi was born in New York. His father was a doctor, and when he was ten years old his family (he was the middle of three brothers) moved to Kingman, Arizona. He graduated as the valedictorian of his high school and went on to graduate with a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University. He earned an M.Phil in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine from the University of Cambridge before going to medical school. He attended medical school at Yale University and graduated cum laude. While at Yale, he also met his future wife, Lucy Goddard, and the two married shortly after graduating. Post-Yale, Kalanithi returned to Stanford for his residency training in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. In May 2013, Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic lung cancer. After a round of successful treatment, he returned to work as a chief resident, but the following spring the disease relapsed and he underwent intensive chemotherapy. In July 2014, his daughter Cady was born, and he died the following year on March 9, 2015 at age 37. When Breath Becomes Air is Kalanithi’s only book and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography/Autobiography in 2017.