Disease Knows No Politics

Disease Knows No Politics is an inspirational political and medical memoir that strikes into the heart of a post-pandemic America where conspiracy theories have run amok.

This memoir follows Dr. Elias Zerhouni’s tumultuous childhood in Algeria, during the height of two wars, into his emigration to the United States where he pursued his dream career in radiology. An Arab among non-Arabs, a foreign medical graduate among Americans, he never wavered in his never-ending fight to heal patients and revolutionize the worlds he traversed. His journey led him into the highest halls of government power, where he transformed the NIH and defended it from encroaching ideological forces during President George W. Bush's administration. Among his accomplishments include:

• Inventing the patented “Lung Nodule Reference Simulator,” which allows CT scanners to differentiate between benign and malignant lung tumors
• Becoming a treating physician for President Ronald Reagan
• Serving as the executive vice-dean for John Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Being appointed as the Director of the National Institutes of Health by former President George W. Bush, becoming the first Arab American and immigrant to hold the title of NIH director, despite the anti-Muslim sentiment of the post 9/11 era
• Fighting alongside and earning the admiration of powerful legislators, including the late Senator Ted Kennedy
• Serving as a presidential envoy under President Barack Obama
• Being asked to consider being director of Trump's Operation Warp Speed to create a COVID vaccine
• Co-founding ModeX Therapeutics and becoming president of OPKO Health, a multinational biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company

From a tale of migration to the opportunities of modern medicine, through glimpses into the political world from the perspective of a radiologist, and into entrepreneurial ventures in pharmaceuticals, Disease Knows No Politics provides readers with important lessons and views in immigration, diversity, and the essential transfer of knowledge across borders.