2025-02-26
17 分钟Kate.
I'm Kate Selig, and I'm a reporter on the national desk for the New York Times.
Back in September,
I watched as dozens of students filed into a small classroom at Stanford's medical school.
The seats filled up quickly, and some students had to sit on the floor.
Others were turned away by the teaching assistants at the door, and a few more even joined online.
The class was that popular.
It was called From Diagnosis to a Doctor's Real Time Battle with Cancer.
And the doctor with cancer was Dr. Bryant Lynn, the smiling professor at the front of the room.
Last year, four months before the quarter began, Dr.
Lin, who's 50 years old,
was diagnosed with the very same type of lung cancer that had been a focus of his work.
His doctors told him that his cancer had already reached stage four by then and spread to his liver,
bones, and brain, which alone had over 50 cancerous growths.
When he showed his students a photo of that scan, some gasped.
Instead of retreating from his work, as you'd imagine someone in his position would do,
he actually built a class around his illness.
I learned about the class from a social media post on X.
I was really struck by the idea that Dr. Lin was choosing to teach a class
with what limited time he had left,