Patrick H. McNulty

As a physician and medical scientist, I have spent the most important parts of my career reading and writing scientific texts. Nevertheless, conventional literature has also had a profound impact on my life. I read Ian McEwan's novel Atonement this past year while completing my tenure dossier and simultaneously undergoing evaluation for cancer. As a lesson in courage and personal redemption, the book resonated powerfully with the things that seem most important to me at this stage in my life and career.