"Public health expert Leana Wen gives an insider's account of public health and its crucial role-from opioid addiction to global pandemic-and tells an inspiring story of her journey from homeless immigrant to being named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

An emergency physician and CNN medical analyst presents an insider’s account of public health and its crucial role, while sharing her inspiring journey from struggling immigrant to being on of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. 100,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

From medical expert Leana Wen, MD, Lifelines is an insider's account of public health and its crucial role—from opioid addiction to global pandemic—and an inspiring story of her journey from struggling immigrant to being one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.

“Public health saved your life today—you just don’t know it,” is a phrase that Dr. Leana Wen likes to use. You don’t know it because good public health is invisible. It becomes visible only in its absence, when it is underfunded and ignored, a bitter truth laid bare as never before by the devastation of COVID-19.

Leana Wen—emergency physician, former Baltimore health commissioner, CNN medical analyst, and Washington Post contributing columnist—has lived on the front lines of public health, leading the fight against the opioid epidemic, outbreaks of infectious disease, maternal and infant mortality, and COVID-19 disinformation. Here, in gripping detail, Wen lays bare the lifesaving work of public health and its innovative approach to social ills, treating gun violence as a contagious disease, for example, and racism as a threat to health.

Wen also tells her own uniquely American story: an immigrant from China, she and her family received food stamps and were at times homeless despite her parents working multiple jobs. That child went on to attend college at thirteen, become a Rhodes scholar, and turn to public health as the way to make a difference in the country that had offered her such possibilities.

Ultimately, she insists, it is public health that ensures citizens are not robbed of decades of life, and that where children live does not determine whether they live.

Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is also a contributing columnist for the Washington Post and a CNN medical analyst. Previously, she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating public health department. She is the author of the patient advocacy book, When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests. Dr. Wen lives with her husband and their two young children in Baltimore. - (McMillan Palgrave)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Don't just dwell on public health problems. Lead with empathy, and do something, says Dr. Wen, and it becomes clear in her remarkable memoir that she follows her own advice. An immigrant from China whose family depended on Medicaid and food stamps, Wen started college at age 13 and medical school at age 18 and became a Rhodes scholar. She explains that she specialized in emergency medicine because she likes its fast-paced, "predictably unpredictable" nature and the way its practitioners treat everyone, including immigrants in fear of deportation and people unable to pay. After serving for four years as Baltimore's health commissioner, she became the first physician in nearly 50 years and the first Asian American to run Planned Parenthood. Wen shares stories about many personal challenges, from having a speech impediment and early-stage cervical cancer to her mother's death from breast cancer, her own postpartum depression, and the bouts with COVID-19 suffered by her husband and their two young children. A public health professor at George Washington University, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a CNN medical analyst, Wen criticizes the Trump administration's piecemeal approach to the pandemic and makes a powerful case for high-quality, universal, affordable health care. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

A child refugee from China whose parents relied on food stamps, Wen rose to become a health commissioner for Baltimore and president of Planned Parenthood. She's also an emergency care doctor and consultant with the World Health Organization. So when she says "Public health saved your life today—you just don't know it," readers should listen. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal Reviews

With her latest work, Wen (public health, George Washington Univ.; When Doctors Don't Listen) covers pertinent topics one would expect in a physician's book about public health for lay readers: reproductive health, mother and infant mortality, opiate addiction, the COVID-19 pandemic, and more. The difference between this work and other recent books about public health, however, is Wen's lived experience. She uses anecdotes from her work and her personal life, including her immigration to the United States from China at age seven, to illuminate the chapters. For instance, there's personal context in Wen's discussion of her work as commissioner of Baltimore's health department until 2018. She still lives in Baltimore, where she has been immersed in the city's day-to-day efforts to protect residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she explains a public health physician's struggle to balance politicians' wants with public needs. From her own childhood, Wen shares how public health policies helped (or could have helped more) her struggling immigrant family in Los Angeles during times of need. VERDICT Wen's book, combining memoir with a discussion of major public health initiatives, is a refreshing take on the topic, one that addresses racial disparities in health care and recenters the conversation on why society needs public health initiatives, not just an overview of what those initiatives might be. Recommended for readers interested in health policy.—Rachel M. Minkin, Michigan State Univ. Libs., East Lansing