Alpha Docs

In the tradition of Scott Turow's One L and Atul Gawande's Better comes a real-time, real-life chronicle from an impassioned young doctor on the front lines of high-stakes cardiology.

It takes drive, persistence, and plenty of stamina to practice cardiology at the highest level. The competition for training fellowship spots is intense. Hundreds of applicants from all over the world compete to be accepted into the Cardiovascular Disease Training Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Only nine are chosen each year. This is the story of one of those fellows.

In Alpha Docs, Daniel Muñoz, M.D., recounts his journey from wide-eyed young medical student to caring, empathetic professional—providing a rare inside look into the day-to-day operations of one of the world's most prestigious medical institutions. The training is arduous and often unforgiving, as Muñoz and his colleagues are schooled in the healing arts by some of the most brilliant and demanding physicians in the country. How they learn the art and science of untangling cardiac mysteries, how they live up to the standards of an iconic institution, how they survive the pressures, and relentlessly push themselves to reach the top ranks of American medicine, supplies the beating heart of this gripping narrative.

Readers accompany Muñoz as he interacts with his mentors, diagnoses and treats patients, counsels worried family members, and struggles to stay awake for days and nights on end. Lives are saved—and sometimes lost. But the rewards are immediate and the incentives powerful. As Muñoz confides after helping to rescue one man from the throes of a heart attack: “I knew where I wanted to be: not watching but doing, on the side of the glass where I can help shape a patient's fate. I would be a cardiologist.”

A unique yet universal story about striving to be the best in a high-risk, high-impact field, Alpha Docs provides fresh perspective on the state of America's health care system as it captures all the fulfillment and frustrations of life as a doctor in the twenty-first century.