About the Author: Hassan A. Tetteh
Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh is a heart and lung transplant surgeon, US Navy, Captain and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and adjunct faculty at Howard University College of Medicine. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow from 2012-13, assigned to the US Congress, Congressional Budget Office, (CBO). Currently, Tetteh is a Thoracic Surgeon for MedStar Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He leads a Specialized Thoracic Adapted Recovery (STAR) Team, in Washington, DC, and his research in thoracic transplantation aims to expand heart and lung recovery and save lives.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Tetteh received his BS from State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh, his MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, his MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, his MBA from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, and his MS in National Security Strategy with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence from the National War College. He completed his thoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota and advanced cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Tetteh is founder and principal of Tetteh Consulting Group, a best-selling author of four books including Gifts of the Heart, Star Patrol, The Art of Human Care, and Seven Pillars of Life. Tetteh is board certified in thoracic surgery, general surgery, clinical informatics, and healthcare management, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Tetteh received the Alley Sheridan Award by the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education, was named a TEDMED Front Line Scholar, and is TEDx speaker. He’s an alumnus of the Harvard Medical School Writers’ Workshop and Yale Writers' Conference and lives near Washington, D.C. with his wife, son, and daughter.
In 2014, Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh delivered a deeply inspiring keynote to first-year medical students during their White Coat Ceremony at his medical school alma mater. Now, published for the first time in book form with illustrations from his daughter, The Art of Human Care presents Tetteh’s words of wisdom and answers the question: How can we change the world through healing?
Dr. Tetteh shares how his own life-altering, near-death experience profoundly affected his approach to health care and ultimately led to his development of The Art of Human Care theory.
Though his near-death ordeal took place before he became a doctor—before he was even accepted to medical school—this experience helped him embrace the mind-body-spirit connection that informs his practice every day.
In The Art of Human Care, Dr. Tetteh combines many of his own personal stories with the healing power of art. His down-to-earth humanitarianism and unique perspective on what it truly means to “heal” will inspire readers to learn how they, too, can turn passion into a purpose, work every day to make the impossible possible, and save the world one patient at a time.
“With health, wisdom reveals itself, art becomes manifest, we have strength to fight life’s challenges, our wealth becomes useful, we may apply our intelligence, and positively change the world for generations.”
—Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh
