Dare to Care – How to Survive and Thrive in Today's Medical World

    BASEL, SWITZERLAND, December 16, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Frontline medical workers today face crushing levels of stress as they toil in a healthcare system straining to cope with impacts of a global pandemic. The key to surviving and thriving in such an environment lies in kindling the spark of heart-based caring that draws people to become healers in the first place, Dr. Jan Bonhoeffer says.

Dr. Bonhoeffer is a global expert on infectious diseases and vaccine safety and a thought leader on efforts to transform how medical professionals care for their patients — and themselves. His new book is "Dare to Care — How to Survive and Thrive in Today's Medical World."

Written as a series of letters to his goddaughter, a young resident physician, "Dare to Care" inspires medical professionals to "remember why you came" amid the stress, pressure and burnout rampant in today's mechanized medical culture. The message is poignant and powerful at a time when medical workers are pushed to their limits battling the pandemic.

"You can help people with what you have in your mind, but your heart is the vehicle of real healing," Dr. Bonhoeffer writes. "It is expressed in how you show up, how authentically you make yourself available for your patients, and how deeply you engage with them. It is affected by how sincerely you take responsibility for your own well-being, and then it overflows into how you truly care for your patients."

Dr. Bonhoeffer is professor of pediatrics, infectious diseases, and vaccines at the University of Basel Children's Hospital, Switzerland where he has served on the medical faculty since 2012. For 18 years he led the Brighton Collaboration, a leading global initiative researching vaccine safety concerns now spearheading the safety assessment of COVID Vaccines as part of large global consortia including CEPI and COVAX. As a former consultant with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, he has co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in medical journals.

After more than two decades working with global stakeholders on these issues, Bonhoeffer is no longer involved in these efforts and thus is free to offer an independent yet well-informed view of the pandemic and our response to it. This includes not only efforts to assure that new vaccines are safe and effective, but also finding ways to strengthen our medical system and the well-being of our healthcare providers through the pandemic and beyond.

About the Author: Dr. Jan Bonhoeffer (SAY Yon Bon-hoffer) is a global expert on infectious diseases and vaccine safety, and a thought leader on efforts to transform how medical professionals care for their patients — and themselves. His new book is "Dare to Care — How to Survive and Thrive in Today's Medical World." Learn more at www.heartbasedmedicine.org.

For more information, visit the online press kit www.drjanbonhoeffer.onlinepresskit247.com. To request an interview with Dr. Bonhoeffer, contact International Publicist Michelle Tennant Nicholson: [email protected] or 828-749-3200.

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