Samuel Shem is the pseudonym of Stephen Joseph Bergman, an American psychiatrist and bestselling author. He is widely known for his novel "The House of God," which has become a required reading for medical students all over the world. Shem's other novels, including "Mount Misery" and "Man's 4th Best Hospital," are fictional but provide realistic depictions of the training process for doctors during their residency.
In 1966, Shem graduated from Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied under cardiac physiologist Denis Noble FRS. He then went on to earn his degree from Harvard Medical School and Harvard College. Shem's debut novel "The House of God" was inspired by his experiences interning at "Beth Israel Hospital." Currently, he teaches at the NYU Langone Medical Center of the New York University School of Medicine.
Samuel Shem, also known as Stephen Bergman, is not only a novelist but also a playwright, doctor, and activist. He spent three decades on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and founded the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Project in the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School. He is currently based in both Boston, MA and Tierra Tranquila, Costa Rica.
Shem is the author of several books, including the bestseller "The House of God." He has also co-authored the hit Off-Broadway play "Bill W. and Dr. Bob," which tells the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. Along with his wife, Janet Surrey, he has also co-written "We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues between Women and Men." Shem is a prominent figure in the field of medical humanities, and his work has been featured in several anthologies and books in the Literature and Medicine book series from The Kent State University Press. These works are used as resources and texts for health care education and for the general public.