Dr. Joseph Maroon, recently invited Dr. Barry Kerzin, Buddhist monk and Physician to the Dalai Lama, to give a presentation to the members of the department of neurosurgery, medical students and invited guests on October 14, 2024. In his outstanding presentation, Dr. Kerzin spoke about decluttering the mind, the importance of compassion for oneself as well as with patients, how to avoid depression with our failures and the secret to longevity and a healthy life—compassion. He demonstrated simple ways to meditate and “defuse” fears, anger and anxiety.

He emphasized that Buddhism is not a religion but a way of life and, indeed, is compatible with Christianity and other faiths. He emphasized how the worst of luck and adversity sometimes can have very positive results.

At age 11 he had a brain abscess that required four subsequent brain operations to cure it. It was, however, the experience that led him into medicine and subsequently to be the personal physician of the Dalai Lama who himself won the Nobel Prize in 1989 for his peaceful resistance to the Chinese takeover of Tibet.

He founded the Altruism in Medicine Institute the mission of which is to transform medical education to include compassion for one’s self and others and to develop mindfulness and resilience as essential as anatomy , physiology and pharmacology.

To learn more contact Dr. Kerzin at:

Barry Kerzin, MD, Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Founder / President and Founder of Altruism in Medicine Institute CONTACT HERE