Moving Mountains: A Socratic Challenge to the Theory and Practice of Population Medicine

Medicine has become increasingly depersonalized. Patients complain of being treated like numbers. Doctors resent being cogs in a complex healthcare system. Yet enthusiasm remains within the high towers of academia, the halls of government, and the corporate boardrooms of insurance companies, for a new medical field known as “population medicine.” Population medicine seeks to improve “population health” and presents an ambitious program founded on elaborate theories developed over the last few decades.

Moving Mountains provides a highly entertaining critical examination of the theory and practice of population medicine. Author Michel Accad, MD, masterfully immerses the reader in an imaginary but academically rigorous dialogue between the philosopher Socrates and Dr. Geoffrey Rose, one of the major architects of population medicine. This stimulating intellectual joust, which questions the value and wisdom of "shifting" population curves, provides the reader with unique insights regarding key historical and theoretical developments that rarely receive attention in mainstream medical journals. This book will be of great interest to any reader concerned about healthcare. It will be of particular appeal to medical and public health students, as well as to healthcare professionals, including academics open to a challenging perspective.

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"An erudite yet terse discussion of the tussle between the goals of those promoting the health of populations and those striving to help a single person, Accad moves his readers to think. Indeed, time spent with his words is time well spent."
—John Mandrola, MD, Practicing Electrophysiologist and Chief Cardiology Correspondent for Medscape

"With humor, creativity, and a deep understanding of philosophy and epidemiology, Accad takes us back in time to make sense of the burgeoning population health movement afoot today. He brings to life timeless debates about the nature of prevention, the physician's role in addressing social ills, and the tension between caring for the person in front of you while being held accountable for the health of a population. A must read."
—Lisa Rosenbaum, MD, National Correspondent New England Journal of Medicine and Cardiologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital

"With clever use of logic and philosophy, and lucid prose, Accad takes Gauss and population medicine to task, asserting the supremacy of reason over statistics."
—Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, MS, Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

"Using an imaginative title, intriguing format, compelling dialogue, and vibrant writing, this little gem provides an incisive analysis of population medicine. Kudos to Accad for a great read."
—Herbert L. Fred, MD, MACP, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Retired, The McGovern Medical School

"In this brilliant thought experiment, Accad provides a lens through which most 'medical research' can be seen as biased, agenda-driven fake news, and population health management is revealed to be a collectivist farce."
—Keith Smith, MD, Co-founder, Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Free Market Medical Association

Michel Accad, MD, practices internal medicine and cardiology in San Francisco. He regularly publishes articles in peer-reviewed journals on philosophical aspects of healthcare and medicine. He has given lectures nationally and internationally, and his perspective is frequently solicited in media interviews and podcasts. His commentaries on medical science, medical ethics, and healthcare economics also appear on his blog AlertAndOriented.com.