Lisa Sanders

Lisa Sanders was born on July 24, 1956.{{cite web |title=Sanders, Lisa, 1956- |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/n2003016037 |website=Library of Congress LCCN |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=28 August 2019}} She grew up in South Carolina.{{cite news |last1=Gardiner |first1=Aidan |title=For 'Diagnosis' Show, Dr. Lisa Sanders Lets Times Readers Around the World Join in the Detective Work |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/reader-center/diagnosis-tv-netflix.html |access-date=28 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 August 2019}} As a child, she loved reading about Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.

She majored in English at the College of William & Mary, writing for the school paper, The Flat Hat, and tending bar at a local tavern. She graduated in 1979.{{cite web |first1=Brad |last1=Clark |title=English Alum Inspires Hit Show 'House' |url=https://www.wm.edu/as/english/news/2007-09/english-alum-inspires-hit-show-house.php |website=www.wm.edu |access-date=1 September 2019 |language=en |date=April 25, 2007}} After graduation, she was hired by ABC News. Sanders won an Emmy for her reporting on Hurricane Hugo for CBS News. But she began to grow tired of working in the newsroom environment. As a journalist, she was particularly drawn to stories about medicine and, after seeing a fellow journalist (who was also a medical doctor) save someone's life after a boating accident, she decided to pursue a career in the field. She soon enrolled in the postbaccalaureate pre-medicine program at Columbia University to fulfill the requirements for medical school admission. Sanders has joked that she was accepted by Yale School of Medicine in a slot reserved for "weirdos"—entering at age 36, she was considered a "non-traditional" student, but one presumably enriched by life experience and work in other fields.{{cite web | url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/meet-yale-internal-medicine-lisa-sanders-md-facp-associate-professor-of-medicine-general-internal-medicine/ | title=Meet Yale Internal Medicine: Lisa Sanders, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) }} She graduated from Yale as the oldest member of her medical school class and went on to complete residency there, ultimately serving as chief resident. She then joined Yale's Department of Internal Medicine and became an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, teaching in the Primary Care Residency Program at Waterbury Hospital.{{cite web |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Susan |title=There's A Doctor Behind 'House': Internist Lisa Sanders |url=http://news.yale.edu/2009/10/30/there-s-doctor-behind-house-internist-lisa-sanders |website=YaleNews |access-date=28 August 2019 |date=30 October 2009}} She also became an attending physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

{{box quote|quote=When I got to the third year [of medical school], when you actually get out of the classroom and go into the hospital and see how doctors work, I saw that what I thought of diagnosis {{sic|was wa|s}} wrong much of the time—or for the most exciting parts, in any case...I found out that [diagnosing] was not the multiplication tables, but it was [more like] Sherlock Holmes.|align=right|width=361px}}

One day, a friend of hers, who worked for The New York Times Magazine, asked her "What can doctors write?" The conversation sparked an idea and, in 2002, she began writing a column for The New York Times called Diagnosis, that covered medical mystery cases.{{cite web |last1=WILLIAMS |first1=MARY ELIZABETH |title="Diagnosis" doctor Lisa Sanders: "This is a detective story" |url=https://www.salon.com/2019/08/25/diagnosis-doctor-lisa-sanders-this-is-a-detective-story/ |website=Salon |access-date=28 August 2019 |language=en |date=25 August 2019}} She finds her stories from her own patients as well as from those of her colleagues. The column was the inspiration for the 2004 television series House M.D., and the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital was fashioned after Yale-New Haven Hospital. She served as a consultant on the show, coming up with diseases for the episodes and correcting medical errors in the scripts.{{cite news |last1=Painter |first1=Kim |title=Patients key to diagnosis |access-date=1 September 2019 |work=USA Today |date=September 14, 2009 |url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/usa-today-international-edition/20090914/282166467220449 |pages=06d}} In 2010, she began crowdsourcing the diagnoses of her cases after hearing the story of an academic who successfully invited members of a medical website to diagnose the cause of his fevers. Additionally, in her column for the Well Blog column, called Think Like a Doctor, she posts symptoms to illnesses for her readers to solve before posting the diagnosis the following day. Producer Scott Rudin, in conjunction with the production company Lightbox, approached the Times with an idea for a documentary series. Beginning in April 2018, Sanders and the show's producers began publishing unsolved medical mysteries to the column, inviting input from the public. Thousands responded, and provided stories and content for the Netflix show Diagnosis, which debuted on August 16, 2019.{{cite web |title=You're Going To Be Obsessed With Dr. Lisa Sanders From Netflix's New Binge-Watch 'Diagnosis' |url=https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a28720010/dr-lisa-sanders-netflix-diagnosis/ |website=Women's Health |access-date=28 August 2019 |date=16 August 2019}}

Aside from her column, Sanders has also published books. In 2009, she published the book Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis , about the diagnostic value of patient interviews and their neglect relative to tests. Her 2019 book, Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries, is a compilation of more than 50 stories from her column.{{cite news |last1=Hochwald |first1=Lambeth |title=Cancel All Plans: Dr. Lisa Sanders Talks About Her New Book and Netflix Series, Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries and We're Obsessed |url=https://parade.com/910792/lhochwald/medical-mysteries/ |newspaper=Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays |access-date=28 August 2019 |language=en |date=14 August 2019}} She likes to rise early when writing—at 4:00 AM to work on her books and at 5:00 AM for her column, saying it is the time of day when she is "smartest."{{cite web |last1=Charney |first1=Noah |title='House' Finale: Interview With Doctor Lisa Sanders |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-finale-interview-with-doctor-lisa-sanders |website=The Daily Beast |access-date=28 August 2019 |language=en |date=21 May 2012}}

She is married to the writer Jack Hitt, and the couple has two children.{{cite news |last=Max |first=Jill |title=A doctor's passion for medical storytelling |url=http://yalemedicine.yale.edu/spring2008/people/alumni/51638 |access-date=February 27, 2013 |newspaper=Yale Medicine |date=Spring 2008 |volume=42 |issue=3}}

• The Perfect Fit Diet: Combine What Science Knows About Weight Loss With What You Know About Yourself. Rodale International Ltd, (January 3, 2004). {{ISBN|978-1-4050-7740-8}}
• The Perfect Fit Diet: How to Lose Weight, Keep it Off and Still Eat the Foods You Love. St. Martin's Griffin (December 27, 2005) {{ISBN|0-312-33823-6}}
• Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis . Broadway, (August 11, 2009). {{ISBN|978-0-7679-2246-3}}
• {{cite book |title=Diagnosis : solving the most baffling medical mysteries |date=August 13, 2019 |publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=978-0-593-13663-8}}

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:College of William & Mary alumni

Category:Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni

Category:Physicians from Connecticut

Category:The New York Times columnists

Category:American women columnists

Category:Writers from South Carolina

Category:Yale School of Medicine alumni

Category:Yale School of Medicine faculty

Category:House (TV series)