The Calling: A Memoir of Family, Faith, and the Future of Healthcare

by Christopher Chen, Gordon Chen, John C. Maxwell (Foreword by)

Overview

A CT scan revealed Dr. James Chen, a Miami physician, had a cancerous, inoperable, tumor behind his nose. The prognosis was bleak. Dr. Chen had eight weeks to live.

Dr. Chen and his sons, Chris and Gordon, looked for a miracle. Chris was completing a cardiology fellowship. Gordon was finishing medical school. They knew what they were up against. Even still, they were shocked when a local oncologist told them, “The first available appointment is in six weeks.”

James and his sons were suddenly patients, forced to look at the healthcare system from the other end of the stethoscope. They didn’t like what they saw—expensive, uncoordinated, and ineffective care. At one point James asked his sons, “If a family of doctors with connections can’t navigate this system, what chance do my patients have?”

The Chens found their calling. Together with James’ wife Mary, Chris’s wife Stephanie (an attorney), and Gordon’s wife Jessica (another doctor) they created ChenMed, a physician-led company that serves the underserved. ChenMed puts their patients from forgotten communities first and focuses on accountable, compassionate care that improves health.

In The Calling, Chris and Gordon share how the family succeeded beyond their wildest expectations through a combination of determination, data, family, and faith. They turned what could have been a tragedy into an opportunity that will revolutionize healthcare delivery for years to come. The Calling will give you hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637631157
Publisher:	Forefront Books
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	404,650
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. Christopher Chen is the CEO of ChenMed, a physician practice that aims to bring concierge-style medicine and better health outcomes to the neediest populations—low-income seniors managing multiple complex chronic conditions. Dr. Chen oversees ChenMed’s operations through its senior medical centers throughout the southeastern United States and Chicago, as well as its portfolio of affiliated primary care practices and groups. Raised in south Florida, ChenMed’s headquarters, Dr. Chen graduated from the University of Miami’s Honors Program in Medicine. Dr. Chen went on to complete his medical training at Beth Israel Deaconess, a major Harvard University teaching hospital in Boston, Mass. His clinical skills and research accomplishments then led to a specialty position at Cornell University Medical College in Manhattan, N.Y., where he studied cardiology.



Dr. Gordon Chen is Chief Medical Officer of ChenMed, where he manages all clinicians and clinical leaders and oversees clinical training, quality, outcomes, physician culture, and medical costs. He has helped the company expand from six medical centers to approximately 80 locations in 10 states (listed below). He has also hired and trained more than 400 providers on ChenMed’s unique value-based healthcare-delivery system.

Dr. Chen is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and echocardiography. He received his MD degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University.

He is also the president of Nicaragua Medical Missions, a Christian nonprofit organization that strives to create medical mission opportunities to meet the needs of multiple underserved Nicaraguan communities.

John C. Maxwell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author, speaker, coach, and leader who has sold more than 35 million books in fifty languages. He is the founder of Maxwell Leadership®—the leadership development organization created to expand the reach of his principles of helping people lead powerful, positive change. Maxwell’s books and programs have been translated into 70 languages and have been used to train tens of millions of leaders in every nation. His work also includes that of the Maxwell Leadership Foundation and EQUIP, nonprofit organizations that have impacted millions of adults and youth across the globe through values-based, people-centric leadership training.

John has been recognized as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association and as the world’s most influential leadership expert by both Business Insider and Inc. magazine. He is a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network.

Maxwell and the work of Maxwell Leadership continue to influence individuals and organizations worldwide—from Fortune 500 CEOs and national leaders to entrepreneurs and the leaders of tomorrow. For more information about him and Maxwell Leadership, visit maxwellleadership.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword 17

A Note from Your Authors 21

1 One Wedding and an (Almost) Funeral 25

2 Dad and Mom: Humble Beginnings 51

3 Tiger Parenting 2.0 71

4 Nourish, Build, Exceed, Repeat 93

5 The Beginning of Transformative Care 113

6 Go West (and North), Young Men 139

7 The ChenMed Way 153

8 Family Matters 179

9 Happy, Healthy, and Home for the Pandemic 205

10 Like Dying in Solitary Confinement 213

11 Love, Accountability, and Passion 227

12 A City on a Hill 247

Acknowledgments 253