Alpha Docs
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The individual who perhaps deserves my deepest thanks is my co-author. Jim has been an immeasurably patient teammate, coach, and mentor over the many years that it took to turn an idea into a finished product. He took hundreds of hours of our recorded conversations and turned them into what I think is a compelling, accessible narrative. And despite the challenges inherent in the entire process, he remained positive and retained his ever-present sense of humor. On the basis of his titanic efforts, he deserves honorary degrees in cardiology and in patience.
I thank my family. Alvaro and Beatriz are the best parents (and grandparents) anyone could ever ask for. Thanks to my sister, Ana, who is younger in years but whose wisdom and perspective long ago cemented her status as my older sister. Finally, I thank Kelly—the most beautiful person I know—for being who she is and for being the reason I pinch myself every day.
JAMES M. DALE:
Above all, both Dan and I thank our literary agent, counselor, sounding board, and part-time shrink David Black (who kept me focused and positive even when I was inclined to be neither). Further thanks to the entire David Black Literary Agency, in particular Sarah Smith.
Thanks to Random House for wanting our book. And our gratitude to Mika Kasuga for reading and editing, and re-reading and re-editing, and relentlessly making the book better.
I also want to express my profound appreciation to my co-author, Dan Muñoz. He opened up his world, let me take notes on his life, his training, his cases, good days and bad, literally life and death on a daily basis. I’ve worked with other co-authors, but none more honest, open-minded, and dedicated to their chosen field. By way of Dan’s unpretentious candor, readers can live the rite of passage of becoming a cardiologist.
I cannot leave out of the acknowledgments the crucial role of my son, Andy, and Dan’s best friend. Without Andy to connect me to Dan and vice versa, there would be no book.
And there would be no book if not for my wife, Ellen, whose idea it was, and who has most of my good ideas and then generously passes them on to me.
About the Authors
DANIEL MUÑOZ, M.D., graduated from Princeton University with a degree in economics, working summers as an assistant in a neurosurgery lab and as an intern for Senator Edward Kennedy. During medical school at Johns Hopkins University, he took a one-year hiatus to earn a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. After earning his M.D., he was accepted as a resident in internal medicine at Hopkins, and later as one of nine fellows in the hospital’s coveted cardiology fellowship program. After further training at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, he is now an attending cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
JAMES M. DALE is an author and marketing consultant whose work includes books, articles, radio, television, sports, technology, media relations, and marketing. He is the former president of international advertising agency W. B. Doner, and the co-founder of Richlin/Dale business advisory.