Roundfire Books

’For anyone wanting to know what a day in the life of a medical student looks like. The stories are captivating and keep the reader wanting to read more.’ Joe Kingery, D.O., Dean, Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, Professor of Family Medicine

James Banks is a medical student in Brighton, a rural town in Kentucky’s Appalachia, a region stricken with poverty and an opioid epidemic. James just wants to match with a good psychiatry residency and graduate. But he has just received a rejection from a residency he applied to, and he has a bad feeling that he failed a medical licensing exam. Failure is not an option. James must become a doctor to pay off ＄230,000 in student loans.

James runs a gauntlet of clinical rotations in different specialties: family medicine, osteopathic medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, emergency medicine, cardiology, neurology, and neurosurgery. He encounters a motley cast of patients and doctors--including a patient with blue skin and a hostile, tantrum-throwing ob-gyn--who teach him how to become a physician. He sees the best and worst in humanity and even patients who have glimpsed heaven and hell. Adventures of an American Medical Student is a compelling, gritty novel that explores a range of human suffering with heart, soul, and humor.

James Champion (pseudonym) is a psychiatrist practicing in Appalachia. He supervises psychiatry residents, teaches medical students, and collaborates with nurse practitioners. He has a D.O. degree from an Appalachian medical school. He lives in Johnson City, TN. This is his first book.