This image is the cover for the book Dr. Mayo's Boy

Dr. Mayo's Boy

An ophthalmologist recounts the lives and experiences of three generations of doctors in America, revealing changes in health care.

Dr. Mayo’s Boy chronicles the medical experiences of a family of Texas physicians in small town Waxahachie and big city Dallas. Full of stories that are often heartening in their humanity and sometimes disturbing in what they reveal about contemporary health care, this book explores how physicians have viewed their commitment to their patients, how they sacrificed to meet the challenges they face, and how the practice of medicine has changed over almost sixty years. While Dr. Mayo’s Boy is by no means a policy statement, it does offer a nostalgic but clear-eyed look at the past and, through its tales of three doctors’ lives, asks implicit questions about how we “manage” health care today. There must remain one constant—the need for a patient to know that their doctor cares about them as an individual.

Praise for Dr. Mayo’s Boy

“An extraordinary book. Rob Tenery traces the evolution of health care in this country and show how much medicine has gained—and lost—in the past hundred years. In a highly entertaining and eloquent way, Dr. Tenery makes a plea for medicine to return to its roots as a healing profession rather than as a business. Highly recommended!” —Dean Ornish, MD, founder and president of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco

Rob Tenery

Rob Tenery, M.D. is an ophthalmologist, who first began his writing career when he authored commentaries dealing with current events impacting the world of health care. His expertise acquired from representing medical organizations on a local, state and national level led him to become a monthly contributor to the nationally distributed periodical, American Medical News, from 1990-1998. It was toward the end of his tenure that he decided to pen a more comprehensive look at the evolution of his chosen profession with the publication of his first book, Dr. Mayo's Boy. He then followed up with his second and third books, In Search of Medicine's Moral Compass and Bedside Manners. Both chronicle the delivery of health care in this country from its inception, and the increasingly complex evolution of those who deliver care as they act as advocates for their patients. Marrying his high school sweetheart, Janet, was the impetus for his fourth book, Chasing the Ponytail - a coming-of-age love story set in the 1950s. Having a keen interest in the uncertainty on the world stage, Rob has written his latest novel, Insurrection at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that combines his experience in medicine with political intrigue. Rob and Janet have two children and four grandchildren. Rob continues to practice his chosen profession, while authoring a weekly posting for his website, Diagnosis for Democracy: Insights into the State of Our Union, and is working on his next novel.

Brown Books