Lisa Sanders MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)

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Departments & Organizations

Internal Medicine: General Internal MedicinePrimary Care Residency Program

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Biography

Dr. Lisa Sanders is a clinician educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program. In addition to her work as a physician and teacher, she writes the popular Diagnosis column for the New York Times Magazine and the Think Like a Doctor column featured in the New York Times blog, The Well. Her column was the inspiration for the Fox program House MD (2004-2012) and she served as a Technical Adviser to the show. She recently published a book titled Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis.

Sanders' path to medicine was anything but traditional. As an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary, she majored in English and took a job with ABC the year after she graduated. Less than 10 years later, while working for CBS News, she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story. But by then, Sanders said, she was ready to move on professionally and decided that of all the subjects she covered as a journalist, medicine intrigued her most. After two years at Columbia University’s Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program, Sanders was accepted to the Yale School of Medicine “as part of the 10 percent of the class they reserve for weirdos,” she said. In addition to her time in the hospital, Sanders is currently researching the nutritional aspect of obesity as well as clinical decision making and the way diagnostic decisions and errors are made. She has published two books previously — “The Perfect Fit Diet: Combine What Science Knows About Weight Loss With What You Know About Yourself” in 1994 and “The Perfect Fit Diet: How to Lose Weight, Keep it Off and Still Eat the Foods You Love” in 1995.