Paul Schulte on the Race for 5G Supremacy: Why China Is Surging, Where Millennials Struggle, & How America Can Prevail

In this interview, Paul Schulte talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book which he co-authored with Austin Groves, The Race for 5G Supremacy: Why China Is Surging, Where Millennials Struggle, & How America Can Prevail.

“If you’re gonna compete, compete!” ~Paul Schulte

Paul is presently a Senior Fellow at a Chinese university and the Singapore University of Social Sciences, and used to be a Senior Fellow at Hong Kong University and at Tufts University in Boston. He has also been teaching MBA students for the past twenty years or so, and has been involved as a researcher and a research analyst with such companies as Credit Suisse, ING, Nomura and the China Construction Bank.

The idea behind The Race for 5G Supremacy is: what would it take for the United States to create an “Apollo Program” so it could catch up with China in 5G implementation? Paul’s digging into the program, along with co-author Austin Groves, brought up sociological challenges that need to be addressed for such a program to be successfully implemented. According to Paul, millennials have high levels of anxiety and depression, and a proportionately large number of them are dropping out of employment with Fortune 100 companies, which are the ones who are in the best position to launch 5G technology.

The Apollo Program came out of the United States’ national drive to win the so-called “space race,” placing a man on the moon before any other nation - particularly the then-Soviet Union - did. This involved not only technologically related companies but also the public funds necessary to develop the aspects of the program for which there were not yet any technologies or solutions available. The three main aspects of the Apollo program which are still presently influencing the world today are:

1. The development and present deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles
2. Technological innovation, with companies born out of the program, such as Intel
3. A massive PR drive which showed the world that “America can,” which caught the imagination of the world and developed American soft power throughout the world

China didn’t have a legacy technological infrastructure that relied in copper, which meant that they could start from scratch, rather than deal with established interests which would want to keep the old technology viable. This meant that their movement into digitizing the physical world, using such technologies as the Internet of Things (IoT) and creating technologies to handle and process the enormous amount of information necessary to analyze peoples’ movements as well as how to operate cars, buildings, traffic and to create smart cities.

One example of an existing Chinese technology is the Super App, which is one, single application which a user can use to do such things as paying fines, borrowing money, dealing with the government, getting a wedding certificate, buying insurance, reserving at a restaurant - the things that people in other nations can do only by physically going to such places. Paul notes that none of the present Western tech companies created such systems. “You ever heard of Google Pay, or Amazon Pay?” Paul asks. “No, because there isn’t.”

Paul notes that China is years ahead of all other nations in such technologies as quantum space technology, digital currency, autonomous car research, smart cities, among others. By comparison, the American Federal Reserve is only now starting to venture into digital currency (which China has been doing for six years), Facebook is now only starting to venture into digital blockchain currency (which Alibaba has been doing for fifteen years), and China’s been working on smart cities for at least four years. Tesla is the only Western company conducting research on autonomous cars, compared to several Chinese ones. China has also rolled out 5G in several cities, placing them a few years ahead of the United States.

Paul notes that technological companies are the ones who are in the best position to benefit from rolling out such technologies as 4G and 5G. “If you create the rail, companies will go on the railroad,” he analogizes. Because China has the first-mover advantage with 5G, Paul opines that the United States is presently blocking China’s implementation of 5G in other countries to buy time for the United States to catch up.

5G allows for far speedier data transfer - ten to twenty times faster - than what is available with 4G systems, using equipment that is physically far smaller than what is presently being used in 4G systems. Paul notes, however, that the average consumer might not be willing to pay extra so he or she can download an entire movie within a few seconds, so the ones who would greatly benefit from this would be such organizations as logistics companies and cities, and would be used for such things as managing traffic, as 5G enables processing of a large amount of data, such as that gathered where all kinds of human movement are concerned. Companies and organizations that would be able to make the most of 5G will be port companies, taxi companies and urban planning organizations, just to name a few. Paul also notes that China has put up 50,000 5G stations across that nation, covering 80% of China, creating connectivity with even some of the most rural areas.

One of the sociological aspects involved creating a technological “Apollo Program” is the belief that China has stolen all the technology it presently uses, rather than recognizing that they have innovated a sizeable amount of their presently working technologies. This belief creates the mindset that the United States is a victim and that China must be punished, which also creates an antagonistic atmosphere that hinders innovation. He also points out that pushing the idea that government is all bad will get the United States “nowhere,” because the government has to be involved, in the same way the United States government was involved in the Apollo Program.

Paul notes that several events have made their mark on the mindset of millennials (which is the cohort of the population born from 1980 onwards), some of which are:

• Oxycontin (Oxycodone) being launched in the United States, which started off the present opioid crisis, one of the results of which was parents being addicted while their children were growing up (1996)
• The Asian financial crisis (1998)
• The Columbine massacre, which was the first of the many school shootings which still continue to this day (1999)
• The September 11 attacks launched by al-Qaeda, which brought down World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2, as well as damaged the Pentagon (2001)
• The Iraq war (2003)
• Hurricane Katrina, which brought an awareness of the potential destruction that could be caused by climate change (2005)
• The global financial crisis of 2007, which was when people started to lose faith in the financial system
• The largest percentage of population in the United States, to date, which is presently incarcerated

These events, and others, have “traumatized” the millennial generation, creating in them the mindset that institutions cannot be trusted and in governments that deny climate change - and it doesn’t help that millennials likely know someone who is addicted to opioids or who has been incarcerated. This mindset is the reason that millennials don’t like to work for Fortune 500 companies, particularly since they are likely to leave the company the moment they see something that isn’t right.

Paul notes that there are several workshops in the book, several of which are two-page workshops, which can be used to enable communication between millennials and their corporate bosses, pointing out that corporate America needs to redo the way they handle millennials. He also points out that the MBA program methodology, as well as the present HR function in companies is 50 years old and “anachronistic,” that the general teaching pedagogy needs to be aligned with millennials’ needs and that the issues around drug addiction needs to be addressed, to name a few things. One example of a workshop in the book is how to interview millennials, and that pay scales need to be re-evaluated, particularly since millennials have a better grasp of technology than any boss that they might have in the company.

Paul remarks that, if someone who is presently working in a company thinks that the way a company is doing things is “stupid,” that person should get around five other people, leave the company and set up their own company, using their better system, and “make a lot of money,” as companies aren’t going to change on their own. Paul remarks that this is a reality, adding that he has worked with banks who have paid lip service to changing their systems for decades and which have, de facto, not changed.

Purchase from Amazon: 

The Race for 5G Supremacy: Why China Is Surging, Where Millennials Struggle, & How America Can Prevail by Austin Groves & Paul Schulte

Dr. Jennifer Cobbina: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter and How They Changed America | Book: Hands Up, Don't Shoot

In this interview, Dr. Jennifer Cobbina talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about her book, Hands Up Don't Shoot: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter and How They Changed America.



“Ending the killing of black people really requires doubling down on investments in communities, and not the criminal or justice system.” ~Dr. Jennifer Cobbina

Dr. Jennifer Cobbina is a Canadian and, as such, has not had the kind of experiences, growing up, that were noted in her book. That said, she got interested in criminal justice in college, and it was as she was working on her doctorate that she became aware of the impact on how race is viewed, and how people of certain races are thus treated, within the criminal justice system.

According to Dr. Cobbina, racism includes prejudice, hatred or discrimination against a person because of their skin color, ethnicity or national origin, based on one’s personal feelings and beliefs about that other person. She notes that, while the most common types of acts that people would associate with it are acts of abuse and harassment, such acts do not necessarily have to be violent or intimidating; name-calling, jokes and excluding the person from groups or activities are also acts of racism. Racism thus shows up in people’s attitudes and, where institutional racism is concerned, the way institutions and systems function. Not all racist acts are obvious or overt, such as someone looking for job applicants not considering those resumes which come from people with certain surnames, no matter how qualified they can be.

Dr. Cobbina notes that, as human beings, we all inherently have biases, but while biases can include racial bias, not all biases are racist. “People are not born with racist ideas or attitudes,” she says, “racism is learned,” and the subsequent belief in the superiority of one’s group can lead to racial hatred. That said, racism can also stem from fear, anxiety and ignorance; and where ignorance is concerned, Dr. Cobbina opines that the willingness to contact and connect with people of other ethnic groups is important where enabling people to find commonalities is concerned.

The impact of racism on those who experience it harms those individuals profoundly, with respect to their health, as they suffer from anxiety, frustration and anger. Moreover, the effects of experiencing racism on a consistent basis cause people to withdraw from social life, eventually diminishing their quality of life, as they can feel like second-class citizens whose freedom and dignity are compromised.

The American criminal justice system comprises of several government agencies and institutions intended to control crime by imposing penalties on those who violate the law. The three main components of the criminal justice system are:

• the police;
• the courts; and
• corrections.

The criminal justice system is thus responsible for:

• investigating criminal conduct and gathering evidence;
• identifying people who are suspects;
• making arrests;
• bringing charges to bear on suspects;
• conducting trials; and
• determining sentencing and subsequent treatment of people who commit crimes.

Dr. Cobbina notes that the criminal justice system is, in the eyes of many, broken, as it focuses on criminalization and incarceration, rather than on rehabilitation. She notes that the growth in criminalization is the driver behind the two million plus people who are presently held in prisons, which is a 500% increase compared to 40 years ago. Dr. Cobbina also remarks that, based on studies conducted, changes in laws and policies, rather than changes in crime rates, are the reason behind this increase, which has resulted in overcrowded prisons and fiscal burdens on states. She also notes that it has been proven that increased incarceration doesn’t improve public safety.

Where racism is concerned, Dr. Cobbina remarks that racial disparities are present within the criminal justice system, giving the example of racially biased use of discretion, where police are more likely to stop blacks and Hispanics in investigatory stops, wherein the police will stop a driver deemed to possibly be carrying drugs, firearms or other illegal material in their vehicles, than they would white people. She remarks on studies that have shown that blacks are three times more likely than whites to experience physical force or be threatened with physical force during an encounter with the police. Dr. Cobbina also remarks that blacks, for all their being more prone to being searched, are less likely to be in possession of something illegal than white people. She also notes that people of color are more likely to be charged more harshly than white people, and that, once charged, they are more likely to be convicted and, once convicted, are more likely to receive harsher punishments than white people, even when taking into account the type of crime that was committed and the individual’s criminal history.

The facts behind Michael Brown’s death, based on a report from the Department of Justice, are policeman Darren Wilson saw Michael Brown and his friend on the roadway and asked them to move towards the sidewalk. Wilson had just received a report of a convenience store robbery and was given a description of the suspects, and used his vehicle to block Brown and his friend from walking any further. Brown then punched the officer as he was getting out of his car and went for the policeman’s gun, but the policeman managed to keep his weapon and fire two shots which injured Brown. The report then stated that Brown ran and that Wilson chased him, then shot Brown to death after the latter turned and charged right at him, firing twelve shots, six of which hit Brown, two hits of which hit Brown in the head. That said, several witnesses noted that they had seen Brown raise his hands in surrender before Wilson shot him to death, but the witnesses’ credibility was questionable.

The facts behind Freddie Gray are that he ran away from a Baltimore police officer, but was caught with an illegal switchblade and then arrested, with a cell phone video of his arrest showing him being dragged into a police van, screaming in pain as he limped. Gray requested for an asthma inhaler, but this request was denied, and he was thrown in the police van and transported unbuckled. The van then made several stops, and when it arrived at the police station, Gray was unconscious. Gray then underwent surgery because his spinal cord had been 80% severed and his voicebox had been crushed, and Gray remained in a coma for a week before dying.

Dr. Cobbina notes that racial minorities and crime are viewed essentially as being one and the same, which is why the police view the individuals of such groups as both criminal and dangerous, which would explain the “aggressive” methods used to deal with Brown and Gray. “It’s likely that they would still be here today, if they were white,” Dr. Cobbina concludes.

Where the protesters were concerned, these were ordinary, everyday civilians, most of whom were young, first-time activists, which meant that they participated in protests for the first time in their lives. The protests were centered around the deaths of black individuals at the hands of the police and were intended to affect change by ending police violence and the criminalization against people of color. The belief was that Brown’s death was unwarranted, even if it seemed lawful, and it didn’t help the authorities that his body was left in the street for four hours, in the hot sun, in a move reminiscent of that of the bodies of lynched black men being left hanging from trees for a long time as a warning to other blacks. What also led up to the protests were reports of armed police killing unarmed black civilians, as well as with the “strange” relationships the Ferguson police had with communities of color.

Dr. Cobbina differentiates between a protest and a riot, in that a riot is a situation where people behave violently, and that destruction of property is a result of a riot. A protest is a demonstration against a specific course of action or official policy and is constitutionally protected. A lot of the people whom Dr. Cobbina spoke with were against violence and rioting, and several even attempted to stop that; but she acknowledged that it was the rioting that drew attention to the issue and that, without the rioting, the protests could easily have vanished beneath the waves of public awareness. Dr. Cobbina remarked that, when she was observing a protest in Ferguson, the situation was extremely intimidating, with a line of policemen in riot gear making it very clear that those they faced down were the enemy. She also noted that, while some of the people she spoke with had had positive encounters with the police, most had negative encounters, with these experiences affecting their perceptions of the police. Dr. Cobbina also remarked that, with the people she interviewed, there were racial distinctions amongst these reported encounters, with whites being given the benefit of the doubt while blacks were more likely to encounter aggressive policing, racial profiling and disrespectful behavior.

Dr. Cobbina remarked that a federal investigation into the Ferguson and Baltimore police departments revealed that these departments engaged in racially biased policing, with a pattern of unconstitutional stops and arrests on black people being recorded. One of the best stories that Dr. Cobbina gives as an example is that of Kevin of Ferguson, while he was a sixteen-year-old black boy playing basketball with his friend in the neighborhood. A police car then came by, telling them to get off the street, and when the friend stared at the policemen as they drove by, the policemen then did a U-turn, got out of the car, grabbed the friend and slammed him on the hood of their vehicle, telling him: “What are you looking at?” The boy then wondered aloud: “What is he doing? He’s being too rough!” to which the officer then replied: “Shut the fuck up.” Dr. Cobbina then remarked that this incident had happened years previously, but that Kevin still felt the same pain, indignity and frustration, telling her that story, that he did when the incident happened.

Where having more black officers in the police force is concerned, Dr. Cobbina remarks that doing so wouldn’t change things, based on her study, 25% of those she surveyed saying that black officers enforce the law more fairly and are more courteous. Another 25% said that black officers also operate aggressively against black civilians, with this sentiment being more prevalent amongst black Baltimoreans. Dr. Cobbina notes that diversifying the police force in this way isn’t the solution, and that even those communities which engage in lawful behavior are still treated as “the criminal enemy” by the police.

Where impact is concerned, Dr. Cobbina remarks that the protests has brought the issue of racial injustice within the criminal justice system, as well as aggressive policing against blacks, into the public consciousness and public conversation, while also calling attention to the issue of racism in the United States in general. She also remarks that history also plays as much a part as culture where racism is concerned, as the United States has always been historically racist and violent, and that this aspect has yet to be confronted. Dr. Cobbina notes that steps are starting to address and confront racial tensions, historical grievances and misunderstandings and that, based on the conversations she’s had, it would be better to invest the money being spent on police and prisons in marginalized individuals and communities, to address the fundamental issues of poverty and inequality from which crime springs - intervention and prevention, rather than punishment, in other words.

Purchase from Amazon: Hands Up Don't Shoot: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter and How They Changed America  by Dr. Jennifer Cobbina

Hao Lam on Finding Success in America from Being a Refugee in Vietnam

In this interview, Hao Lam talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book, From Bad to Worse to Best in Class: A Refugee's Success Story.



“Are we gonna die? If not, what’s the problem?” ~Hao Lam

Hao admits that he wasn’t a particularly good student as a child. His father was from China and worked as a soldier for the American government while in Vietnam, while his mother was a teacher in a private school. Hao admits that he showed no interest in school, and after not attending classes at the school his mother worked in, the latter shifted him to another school. It was also through the efforts of his mother that Hao discovered his love for mathematics, as his mother found him tutors who taught him that and Chinese.

Hao’s childhood was carefree until April 30, 1975, when Saigon was taken by the North Vietnamese. His father was taken prisoner, because of his working with the United States government, he was held in a “re-education camp” for a full year without his family knowing what had happened to him. Hao’s father was released the following year, and one of the things he told then-eight-year-old Hao was that Vietnam was no place for them, and that he needed to leave, somehow.

Hao then spent the next twelve years attempting to escape Vietnam, years where he got shot at and imprisoned, while living in one of the worst neighborhoods around, and for him life had no meaning at the time. His friends likewise made attempts to flee the country, and none of them came back, as they died during their attempts. He finally managed to get away in a 50-foot fishing vessel which was packed with some 140 refugees. They had no food or water for seven days and nights, and while two of the refugees died along the way, Hao remarks that he felt entirely hopeless and was wondering if he would see the sun the following day. That said, his boat still got lucky, stating that there were other boats full of refugees which spent up to a month out at sea before making landfall, and that one boat that started out with 100 finished the journey with only 20.

Hao then spent a year in a refugee camp in Palawan, in the Philippines, where he learned English. He considered applying to be sent to the United States on the strength of his father’s previous work with the American government, but as it was he had two relatives - a grandmother and an uncle - who lived in a town in Prince Rupert, Canada. They were aware of what he did in Vietnam, while attempting to escape, and as they knew that Hao would likely get recruited by a gang in the United States, as he knew nobody there, they sponsored him so he could live with them. Hao then remarked that, once he moved to Prince Rupert, he was mistaken for a Filipino and was addressed in Tagalog by quite a few people there.

It was while in Canada that Hao worked on his dream of completing his high school education, which he did at the age of 23, in two years’ time, and then got a college degree at the age of 27. His maturity stood him in good stead while in high school, despite the culture shock and even though things weren’t pleasant for him at first, and it was during this time when he discovered his passion for teaching, as he would often go over to his high school classmates’ houses to tutor them in math - which, he remarks, didn’t particularly require him to be fluent in English, as he admits that he was “illiterate” in English when he left Vietnam.

Hao moved to Seattle after getting his college degree in 1995, and once there set up his first tutoring school. “Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he remarks about those early days, adding that he had to learn how to run his business on the fly. Hao remarks that he made no money in the first three years of his school, and also admits that he was after making a lot of money, so he set up several businesses which eventually failed. “I was chasing money the first part of my life,” he admits, which was natural given his desperate upbringing, but then he then focused on his why and what he was passionate about, and that was when he focused on his purpose in education, teaching, and learning, which his business enabled him to do. Doing so paid off for him as, at the time of this interview, his school is present in some 60 different locations in 15 American states.

Hao notes that, at present, students don’t get much support from teachers and that, while teachers help out those who are falling behind, those who can learn more - above average students - are essentially left on their own. Hao’s business, as a part of supplemental education, is designed to enable such students to learn more so they can get into the “gifted program” that only the top 1% of the American student population is part of, and which is thus highly desired by a lot of the students.

Hao notes that he doesn’t brag about his success; he brags about his failures and the lessons that he learned. His vision is as follows:

1. To be an insatiable learner.
2. To be a steadfast mentor to his team and to his friends, so these are impacted positively and are enabled to reach their full potential.

Hao remarks that, in addition to mentoring others, he has three mentors whom he speaks.

Where the book is concerned, Hao remarks that, whenever he told others his story, he was told to write his experiences out in a book. He notes that he loves sharing, and that writing the book out was rather challenging, as he would start and stop often. It was around two and a half years previously when he finally sat down with someone who would hold him responsible for writing a book and, because of that, he finally finished writing the book in over a year’s time. He admits that he and his wife “get emotional” whenever they read it and that, despite his past, he made the book more of a positive learning experience for the reader, rather than the dark kind of story it could have been.

Hao now talks to a lot of immigration groups as well as in colleges about his experiences, sharing his story while giving out the lessons he learned along the way:

1. It is not the end of the world.
2. Stay focused.
3. Follow your dream.
4. Don’t chase money.
5. Do what you want to do and find your “why.”

To those who are in a crisis in their life, Hao quotes the quote at the start of this blog, which is written on the bookmark that comes with From Bad to Worse to Best in Class.

Purchase from Amazon: From Bad to Worse to Best in Class: A Refugee's Success Story by Hao Lam

Dr. Arun Singh on His Remarkable Journey as an Immigrant to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons

In this interview, Arun Singh, M.D. talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book, Your Heart, My Hands: An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons.



“Every life matters, regardless or age, race, sex or religion. They all look the same underneath the drapes.” ~Arun Singh, M.D.

Dr. Arun Singh had no interest in becoming a doctor as a child, nor was he interested in becoming a surgeon while he was studying to become a doctor. He racks this up to having a rebellious nature, making him the kind of person who, when told he can’t do something, goes out and does it. He admits that he ran into a lot of trouble because of this behavior, but he would not have become the success he was without this attitude.

Dr. Arun admits that, as a child, he suffered from a lot of diseases, such as smallpox, chickenpox, malaria and hepatitis. When Dr. Arun was a six-year-old child, he broke his hand when he fell out of a tree after a monkey attacked him while both of them were reaching for the same guava. He and his mother needed to travel four hours and 150 miles to get medical help, and it still took two and a half years before he was able to use his hand again; and during that time, he was home schooled and thus missed out on those years of elementary schooling, as well as a lot of childhood activities. He did remember his father getting angry when the doctor said that the best they could expect was for Dr. Arun to be able to use his hand to feed himself, to which his father declared: “My son will be a doctor.”

Dr. Arun broke his hand again at age ten, while kite flying, which is a sport where the handler of one kite attempts to cut the strings of the kite of another handler. It was when his kite was cut, during a competition, that he fell into a ditch and injured his hand yet again. Dr. Arun remarks that there was no physical rehabilitation available, so his mother worked with an orthopedic surgeon so he could use his hand again, using bricks as weight resistance as well as hanging onto the protective rods of windows.

Dr. Arun admits that, because he was bored while he was out of school, and this led him into a lot of trouble, such as hopping on trains without buying tickets, go through back alleys and do everything a “bad kid” would do, except he didn’t pick pockets. Not surprisingly, when he got into high school, he had no friends and while he did pass high school he admits that he was still being a “bad kid.” He got into medical school at the age of 16 and couldn’t understand the lessons that were given. (He thought that that was because the other students were older than he was, but he would later find out, after he emigrated to the United States, that he was severely dyslexic.) Dr. Arun suffered from insomnia, so he used this to his advantage to read and re-read lessons over and over again until he got it.

Dr. Arun wound up at the bottom of the class after his first year of medical school, and it was then that his father suffered a massive stroke which would incapacitate him for the rest of his life. Dr. Arun was devastated, and the family lost their savings within weeks. It was while looking after his father that his mother told him: “I want you to grow up. I want you to take care of the family. You are the guardian of the family. Get up, look up and don’t give up.” Dr. Arun took on the challenge, as he admits he didn’t want to become a “beggar on the street” with a broken pan asking for change or food. He thus gave up sports and began looking after his family even as he went through medical school and graduated second out of 107 students at the age of 22.

Dr. Arun remarks that “nobody wants to leave their home,” but he knew that he wouldn’t be paid while he was being trained as a doctor, and money for the family was really short at that time, after which he wasn’t sure what kind of job he would have. He found an opportunity to go to the United States and train as a doctor in that country and be paid to boot. He spent almost all but twenty-five cents of the eight dollars he had in his pocket during the 36-hour flight from India to the United States for necessary expenses, and he remarks that, while he faced such challenges as racism, discrimination and feeling discouraged, he knew he could face up to whatever challenges would come his way.

One of the things that gave Dr. Arun culture shock was the difference between the state and nature of Indian and American hospitals. Dr. Arun remarks that Indian public hospitals aren’t the cleanest, describing an example of a putrid-smelling, twenty-foot square room holding 30 patients lying on metal cots in hundred-degree heat, with dogs running around along the walls as being an example of the kind of state in Indian public hospitals. Emergency rooms were in a similar state, with people coming in with, and dying from, malnutrition and infectious diseases, and this state of affairs was very different from those in American hospitals, where the hospitals were clean and people died from gunshot wounds.

Starting up his practice was also challenging for Dr. Arun, as he had to deal with his wife being ill and with the challenges of raising children, but he retained his focus. He admits that his wife and his mother were two of the greatest influences in his life, and he was “devastated” when his mother passed on in 2007, due to a heart attack, particularly as he couldn’t return immediately for her cremation and interment.

Dr. Arun notes that he might be perceived as unemotional, but that most surgeons follow the truism of: “Control your emotion, or emotion will control you.” He states that surgeons, when they perform surgeries, have “tunnel vision” to get the job done, but this doesn’t mean that they can’t be touched or affected. The reality, Dr. Arun notes, is that he didn’t save everyone he operated on, and that he carries the pain and burden of the loss of those he didn’t save. One such patient was a patient whom he first operated on while the latter was a baby, a mere few months old, and whom he operated on again at age seven. That patient died on the operating table, and Dr. Arun was so upset by that, that he and his wife decided to not have any more children after that.

Dr. Arun also points out the ethical and legal quandaries he faces with some patients who need to be operated on, such as those who have no medical insurance, those whom, if they are operated on, will create a financial loss for the hospital, or those who have AIDS.

Dr. Arun remarks that the story in Your Heart, My Hands is an immigrant’s story as well as an American story, and that he isn’t the only one with this kind of story, one where, despite all challenges and failures, one can succeed and overcome whatever obstacles come one’s way if one is focused and works hard.

Purchase from Amazon: Your Heart, My Hands: An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons by Arun Singh, M.D.