We hear the story of Dr. Rees Cosgrove, a gifted brain surgeon who has performed thousands of high-stakes operations. The former chair of Brown University’s neurosurgery department, Dr. Cosgrove conducts operations on a variety of patients, including children. In this dialogue, he describes what it’s like to conduct such a procedure and what he has learned about that which skilled doctors can and cannot control. Also, we hear about his remarkable medical visit to a CURE International Hospital in Uganda, where African surgeons bring a personal spirituality to health care, which Dr. Cosgrove found deeply inspiring.

The miracle of surgery is not that we’re such great surgeons and that we do this wonderful work. The miracle of surgery, I’ve come to understand, is that the body heals in such a magnificent way from the injuries that we impart to the patient. So if we do it very carefully, and do it very well, yeah, the patient heals. But the miracle of what we do is that healing process. It is just remarkable. And you can explain that healing by, you know, we’ve explained it, we’ve described it. But that doesn’t take it to the deeper level of, ‘Well, why does that happen?'”

—Rees Cosgrove, Neurosurgeon