Advanced Praise for IN THE ROOM
“As a pediatrician for over 45 years, I have come to understand that what we do matters to our patients and their families - it is serious business. In In the Room, Mary Martha Bledsoe Felkner, MD recognizes that and encourages us as practitioners to spend time reflecting on our experiences and to work daily to improve our holistic skills so that we enjoy what we do and maximally help our patients and their families. In the Room offers a window through which students and seasoned practitioners alike can begin to cherish the privilege of using their unique talents and personal experience to improve the lives of others through medicine.”
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-David T. Tayloe, MD, former President of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Editor of “Fifty Years of Advocacy: The North Carolina Pediatric Society”; Pediatrician for over 45 years.
"Whether you are retiring to explore your own next chapter, a parent seeking to mindfully raise your children or a patient working towards healing, In the Room has lessons for all stages of life. For decades, Dr. Felkner practiced as a pediatrician tending to parents and children. Now as a writer, she focuses on tending souls.”
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-Kathy Izard, author of The Hundred Story Home, The Last Ordinary Hour and Trust the Whisper
“For anyone who cares to reflect upon or figure out how to make sense of life, Mary Martha Bledsoe Felkner’s In the Room will reward your time richly. Mary Martha has thought deeply and wisely about her life and work, all those twists and turns in your body and soul, and favors us by sharing what she’s noticed with awe, wisdom and good humor. Reading In the Room, you’ll repeatedly think “I wish she had been my doctor – or my friend.” She becomes both in this engaging read.”
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-James C. Howell, PhD, MDiv, author of twenty books, Pastor, adjunct Instructor at Duke Divinity School.
“Truly a privilege to open a door and enter ‘the room’ with Mary Martha Felkner, MD. Her compassionate wisdom, unexpected wit, and engaging stories will weave their way into your heart as she shares moving reflections on practicing medicine, healing from her own health challenges, and the beautiful unfolding of a meaningful and remarkable mid-life purpose. Prepare to live boldly finding intention and abundance in each and every day. Step in and sit down. You will not want to leave.”
—Catherine Farley, PT, MPT, author, speaker, well-being educator
“Dr. Felkner gives voice to the key principles in the practice of medicine which go beyond the teachings of medical training programs. In the Room is a must read for medical students and practitioners. The impactful wisdom imparted in her essays will transform medical perspective and ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.”
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—Harold Koenig, MD, MHSc, Director of Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke University