The United States President Barack Obama awarded an Indian-American physician and author with the America's highest humanities award, the National Humanities Medal, for his contribution in the field of medicine.

Indian-origin Abraham Varghese, professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine has authored several acclaimed books including 'My Own Country' and 'Cutting for Stone'.

He was one among the several other recipients of the medal at a ceremony took place at the White House.

The citation of the medal read, that, "The 2015 National Humanities Medal to Abraham Varghese for reminding us that the patient is the center of the medical enterprise."

"His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities, from his efforts to emphasize empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama," a military aide to the President read from the citation.

President Obama said on the occasion, that, "All of today's honorees work in an age where the stories we tell and the technologies that we use to tell them are more diverse than ever before, and as diverse as the country that we love."

The National Humanities Medal was started in 1997. It "honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history, languages, literature, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.”

Mr. Verghese said that, "I felt strongly then and now that what I was writing about, and my interest in the human experience of being ill or caring for the ill, was as much a part of medicine as knowledge of the function of the pancreas, for example." He is also a vice chair of Stanford's Department of Medicine.

Also Read: Indian-American physician to receive National Humanities Medal in US!

Nandini