Courtney Burnett '13
Physician, Author, Speaker
B.S. ’13 (College of Biological Sciences)
Alumni Association Member
About Difficult Gifts: A Physician's Journey to Heal Body and Mind
When Dr. Courtney Burnett began to experience strange neurological symptoms while studying abroad in Thailand, the last thing she expected was to self-diagnose a malignant brain tumor.
Difficult Gifts is an honest, friendly, and unique memoir written by a thirty-something woman who doesn't like memoirs, especially ones about cancer. But when life gave her an unexpected difficulty, she found the gifts of it worth sharing.
This story is a fresh, upbeat, and vulnerable portrayal of a physician becoming a patient. Courtney takes us on a journey to Thailand and into the mind of a person facing a difficult gift: a gift we never want to receive, but one that can teach, change, inspire, and motivate us to live fully, beautifully, and gratefully- all the way to the end, whenever that may be.
Winner of multiple awards, Difficult Gifts has been called a "life changing memoir to be read multiple times" that "teaches us how to live."
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About Courtney
Dr. Courtney Burnett currently works as a hospitalist at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is an assistant professor of medicine with the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine and a faculty advisor with the University’s medical school.
Courtney graduated from the UMN's College of Biological Sciences (graduated 2013 with a BS in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development), attended medical school at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her residency training in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota. Just before starting her chief residency, she self-diagnosed a brain tumor, which turned out to be a rare form of incurable brain cancer called anaplastic astrocytoma. Dr. Burnett saw this as an opportunity to raise awareness and help others going through their own difficult health experiences. She is the author of the award-winning memoir, Difficult Gifts: A Physician’s Journey to Heal Body and Mind and creator of the patient-advocacy focused blog, “Elephant, Lotus, Brain Tumor.” Read more of Courtney’s story on her website www.drcourtneybunett.com
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