I'd love you to read its opening passages.

Yeah.

So this is my sort of introduction to Dr. Koop for people who maybe haven't even heard of him.

[laughs] "Charles Everett Koop is important for many reasons beyond his astonishing resume and ripe for presentation to a new generation.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, as he rose to prominence as a pediatric surgeon, we find him, the social conservative, fighting racism, fighting what we now call ableism, standing up for Jewish colleagues, boosting women in surgery, and week by week spending long hours with the down and outs on Philadelphia's Skid Row.

Appointed surgeon general by Ronald Reagan, he proved a model of integrity under political pressure, of which Washington is now much lacking, and a byword for honesty in public health.

A man of intensely strong moral and religious convictions with a manner that many found gruff.

How did you reconcile these contradictions and the conflicting stories about him?

I mean, h- what's the grieving process like for you so far?

Um, it's, like, yeah, year anniversary yesterday, um, day before actually.

Um, and it's hard.

Like, I suppose it's like you, you- I think thinking about somebody is really powerful.

And a- again, it comes down to your capacity.

Like, I could probably break down into tears i- in a moment, like if, um, I'm having a bit of a hard day, and if I... and even if I think about him in, in a positive way, I might, yeah, get a bit upset.

But I feel like it's your capacity, and I think it shows you a lot of where you're at.

Some moments