Tayyeba K. Ali
Author & Surgeon
A California-based physician writer and ophthalmologist, specializing in cornea and uveitis. Dr. Ali’s writing explores the human condition, medical education, and the moral crossroads we face in modern healthcare.
photo: Zoya Ali
My Background
As an American who has lived the multi-hyphenated experience, always on the edge of the outside, there are stories I’m compelled to tell. I was born in New York to Pakistani parents, raised in the deep South, and since graduating from medical school, have lived in a half dozen states between Southern Florida and Northern California. While being a clinician and a surgeon are now pieces of my identity, the one thing that has always been a part of my core is a love of language, storytelling and the written word. As narrative medicine gains popularity, the idea that stories have a greater impact than statistics and generalizable data becomes evident. My aim is to use the power of story to facilitate health and healing.
B.A., English, Agnes Scott College
1998 – 2002
M.D., Emory University
2002 – 2007
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, MCG
2007-2008
Ophthalmology, Jones Eye
2008 – 2013
Cornea & Uveitis, Bascom Palmer
2013-2015
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We are all wired for story. And like most things in life, it’s equilibrium that’s important. Through the process of striking this balance between listening and speaking, between reading the stories of others and voicing one’s own, one learns and begins to grow.
After a long time I’m feeling hopeful and inspired that the world our children call home will have a more favorable economic and political climate, that the health disparities between those who have and those who do not will shrink, and that a balanced truth will be sought by all, a thing to be coveted.
