High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Abraham Verghese (born 1955) is Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School and Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He was born in Ethiopia to parents from Kerala, India who worked as teachers. He is a Syro-Malabar Christian. Verghese, his father`s Christian name, being Malayalam for George, is a very common Suriyani name. In 2009, Knopf published his new book and first novel, Cutting for Stone. in 2010, Random House published the paperback version of the book and since that time, it has risen steadily up the bestseller charts, and as of March 13, 2011, ranked #2 on the New York Times trade paperback fiction list.