A Personal Note

Hello!  I am Keith McAfee, a family practice physician living in a rural town in Northern California who has worked “in the trenches” for 30 years, taking care of patients in busy primary care clinics. Three years ago I also became an associate professor with the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Although my primary focus as a physician over the years has been taking care of patients day-to-day in clinic, one of my greatest loves always has remained teaching—first and foremost with my patients for the past few decades, but now reaching out to you. Hence my book, my VLOGs, and this web site.

I have wanted to be a physician since before I can remember.  There was a brief period in college at UCLA when I contemplated becoming a pastor, but having recognized that my gifts are in medicine rather than pastoral care, I stayed the course.  Nevertheless, there always has been a large part of me that has a pastor’s heart, and I have carried that tendency with me throughout my career, resulting in my lifelong focus on promoting faith, but through the experiences and perspective of my work as a physician rather than as a pastor.

I derive tremendous pleasure from educating my patients about their medical conditions. It is hard to describe how much I enjoy that “Oh, I get it!” look on my patients’ faces when I have successfully explained something to them about their health.  Even more do I enjoy helping them deepen their faith.  After all, inevitably over time our bodies increasingly will fail us while our faith increasingly can sustain us, so it seems obvious to me in which of the two we should place our trust.

In the course of my years as a physician I consistently have found remarkable similarities between the lessons of medicine and lessons of faith.  This parallel has enriched many a discussion I have had in the clinic room with my patients.  I now would like to start such a discussion with you.

Whether through my book (brief true stories from my medical career and the lessons we can derive from them regarding prayer), through my VLOG’s (each of which teach about a single medical condition and the spiritual lessons we can derive from that illness), or from further discussion through this web site, my hope is to share with you the things I have learned during my career—in a practical, helpful, and easy to understand style.  My prayer is that those lessons and experiences will bless your life as they have mine.

In the hopes that we will be in touch,

Keith McAfee