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Testosterone Testimonials: Stories of Masculinity, Ageing & Desire
Fourteen stories about masculinity, desire, vulnerability, sexuality, relationships, and the experience of growing older.
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Physician · Writer · Educator · Philosopher
Henri Colt
henricolt@gmail.com · henricolt.substack.com
Henri Colt is a physician, writer, educator, medical ethicist, and lifelong traveler whose work has moved between medicine, literature, philosophy, teaching, and exploration. A Professor Emeritus of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, he spent much of his professional life developing new approaches to teaching bronchoscopy and other lung, pleural, and airway procedures, bringing philosophical inquiry and practice into medicine and education, and working with physicians and medical organizations around the world.
Outside medicine, his life has ranged considerably farther: mountaineering on several continents, scuba diving and teaching, equestrian sports, medical missions, extensive travel, and writing biography, fiction, and reflective essays.
He writes The Art of Being Human, an ongoing collection of essays about life, medicine, relationships, ageing, and the strange business of being human. In addition to authoring numerous textbooks and scientific papers, his books include Testosterone Testimonials: Stories of Masculinity, Ageing & Desire, 30 Stories About Life and Death, Medical Ethics and the Movies (editor), and Becoming Modigliani, a biography of the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani.
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The Art of Being Human
Subscribe to The Art of Being Human
Essays at the intersection of medicine, philosophy, art, experience, and the human condition.
Subscribe on Substack03
Writing
The Invisible Architecture
On the hidden structures that shape cities, professions, institutions, and lives.
The Life We Almost Live
On choice, possibility, and lives that remain beside the one we chose.
What Is Enough
On ambition, desire, accumulation, and the question of when “more” stops being better.
Never Again
On endings, and the moments we recognize as final only after they are gone.
The Question Patients Cannot Answer
On expertise, trust, and why patients cannot reliably know who the right procedural physician is for them.
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Books
30 Stories About Life and Death
Stories about illness, mortality, hope, uncertainty, and the ways people respond when life becomes fragile. View book
Becoming Modigliani
A biography of Amedeo Modigliani exploring the life, medical illness, relationships, ambitions, social context, and circumstances that shaped the Italian-Jewish artist and his work. View book
The Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies
An exploration of medical ethics through film and the moral questions that arise in the relationships among patients, physicians, and society. View book
Selected medical works
The Essential Flexible Bronchoscopist
Part of The Essential Bronchoscopist educational series developed to rethink how bronchoscopy is learned and taught. View book
Bronchoscopy and Central Airway Disorders: A Patient-Centered Approach
A comprehensive clinical reference centered on bronchoscopy, airway disease, and patient-focused decision-making. View book
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Selected Appearances
Becoming Modigliani — New Books Network
Conversation with Ilana Maymind, lecturer in Religious Studies at Chapman University, about Becoming Modigliani.
Becoming Modigliani — KXFM, Everybody’s Got a Story
Radio interview about Becoming Modigliani and the life of Amedeo Modigliani.
Becoming Modigliani — American Philosophical Practitioners Association Book Club Series
Discussion of Becoming Modigliani in the Association’s book club series.
The Hidden Curriculum: Safety, Stress, and Strength in Training
A lecture on professional formation, ethical behavior, and what trainees learn from how physicians act under pressure.
Multidimensional Bronchoscopy Training
A lecture on competency-based procedural education, simulation, patient safety, assessment, and the development of globally accessible training systems.
Crossing the Generational Interface
A lecture on technology, expertise, authority, judgment, and what remains distinctly human in medicine.
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Medicine & Education
Bronchoscopy International®
A global educational initiative focused on safer, competency-based procedural training, simulation, faculty development, and international standardization of bronchoscopy education.
Visit Bronchoscopy InternationalBronchoscopy Academy
A free online educational platform for bronchoscopists, trainees, and other clinicians, with structured lessons in anatomy, technique, airway disease, and procedural education.
Visit Bronchoscopy AcademyBronchAtlas®
A practice-oriented visual and video resource for interventional bronchoscopy, designed around real clinical problems and airway decision-making.
Visit BronchAtlasCompetency-Based Procedural Education
Simulation, structured assessment, and train-the-trainer approaches developed to reduce learning on patients and improve procedural training across institutions and countries.
Teaching resourcesClinical Judgment & Medical Ethics
Work examining responsibility, uncertainty, professional character, the hidden curriculum, and the ethical dimensions of procedural medicine and medical education.
Ethics & Interventional Pulmonology resources07
Adventure & Exploration
Mountains, oceans, deserts, and more than 130 countries. Exploration has been as much a part of my education as classrooms, hospitals, and books.
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Selected Publications & Resources
Scientific publications
More than 300 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and review articles spanning interventional pulmonology, bronchoscopy education, competency-based training, procedural medicine, and related fields.
View publications on PubMedRecent book chapters
Recent contributions include chapters on artificial intelligence and computational modeling, AI in respirology and bronchoscopy, and bronchoscopy education.
Selected chapters and booksUpToDate
Long-standing contributor, author, and section editor in interventional pulmonology and bronchoscopy.
View representative UpToDate workBronchoscopy International resources
Teaching materials, competency tools, publications, and educational downloads.
Explore educational resourcesAbridged Curriculum Vitae
A concise overview of academic, educational, writing, and international work.
Download abridged CV