As a Critical Care Physician with additional training and certification in Neurocritical Care and Emergency Medicine, I find the care of the sickest patients to be both intellectually challenging and emotionally gratifying. My research, writing, and teaching centers on the cardiopulmonary interface – airway management, hemodynamic monitoring, mechanical ventilation and their intersection in critically ill patients. In the intensive care unit at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital, our team provides the finest care I have ever seen in any facility. We provide this care to a culturally diverse mix of patients with undifferentiated medical, surgical, and neurologic illness. We are proud to serve as guarantors of safety for such patients in our unit and throughout the hospital. As I have matured and had the privilege of working with wise, conscientious and compassionate colleagues, I have come to better appreciate the impact of serious illness on patients and their families. In addition to addressing the pathophysiology of illness and instability,  our team works to alleviate pain, agitation, fear, and delirium. We also address the grief, anxiety, and other concerns that patients and their loved ones experience. When it is indicated, we blend palliative and intensive care. This is a calling that my colleagues and I value as physicians and as human beings.