COMMUNITY
The Mind Behind Dissection ___________________________________________________________ Atlanta Bar ' s BookBar Meet & Greet with Author Cristina LePort .
DANIELA B . BRITTON Judicial Law Clerk / Staff Attorney to the Hon . Wayne M . Purdom DeKalb County State Court dbbritton @ dekalbcountyga . gov
O n March 28 , 2023 , the Atlanta Bar Association ’ s book club , the “ Book Bar ,” welcomed Cristina LePort , the author of the medical thriller Dissection for a virtual Q & A . Dissection was chosen for the spring edition of the Atlanta Bar Association ’ s fiction group . According to Amazon , it is a " taut thriller with complex characters that combines cuttingedge medical technology with horrific yet still believable terrorist plots ." LePort is an accomplished internist and cardiologist and the Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Genescient , a biotech company devoted to genetic research on aging and the amelioration of chronic diseases . Dissection published in 2022 , marks her wellreceived debut as an author .
TAL : You are a surgeon and a scientist . How did you become a writer ?
LePort : After my medical education and training in Italy I came to Brooklyn for my residency . I did not know much English at the time , so I always carried my dictionary in my pocket . While waiting for my residency to start , I worked as a caregiver to make money and learn the language . Fast-forward 20 years ; I am working in internal medicine and having a full-blown midlife crisis . I switch to cardiology and write my first novel . It was never published . But I did not give up ! The medical world , dealing with questions of life and death , provides an excellent background for stories . And the qualities of a doctor overlap with those of a writer – for example , both need to be good at reading people and their emotions and put clues together .
TAL : How did you come up with the idea for this book ?
LePort : One day I saw a commercial for Aspirin . Somebody got a card saying , “ Your heart attack will arrive tomorrow .” I immediately thought this would be a great start for a thriller .
TAL : When we were discussing the book in the group , someone asked how realistic the plot is , in other words , whether this kind of attack by soundwaves as described in the book could really happen .
LePort : Yes , definitely . The science and technology are there – a mastermind could theoretically program a destructive plot like the one in the book . However , the “ fix ” is a science fiction solution – once started , there is no possible way to stop or counter such attack .
TAL : So , no “ happy ending ” in real life …? LePort : Unfortunately , no .
TAL : Besides the scientific and medical world that is your home turf , you tackle big topics that are beyond your expertise , such as terrorism , national security , the FBI . How did you do your research and how long did it take you ?
LePort : I did most of my research on Google . I also read a lot of books and other written material and watched many movies and series . It took me months .
TAL : Do the characters in the book resemble people in your life ?
LePort : Like probably every writer , I use friends and family to create the characters in my book . Sometimes I use only their names , sometimes certain character traits .
TAL : What is the most difficult thing about writing characters from a different sex ?
LePort : Interestingly enough , I feel most comfortable with writing from a man ’ s point of view . Growing up , I never saw women do any
44 April / May 2023