I am a physician, writer, and mom. I am also the child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors. I have been fascinated for years about the legacy I carry. It is a heavy one. In my new book I explore the science of epigenetics, the idea that traumatic life events change one’s genes, and that these altered genes may be passed along to subsequent generations (such as myself).

In the book I recount the way my grandparents managed to save both themselves and their young children in the darkest days of European history. The book is an homage to my dad, a child survivor who was a ‘hidden child’, sequestered in a Belgian convent for 2 1/2 years when he was only a toddler.