What can a doctor learn from becoming a patient? That's what Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, a surgeon and president-elect of the American Medical Association, set his mind on when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year. Dr. Sanjay Gupta sits down with his old friend, before and after surgery, to see what Mukkamala's experience taught him about U.S. healthcare being on the other side of the stethoscope.

Welcome to Chasing Life. Today's guest is Doctor Bobby Mukkamala. He is a practicing head and neck surgeon. He is also president elect of the American Medical Association, which is the largest professional organization for physicians in the country. They have more than 270,000 members. But perhaps most importantly for today's conversation, Bobby is an old friend. I've known him since the early 1990s, when we were both medical students at the University of Michigan.