Rahm and Ari's other, Philly brother

DOCTOR EZEKIEL "Zeke" Emanuel has ministered to the sick, authored several books, held down important positions at the White House and National Institutes of Health, and now at the University of Pennsylvania, yet when he sits down at the Thanksgiving table, he still gets crap from his more successful (so they say) brothers.

Brother Rahm is the former chief of staff in the Obama White House and is now mayor of Chicago. Brother Ari is one of the most powerful and successful agents in Hollywood - the basis for the Jeremy Piven character in the HBO TV show "Entourage."

For decades the accomplished but less famous Zeke, who oversees medical ethics, health policy and global initiatives at Penn, has dutifully answered questions about his celebrity brothers.

So, in lieu of answering them individually, Zeke has written Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family about growing up on the streets of Chicago, fighting with his brothers and with people who picked fights with his brothers, but mostly thriving alongside them in a boisterous, loving Jewish family that valued and strove for excellence.

He talked with Gary Thompson about his life with Rahm and Ari, his book and his career.

Q You're a physician and bioethicist who's written several books about medicine, and now you've penned a memoir. Why did you decide to tell this deeply personal story?

The main reason is, I keep getting asked about Rahm and Ari, over and over again, and this has gone on over a number of years. It's obviously something that people want to know, and it's a story I wanted to tell.

Q What can we learn from your upbringing - in the book it's pretty rough and tumble. You obviously loved each other, but you guys were highly competitive, and there was a certain amount of what you call "scrapping."

Well, it wasn't just the rough-and-tumble aspect. The main thing is our parents instilled in us an important sense of public service and a commitment to social justice. That really became the key to everything that motivates us. We've also learned from our parents a strong commitment to hard work. It affects how you approach professional life and other things.

Q You have three children of your own, now grown. Did you raise them in a similar way?

First of all, they're girls, so it's a little different. But I certainly stressed the fact that they need to excel and work hard and contribute to make the world a better place.

Q Back to Ari and Rahm. One was one of the most powerful men in Washington, D.C., and one is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. You say you get a lot of questions - are folks more curious about politics or showbiz?

That's a good question. I think it's about 50-50 really. And people really don't ask about movies or politics. They want to know if Ari is really like Jeremy Piven. Or they want to know if Rahm was really a quiet kid, and did he really take ballet lessons.

Q Yeah, what about that? How did you go from living this Bazooka Joe life on the streets of Chicago to ballet lessons?

I don't know. My mom enrolled us, and we just went. I still know position one, two and three.

Q Mayor Emanuel has recently taken on gun violence, in part by "hot-spotting" Chicago's gun-crime neighborhoods with extra police. That's an idea that came from academia. Do you advise him on things like that?

No, never. We talk in general about issues, but he's a lot smarter than me when it comes to politics.

Q You've recently proposed reducing suicides by converting Tylenol from bottles to blister packs, making it harder for suicidal individuals to impulsively reach for a pile of pills. What's the reaction?

We've gotten good feedback from people who understand the issue. They've actually done this in Europe, and the statistics clearly show that it works. Some people have complained about the nanny state and of course the drug companies will have to pay more for packaging, but if the goal is to reduce suicides, it's a strategy with a good track record.