Compassion and the Return to Center

Rhett Butler

An award-winning guitarist, best-selling author, film-maker, father and most recently medical student, Rhett Butler has done it all or as he sees it, has not done enough.

Since 1999, guitarist Rhett Butler has been astounding audiences with a unique approach to the instrument. By playing with both hands on the neck, he produces melodies, harmonies and counterpoints that otherwise require two guitarists to perform. He has performed throughout the United States and Europe both solo and with the biggest names in the guitar world.

In 2010, after his beloved brother, Ashley died following a 28-year struggle with cancer, Rhett felt the tide turning in his life and he decided to go with the flow. In 2011, he directed and produced the documentary, “Chasing Miracles” which debuted in the Dallas International Film Festival. After being asked to give the opening keynote speech at the 2012 Texas Association of Neurological Surgeons Convention, Rhett decided to go back to school to better understand the science behind the disease that took his brother.

In 2013, Rhett wrote and published, “The Patient and Caregiver’s Guide to Cancer” which became an Amazon Best-Seller in both Oncology and Caregiving, surpassing “The Emperor of All Maladies” for a short time. When his brother’s life-long doctor encouraged Rhett to go to medical school, Rhett argued that he would be fifty by the time that he was finished training. The doctor said, “You’re going to be fifty anyway. What do you want to be doing when you are fifty?”

Rhett obtained a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in 2016 and is currently a second-year medical student at Texas A&M College of Medicine. He is a founding member of the Shift Committee, which through a case competition, recruits the best and brightest minds in the state of Texas to create novel solutions for rural healthcare disparities.