本书从百余年诺奖史上的生理学或医学奖获得者中遴选出十余位知名人士、24篇英文文章，通过展示他们救死扶伤的仁心仁术、严谨专注的治学态度，以及在科研探索路上耐住寂寞、百折不挠的坚强意志，旨在为医学生和医务工作者带来启发与鼓励。
本书由12个单元组成，每个单元包含Text A和Text B两篇文章。本书采用旁注形式，对文中出现的疾病名、药名、机构名、人名等重要专有名词加以注释，便于学生阅读。此外，TextA中的Facts板块还简要介绍了获奖者的生平，增进学生的理解。每篇文章后设置了练习部分，包括客观和主观两类题型，对广大学生尤其是医学生具有很强的指导作用。

Unit One Physiology of Digestion
Text A Pavlov's Dogs and Classical Conditioning
Text B Pavlov's Award Ceremony Speech
Unit Two Respiratory Enzymes
Text A Dr. Otto H. Warburg—A Survivor of Ethical Storms
Text B Otto H. Warburg's Award Ceremony Speech
Unit Three Penicillin
Text A The Discovery of Penicillin
Text B Early Days of Penicillin
Unit Four DNA Structure
Text A The Discovery of the Molecular Structure of DNA — The Double Helix
Text B Young Watson and X-ray Diffraction
Unit Five Mobile Genes
Text A Barbara McClintock and the Discovery of Jumping Genes
Text B In Memoriam—Barbara McClintock
Unit Six Organ and Cell Transplantation
Text A Advancement in Organ and Cell Transplantation
Text B Remembering Dr. Joseph E. Murray
Unit Seven Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Text A Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield for MRI
Text B Interview with Sir Peter Mansfield: My Early Days
Unit Eight Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Text A A Conversation with Francoise Barré-Sinoussi
Text B Francoise Barré-Sinoussi on the History and Future of HIV Research
Unit Nine Telomere Effect
Text Elizabeth H. Blackburn on the Telomere Effect: "It's About Keeping Healthier for Longer."
Text B Elizabeth H. Blackburn: Discovering Telomeres
Unit Ten Artemisinin
Text A Nobel Laureate Tu Youyou, Malaria, and the Discovery of Artemisinin
Text B Tu Youyou and Artemisinin: An Obscure Miracle
Unit Eleven Autophagy
Text A Discoveries on How Cells Eat Themselves
Text B Yoshinori Ohsumi—How My Autophagy Research Began
Unit Twelve Circadian Rhythm
Text A Molecular Mechanisms that Controls the Circadian Rhythm
Text B Interview with Michael Rosbash