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What Runs in Our Family

A Family Health History Workbook to Interview Parents and Grandparents, Map Your Health Family Tree, and Share What Matters with Your Doctor

by An Thanh Tùng

Tell me when it's out
  • Paperback on Amazon, coming November 20266 × 9 in · 142 pages · black and white

Look inside · See filled-in pages · Free printable

About this journal

Bring one more thing to the table.

Who had what, and how old they were: those stories usually live in one or two heads at the family table, and every year a few more are lost. In the US, Thanksgiving is also National Family Health History Day, because it is the one day the generations sit down together. This workbook turns that day into a gentle conversation, and the answers into something your doctor can use.

Ask with easy opening lines, one two-page spread per person, generation by generation. Draw a three-generation health family tree. Then read 13 plain-English explainers on what family patterns can and cannot tell you, with every claim graded by evidence, and copy it all onto a one-page summary for your doctor.

How it works

  1. Before the gatheringFill in your family map, star the three people who know most and pick your opening lines.
  2. At the tableAbout fifteen minutes per person: who had what, and how old they were. Short on time? Use a quick card.
  3. AfterwardsDraw the tree, read the pages for any pattern you found, and copy it onto the one-page summary for your doctor.

What you get

  • Interview spreads for 25 relatives: you, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 4 brothers or sisters, 8 aunts and uncles, 3 children and 3 more, each generation opening with its own questions and a "Stories worth keeping" page
  • The 5-minute version and 6 quick cards, for when there is only time for a phone call or a chat while doing the dishes
  • Before you ask: five things to settle first, a family map, opening lines, a plan for the gathering, a progress tracker and the common mistakes
  • A health family tree on three pages (father's side, mother's side, your generation and children), plus "Reading my tree": who, how old, how many
  • 13 two-page explainers: why it matters, heart, stroke and blood pressure, diabetes, bowel cancer, breast, ovary, prostate and pancreas, prostate, eyes and more, mood and drinking, memory, sudden death, pregnancy and children, gut, blood and immune, and what to do when the history is missing
  • 52 claims graded with 4 evidence labels (Strong, Moderate, Debated, Unproven)
  • For my doctor: patterns worth mentioning, two copies of a one-page summary, a page for the appointment, questions to ask by pattern, and when a genetic counselor can help
  • A dictionary of 25 old family words ("sugar", "apoplexy", "bad heart") with what they may have meant and what to ask next
  • Pages to keep: sharing with relatives, a yearly update, traditions, recipes and remedies, and a letter to the next generation
  • A filled-in example from Maya, 38: her family map, an interview, her father's side of the tree and her doctor's summary
  • Safety pages, sources, a quick lookup and an A–Z index

A record-keeping workbook, not a diagnosis or a risk calculator: it helps you have a better conversation with your doctor.

Look inside

Pages from the journal

The real pages, as they print. Tap a page to read it.

13 pages
  • Contents
  • How to use it in 10 minutes
  • My family map
  • How to start the conversation
  • The 5-minute version
  • Quick cards
  • An interview spread: my parents
  • Health family tree: father's side
  • An explainer: three generations, three questions
  • My family health history, for the doctor
  • At the doctor's office
  • Old family words, and what to ask next
  • A letter to the next generation

Worked examples

See it filled in

Every journal opens with example pages, so you know exactly what to write before you start.

5 pages
  • Maya's family map
  • Her interview about Grandma Rose
  • The interview, continued
  • Her father's side of the tree
  • Her summary for the doctor

Free download

The doctor's summary, free to print

The one-page family health summary and the questions to ask by pattern, from the real workbook. Print it, fill it in with a pen and take it to your appointment, so you never tear a page out of the book.

Printable PDF · 3 pages · US Letter · 119 KB · no email needed

Download the free printable
  • My family health history
  • Questions to ask, by pattern

Coming November 2026

Get an email when it's out

One email when the paperback is on Amazon, in time for Thanksgiving. Nothing else unless you ask.

This journal is for keeping records and spotting patterns. It is not medical advice and does not replace your doctor or pharmacist.

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