| 2025 | Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels | Chicago Public Library Best of the Best source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Best Informational Books for Older Readers | |
| 2025 | Dead Ends! | Kirkus Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Middle Grade | |
| 2025 | Dead Ends! Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels | School Library Journal Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Nonfiction Middle to High School | |
| 2023 | Plague-Busters!: Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases | School Library Journal Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Nonfiction Middle to High School | |
| 2022 | The Facemaker | Kirkus Prize source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Finalist · Nonfiction | |
| 2022 | The Facemaker | The Economist Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Biography and memoir | |
| 2022 | The Facemaker | Kirkus Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Nonfiction | |
| 2022 | The Facemaker | The Guardian Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Science | |
| 2018 | The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine | PEN America Literary Awards source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Winner · PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award | |
| 2018 | The Butchering Art | Wellcome Book Prize source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Shortlist · Book Prize | |
| 2018 | The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine | Wolfson History Prize source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Shortlist · History | |
| 2017 | The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine | NPR Books We Love source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Books We Love | |
| 2017 | The Butchering Art | The Observer Best Books of the Year source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · History | |