Aaron Glassman

Dr. **Aaron Glassman** is a neurosurgeon at St. Bonaventure Hospital and was the hospital's president for several years. He acts as a mentor and fatherly figure to Dr. Shaun Murphy, having known him since he was a young teen.

Glassman fought to have Shaun work at the hospital and although despite being exasperated by him at times, he has always cared for Shaun. After being diagnosed with Cancer, he lost his role as president to Dr. Marcus Andrews and he became the head of the clinic. Unfortunately, a lesion found on his brain led to him unable to be a surgeon again.

## History

### Early life

According to Glassman’s own words, he has been a neurosurgeon for 30 years. It is presumed he lived in San Jose for his earlier career. He married a woman, Ilana, and they had a daughter, Maddie. Glassman dearly loved Maddie, but they tended to fight a lot. This eventually led to Glassman locking Maddie out of the house one night when she developed a drug problem as opposed to getting her help and she died due to an overdose. Following this, Glassman’s controlling tendencies and him being so involved in his work led to him and Ilana splitting. He then moved to Casper, Wyoming where he practiced as a family doctor.

Approximately two years after Maddie’s death, Glassman met two boys Shaun and Steve Murphy when they arrived at his office on foot. Not knowing who else to turn to, the brothers had hoped he would be able to save Shaun's pet rabbit, although it had already died when their father threw it against a wall. When Shaun asked if the rabbit had gone to heaven, Glassman awkwardly replied he was sure that was what had happened.

It can be presumed that Glassman looked out for Shaun and Steve after they indicated that they would never be going back home, but nothing specific is known about Glassman's efforts other than Shaun knowing his phone number. When Steve accidentally fell off the roof of a decommissioned train, Shaun called Glassman for help. He came immediately and they transported a bleeding Steve to the nearest hospital in Glassman's car, but Steve did not survive.

After Steve's death, Shaun refused to go home and police officers were unsure what to do with him. Glassman decided to take Shaun in for the night, and promised him they’d figure out the rest the next day. It may be assumed that Glassman subsequently accompanied Shaun's journey through different foster homes and families in some way. He even had Shaun live with him through his later teenage and adolescent years until Shaun went to med school, based on intimate knowledge Shaun has of Glassman's home routines such as how it takes him on average to shower. Ultimately, Glassman ended up acting as a surrogate father figure and mentor to Shaun well into the future.

### Season 1

Glassman fought hard to have Shaun be accepted into the residency program at St. Bonaventure under the condition that he would have to give up the hospital’s presidency if Shaun proved anything lesser than excellent at his job. Glassman continued to function as a confidant and mentor to Shaun. He leant on Glassman’s advice many a time, to the point where Shaun called him in the middle of the night because he couldn’t find his screwdriver.

When Shaun became involved in a grocery store robbery where a young woman got shot because of how stressed he was due to his autism, Glassman became increasingly worried about Shaun; he thought Shaun needed more help than Glassman could give him, knowing that he would not always be there for Shaun and tried to suggest a more permanent aid or therapist for Shaun. Although Shaun reluctantly agreed to see a therapist, he ended up getting stressed out at what Glassman was trying to force him to do and he insisted that he can get by just fine on his own. This led to Glassman somewhat inconsiderately intervening in Shaun's oncoming meltdown and Shaun slapped him in the face in an attempt to fend off the unwanted physical contact, insisting that he did not want to be ordered around and wants to make his own decisions.

Glassman attempted to find Shaun, even going to his neighbor Lea’s apartment, but couldn’t find him or call him. When Shaun soon came to the hospital, he stated an intent to go to Hershey which was secretly because Lea was returning there and Shaun wanted to be with her. At Claire’s suggestion, Glassman signed a letter of recommendation Shaun had to transfer to a hospital in Hershey to prove that he wasn’t angry at Shaun, though Shaun decided to stay. Although Glassman promised to back off Shaun, he saw that part of doing so meant that they couldn’t be friends (to Shaun’s dismay).

Shaun soon set up Glassman with Debbie Wexler, the hospital barrista and they immediately connected over their common love of classic cars. Unfortunately, Glassman felt dizzy and an ambulance was called for him. It was soon revealed that it appeared that he had an inoperable glioma and left with about 12-18 months to live. Shaun tried to get Glassman a biopsy, which he did to find that he apparently actually had four months to live. When Shaun kept trying to help Glassman, he angrily told Shaun not to and wanted to accept his fate. This led to Shaun being distracted, which caused him to be inattentive during a surgery and accidentally caused the patient to develop unnecessary and potentially fatal complications. While Glassman’s glioma was soon realised to actually be treatable (which Shaun was pleased with), Shaun’s patient survived but he nonetheless decided with Glassman to report his error to Andrews (which Glassman knew Shaun saw he was doing the right thing).

### Season 2

While Glassman was undergoing his chemotherapy, he started to have conversations with a hallucination of Maddie. Although she was angry with him and blamed him for her death, she soon forgave him and they made amends. Meanwhile, Glassman was required to walk the hospital which he kept refusing out of simply not wanting to walk (though Shaun saw it was because Glassman didn’t want to appear weak). After failing several times to get Glassman to walk, he later brought Debbie to him to help. She later continued to help Glassman at home, but Glassman got hurt during an intimacy between them and he asked her to leave.

While Glassman continued the chemotherapy treatment for his cancer, he appeared to be dealing with an increasing degree of memory loss. Upon realising this, Shaun forced him to hand over his driver’s license (which Glassman wasn’t happy about) while Shaun started driving Glassman. While it appeared that his cancer had returned, Glassman was diagnosed as having meningitis instead (and was treatable). He then had Shaun help him through the difficult times of his cancer treatment, though Shaun was somewhat ill-equipped at offering the right kind of emotional and moral support. Glassman then ended up yelling at Shaun that he needed to stop trying to help because there was nothing he could do, which led to Shaun realising that Glassman just needed a friend (which Shaun was able to be).

While Shaun was getting Glassman his prescription meds, he found it to be medicinal marijuana. Shaun then expressed the wish to test an anecdotal theory of marijuana potentially helping with ASD on his day off. Glassman agreed and they both ingested the weed gummies. While they were both high, Glassman expressed a desire for eating Mallomars, a chocolate coated marshmallow treat. However, the two instead embarked on a quest to find Robin Demayne Scaplin, an unrequited love interest from Glassman's high school days whom he wished to apologize to for writing something insulting into her senior year yearbook. While the trip out of state to find Robin ended up costing Glassman $1,844, he ended up having to help Shaun who found himself loving Lea but was unable to express it to her.

After Glassman completed his chemotherapy, he tried to reconnect with Debbie who was still hurt from him pushing her away. He attempted to propose to her but she rejected him at first, though she later accepted his proposal. When the new chief of surgery Doctor Jackson Han moved Shaun from surgery to pathology (which he outright believed Shaun was better suited for), Glassman encouraged Shaun to stand up for himself to Doctor Han. Unfortunately, this led to Shaun getting fired when he tried to get his old job back.

Following this, Shaun inadvertently got into a bar fight with a man who suddenly fell backwards and was hospitalized. Shaun realized that the man had been misdiagnosed before collapsing and was hospitalized as well with internal bleeding and a splenic rupture from a broken rib. Glassman sat vigil with Lea at Shaun's bedside where Glassman attempted to tell Lea about Shaun's feelings for her. After both Shaun and the man recovered, Glassman (though no longer president of the hospital) fought to get Shaun rehired by informing Doctor Han that Claire had realised what was wrong with the man by looking at it through Shaun’s eyes. To everyone's surprise, Andrews backed Glassman up and fired Han in order to be able to rehire Shaun.

### Season 3

Glassman soon quit his job at St. Bonaventure and began working at Stevens Creek Health Center, trying to make a difference as a clinic GP with a new outlook on life. He was visited at home by Allegra Aoki trying to get him to return to the hospital, but he refused. When Shaun visited him at the clinic, Shaun realized that Glassman's patient had an infection in his foot from diabetes and helped Glassman treat the man. Aoki later visited the clinic which she offered to reopen if Glassman returned as president, and he accepted the offer.

Glassman prepared to marry Debbie in a small civil ceremony, but had cold feet after realizing how little he knew about her and his own fears about a failed marriage. Debbie urged Glassman to take a chance and he later solicited advice from Shaun for the very first time. Shaun inadvertently helped Glassman by pointing out how Glassman started to refer to Ilana (his ex-wife) as his first wife, suggesting that in Glassman's mind, he was ready for a second one. To symbolize asking Debbie to take the leap with him, Glassman jumped on a small trampoline in his office when he asked her, but ended up falling and hurting his ankle. Now on crutches, Glassman married Debbie at City Hall in a ceremony attended by Shaun and his girlfriend Carly Lever.

Glassman was called by Marcie (Shaun’s mother) to tell him that Ethan (Shaun’s father) had been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer with only a few days to live. Shaun agreed to see Ethan while Glassman accompanied him at his request alongside Lea, though Shaun was scared about doing so. When he did, Glassman witnessed Ethan apparently apologise to Shaun for everything while Shaun got angry at how Ethan had treated him. Although Glassman became dismayed that he had worsened things for Shaun if what Shaun said were his last words to Ethan, Shaun soon chose to forgive Ethan who proved to be just as bad as ever. Glassman was soon informed by Marcie that Ethan had died, but Shaun didn’t attend his funeral.

While Glassman had to help Shaun who suffered a breakdown about losing everyone that he cares about, he had to help Morgan who required treatment for rheumatoid arthritis she was suffering with. Glassman was also reluctant to go back to surgery after his brain cancer and kept solely working at St. Bonaventure's clinic, but Morgan pushed him to return to neurosurgery. Meanwhile, Morgan confesses to her side effects and finally agrees with Glassman's recommendation to change her medication.

After trying to support Shaun who was unsure about sharing his story with an influencer who was a patient at the hospital, Glassman again had to help him after he had been dumped by Carly because she saw that he loved Lea more. While Shaun was unsure about telling Lea out of fear of what she would say if he told her the truth, Glassman nonetheless convinced Shaun to do so (though it didn’t go well).

When an earthquake happened, Glassman was kept busy working at the hospital when the victims of the earthquake came in alongside the patients they already had. Unfortunately, Neil was soon revealed to have been hurt during the incident and suffered irreparable bowel damage. Along with Lim and Claire, Glassman said goodbye to him before he died.

### Season 4

During the times of social distancing due to COVID-19, Glassman got increasingly frustrated with feeling useless and annoyed with Debbie due to spending too much time with her scooped up in close proximity. He started turning to online poker and video gaming while Debbie was happily going out to buy groceries. Everyday life hiccupped such as making too much noise during video calls contributed to their mounting unhappiness and increasing verbal squabbles during this time. They eventually openly talked about it and Glassman tearily confessed to Debbie that it made him feel weak and scared and like a coward that he's stuck at home while his colleagues at the hospital save lives. They soon both apologized to each other.

When Shaun was preparing to meet Lea's parents, Glassman was involved in trying to help Shaun which didn't work when Shaun stated that Lea didn't think that Glassman likes her. He soon told her that he does like her, but was just concerned for Shaun. Meanwhile, Lea also made peace with him. He later tried to help Lim after he was informed by Claire that she'd been suffering from PTSD and wasn't seeking help for it. He also had to work with Lea after the hospital was hit by an attack from hackers and was angry when Lea went behind his back to stop them (though he later praised her for it).

When Glassman was informed that Lea was pregnant, he tried to help Shaun who was stressing about becoming a parent. This included giving him some advice about being one, helping him find a way to save a young boy, Ethan, with a bullet fragment in his brain (which Shaun was successful at) and when Shaun was concerned about his unborn child’s health, Glassman reassured Shaun that instead of being scared, he should relax and embrace the joys of impending fatherhood. When Shaun and Lea later learnt that there was a blood clot in the umbilical cord and the pregnancy had to be terminated, Glassman offered his support by waiting for Shaun outside the procedure room where a distraught Shaun threw himself into Glassman’s arms for a comforting embrace before he turned and walked away.

Unfortunately, Glassman had a lot of antipathy towards Debbie keeping a gun in their home. They kept arguing about it and he even unloaded the gun previously without telling Debbie. When they were unable to compromise over it, Debbie accused Glassman of being too controlling and inflexible. As a response to an attempt to apologize to her, Debbie (though she loved Glassman) didn't think their marriage would work out and she left him. He also started to feel as if Shaun didn't need him anymore as Shaun had been coming to him less and less.

### Season 5

When Shaun and Lea were announced to be getting married, Shaun made Glassman his best man. Unfortunately, during Lea and Shaun’s engagement party, Glassman got drunk on whiskey and botched the speech he wanted to make to congratulate Shaun and Lea. Instead he ended up dropping the bomb that Debbie left him two months ago, which immediately changed the atmosphere in the room to an awkward silence and surprised faces before Glassman walked out.

When Salen Morrison and her company Ethicure took over the hospital, Glassman barely had any interest in working at the hospital despite Salen's attempts to bribe him. This led to him taking an unauthorized leave of absence while Shaun, Lea and Salen came to visit him at his home to convince him to come back, which fell on deaf ears. He also started fixing up an old vintage Roadster that was in bad shape, eventually enlisting Lea to help him with it, while having to help Shaun who was uncomfortable about being on a billboard that Salen had put up. Unfortunately, when Shaun was able to deal with it himself, Glassman continued to feel that he was no longer needed, packed a suitcase and drove away in the newly fixed Roadster. He then went to Paradise, Montana for a while which led to him skipping tux fittings with Shaun and ignoring his and Lea's calls.

Lea eventually sought out Glassman to try and convince him to come back to San Jose; she manipulated Shaun’s patient satisfaction scores without his knowledge and was afraid about him being overloaded with all the stress and the changes that the Ethicure takeover had brought. However, Glassman downplayed the necessity of his presence in Shaun’s life, declined the request to come back to California and just tried to encourage Lea that she and Shaun are made for each other.

While Glassman was selling his house to move to Montana full time, Ilana turned up on his doorstep to ask him for help. She had remarried and her new husband Sunil had been diagnosed with a progressive neurological disorder, though Glassman found out Sunil was misdiagnosed; he actually had a tumor that he claimed was inoperable, but was actually afraid of being responsible for taking another loved one from Ilana. While Glassman still thought that Shaun no longer needed him, Ilana made him realize the opposite. They also made amends over their past (including Maddie) and Glassman finally agreed to do the operation which was a success. Meanwhile, he soon found Shaun who broke down after he ended up injecting expired medication into a baby that died because of Salen’s budget cuts. When Glassman found him, Shaun also got upset over how he thought Glassman was abandoning him (despite promising he wouldn't) and blamed him for the baby's death as he saw that it wouldn't have happened if he was still in charge of the hospital and broke down with only Glassman able to comfort him.

Having been painfully reminded of how much he and Shaun still need each other, Glassman decided to stay in San Jose. After Shaun called off his wedding to Lea due to being upset over her admission that she had changed his scores, Glassman tried to help patch up their relationship by reinforcing to Shaun that Lea loves him and encouraging him to talk to Lea to sort out their differences, which he eventually did. When Lim saw that Salen wasn't good for the hospital, Glassman eventually joined the fight against Salen. Unfortunately, Salen learnt of this ploy, promptly fired Glassman, along with Lim and Lea and threatened to reveal Glassman's unauthorized leave of absence (alongside Lea and Lim's own transgressions) if they continued. However, they nonetheless worked to stop Salen until eventually it was Dr. Andrews who did so.

While the hospital was getting back to normal, a family of three came to the hospital after getting hurt in a car crash. Glassman, Lim and Andrews had to perform the surgeries on the parents, during which Glassman had to make things right with Lim for abandoning the hospital when Salen took over and only came back for Shaun. He also felt temporary animosity towards Andrews for closing the clinic, was instrumental in starting a hospital softball team and was presented with a sensor project by Lea and Jordan which didn’t go well when he appeared to show sexist attitudes towards them both. He and Shaun later had to work together when most of the hospital's staff became affected by some magic mushrooms during a potluck. Unfortunately, the two kept clashing due to their different styles until Jordan convinced Glassman to possibly learn from Shaun.

While Shaun and Lea failed at several attempts at getting married, Glassman teamed up with Jordan to offer them a cozy private surprise wedding ceremony on the roof of the hospital with Dr. Andrews officiating. Just prior to the wedding when Glassman helped Shaun fixing up his bow tie, Glassman presented Shaun with heirloom rings of his great-great-grandparents. The two shared a beautiful moment and solidified their father-son bond when Shaun explicitly acknowledged Glassman as being his father. During the wedding, Glassman made a loving speech, reminiscing how he and Shaun met and their journey together. He recognized that Shaun always knew what he wanted and that he deserves happiness with a wife that Glassman may have underestimated for a long time. He watched proudly and contentedly as Shaun and Lea danced and celebrated.

### Season 6

Soon enough, it was announced that Lim and Nurse Villanueva had been stabbed by Villanueva's violent ex-boyfriend. Shaun and Glassman were part of the team to perform the surgery on Lim. Glassman had an idea to help by taking a portion of Lim's liver, but Shaun knew that that would've decreased her lifespan. Shaun, however, thought of an angio-embolization but Glassman saw that it could’ve killed Lim and tried to get him to do the original surgery, but Glassman was called away by Andrews to help Villanueva. When he returned, Shaun had performed the angio-embolization. While Glassman was upset, Shaun was able to help Lim (though he briefly went into shock and became unresponsive during the surgery).

After the surgery done on Lim made her paralyzed from the waist down, Glassman was constantly kept up at night thinking about it. Unfortunately, Lim found out the truth, was not happy and (despite attempts to remain impartial) Glassman couldn’t help but side with her. He also got angry at Shaun over this which Shaun did not take kindly to. Nonetheless, Shaun tried to work with Glassman to find a surgery that could’ve fixed Lim but Glassman kept pointing out how they would not work, which was possibly partially due to how he couldn’t get over how angry he was with Shaun. After Glassman was confronted about his behavior by Lea and he remembered that he was never able to really tell Maddie how much he loved her, he made up with Shaun and they worked on a surgery for Lim which she rejected (to Shaun’s devastation).

After Glassman and Lea had to work together when a heatwave caused a power outage at the hospital, he urged Shaun and Lim to make amends over what had happened and soon found that Lim was starting to walk again. When Lea became pregnant again, Glassman assisted Shaun through complications she was dealing with. He then had to help Shaun after he and Lea found an injured dog that Lea was getting Shaun to help heal and gave Lea parenting advice when she was worried about becoming a parent.

Glassman’s home soon suffered a termite infestation and he ended up living with Lea and Shaun for a while. While somewhat annoyed at the work that needed to be done to his house, he earned his keep with Shaun and Lea by helping them out at their apartment. Unfortunately, his house got destroyed in a fire and he was left shifting through the rubble of anything he could find (during which Shaun and Lea joined him). He then attempted to help prepare Shaun and Lea for their baby, but his well-meaning efforts were actually irritating Lea which he accepted but all the same pleased when Shaun called Glassman his unborn child’s grandfather and moved in an apartment near them.

While still helping Shaun and Lea prepare for their baby, he supported Shaun when he was sued for medical malpractice. Unfortunately, he missed a couple of sutures on a patient which made Shaun worry that Glassman's cancer had returned. Although reluctant, he got an MRI which revealed that he has a lesion, but it isn’t cancerous. However, Shaun still thought that something was wrong with Glassman who soon appeared to suffer a mini-stroke which appeared to cause him permanent brain damage, meaning that Glassman should no longer be allowed to operate.

When Shaun and Lim found out the truth, Glassman took the news hard and refused to allow Lim to stop him from performing surgery. He then felt that Shaun was becoming over-protective of him while they were performing a surgery on a man who had a personality shift, but he himself was unable to complete the surgery which was still a success. While upset that his career was over, he was also upset at Shaun whom Glassman felt had betrayed him. On the day Shaun and Lea’s baby was soon to be born, Glassman worked with Lim to help a woman who suffered an internal decapitation and they were successful. Along with Lea, Lim tried to convince Glassman to make amends with Shaun as Glassman did previously with her. Although he didn’t attend Shaun and Lea’s baby’s birth, he still had an embroidered blanket that he did and had Shaun and Lea’s baby’s name on it (which he knew would be Steve) sent to them.

## Personality

Glassman has a tendency to be somewhat arrogant, grouchy and controlling (which he has even admitted himself). While Ilana wanted to get Maddie help while she was addicted, Glassman refused so that he could be Maddie’s hero. He’s also tended to bicker with Lea who has called him out on his attitude, but he does like her (despite fearing what she could do to Shaun), and has been somewhat hypocritical; he told Shaun off for secluding himself while Lim was angry at Shaun for changing the surgery performed on her but wasn’t any better as Glassman also avoided him.

However, he does care about others. He really did love Maddie (even if he never got enough opportunities to tell her that) and comforted Claire after she accidentally killed a patient. He also loves Shaun like a son (though Glassman has found his Autism hard to deal with at times) and has even shown to have similar personality traits to Shaun. He also did love Ilana and Debbie while married to them.

In Season 2, Glassman’s chemotherapy had apparently changed him for the better and he even got Doctor Blaize (the doctor who was helping him) a gift.

## Trivia

* In real life, Richard Schiff is married to Sheila Kelley, who played Glassman's ex-wife Debbie Wexler.
* Glassman is absent for part of Season 4 due to Richard Schiff developing COVID-19 in real life.