Author's posts
Public health requires a broader, longer-term assessment of the pandemic
Many government officials have begun to lift some restrictions on elective surgeries and procedures for hospitals. This means that some of those of us in medical professions not on the COVID-19 front lines will be returning to a workload closer to the …
Capitalizing on what we know from other pandemics, with a little help from Major League Baseball
Before the age of modern understanding and drug development, HIV sparked fear, anxiety, and panic throughout the country. My eighth-grade science teacher was the first to teach me about HIV, a virus that makes so many mistakes in replicating itself tha…
The impact of removing numerical scores from USMLE Step 1
I recall clearly the effect that the first step of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) had on my medical education. The test is generally taken at the end of the second year of medical school, about halfway through the 4-year curriculum. W…
Understanding science means realizing that science doesn’t always have all of the answers
The impact of science on the well-being on our planet has never been more important than it is now. We are all looking to science and technology in a search for answers and resources. We keep watching television in search of these answers, but we are l…
The effects of physical distancing will be long-lasting
As a radiologist, it should come as no surprise that I am not a “touchy” person. Not only do I remember the first MeToo movement that coincided with the 1991 Clarence Thomas hearings, but I just assume that people don’t want to be touched unless they i…
People are ignoring social distancing guidelines. We must get it together.
I recently received a postcard in the mail titled “President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America.” The first of these recommendations is to follow the directions of my state and local authorities. In my community, notable restrictions on commerc…
Help our health care heroes take care of you
The goal of “flattening the curve” regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic is to slow transmission such that we avoid seeing a large unmanageable peak of infections at once. It doesn’t necessarily mean that fewer people will be infected from start to …
Coronavirus can be controlled, but we must embrace sacrifice
In the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, a friend of mine relayed a troubling story to me recently. My friend is a dermatologist who is 9-months pregnant, living and working in a county with no known community spread of the novel coronavirus. After s…
The sad demise of an idealistic family physician
Graduation from my residency program was a bittersweet experience. At the time, my specialty was suffering from a crippling job shortage, so our futures were uncertain, and a dark mood had come to permeate my radiology residency. We were disgruntled wi…
The continuing battle between the emergency department and radiology
I overheard a disappointing phone call while supervising a radiology resident recently. I could tell that the resident was struggling in a conversation with an emergency department physician, so I asked him to switch over to speakerphone. Eventually, I…
