Category: Conditions

An epidemiologist talks about the “next” COVID-19 pandemic

An interview with Rich DiPentima, MPH, former chief of communicable disease epidemiology at the New Hampshire Division of Public Health. Rosenberg: As the former chief of communicable disease epidemiology at the New Hampshire Division of Public Health …

When it comes to diet culture, it’s time to end the abuse

When you hear someone talk about a relationship that is oppressive, shameful, controlling, and detrimental to the person’s physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing: How would you define the relationship? Would you want the person …

When it comes to diet culture, it’s time to end the abuse

When you hear someone talk about a relationship that is oppressive, shameful, controlling, and detrimental to the person’s physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing: How would you define the relationship? Would you want the person …

Selectively sharing genetic information in the future

Communicating with relatives that they may share a gene variant that could cause disease is problematic. Maybe you do not want to share that information with other relatives. Maybe other relatives do not want to know about such information. Examples of…

Why air pollution is making us infertile 

The fertility rate in the United States, and globally, has been on a steady decline. This is the sixth consecutive year that there has been a reduction in the fertility rate, which has decreased by an average of 2 percent. Numerous factors contribute t…

Listening to the doctor’s heart

I’ve had doctors listen to my heart many times in my life. Recent work I did in Pakistan as an anthropologist let me listen to theirs. A few months ago, I embarked on an ethnographic study to understand what health care professionals saw as the p…

Leprosy: a disease that turns hands into paws, feet into stumps, and eyes into darkness

I have been a staunch advocate for the fight against leprosy since 1991, when I first witnessed afflicted human beings in their advanced stages of the illness traipsing the streets of India and Bangladesh, most if not all begging to survive. In medical…

3 eating disorder myths that health care professionals should debunk

When it comes to eating disorders, there are plenty of incorrect assumptions. Let’s debunk three of them. Myth: Eating disorders occur only in teenage, rich white girls. This myth perpetuates stereotypes and can discourage people from getting tre…

New strategies are needed for mental health treatment

The COVID-19 pandemic has made mental health conditions so pervasive that, in turn, the stigma that once accompanied seeking treatment has been minimized. As a result, public attention towards psychological health has skyrocketed. Other factors such as…

Support groups are life-changing for many patients

“Gimme five,” the TV doctor said to his little patient as he entered the exam room. As I watched this scene in an evening TV program, I was reminded of one of my pediatric practice’s most gratifying stories, which happened over 20 yea…