Increasingly, it’s showing up in people in their 20s and 30s—individuals who don’t drink excessively, don’t appear outwardly unhealthy, and often have no idea their liver is under stress. The condition, now referred to as metabolic dy…
Category: Conditions
What money can’t fix: the scars left by a friend
I stood at the check-in counter of my physician’s office, waiting for my yearly physical. Beside me, another patient was checking in. I recognized her instantly. It was Denise—my childhood best friend. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to sa…
Why vaccine access still fails America’s most vulnerable groups
The health, judicial, and socioeconomic disparities among ethnic minorities are pervasive, and vaccination rates are key among them. The inequities among marginalized groups are largely driven by social determinants of health, education, and access to …
ADHD isn’t one-size-fits-all: Why nuance in diagnosis matters
I read with great interest the recently published article in The New York Times by Paul Tough, who has reported on child development and education over the last twenty years. He outlines statistics, specifically the rise in diagnosis of children and ad…
How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients
Adapted from Greed to Do Good: The Untold Story of CDC’s Disastrous War on Opioids. The 2016 CDC opioid guideline seemed to make obvious sense: Americans were consuming far too many prescribed opioids. Many users of illicit opioids reported that …
When leadership turns defensive: the impact of workplace paranoia on professionalism
Leadership in any industry, especially in health care, demands a delicate balance of trust, ethical judgment, and professionalism. However, when leaders view collaboration through a lens of suspicion, assuming that employees are conspiring against them…
From the other side of the table: a plea for empathy
Unless you’ve lived it, you can’t fully understand. We’ve all cared for patients with cancer. We’ve delivered hard news, sat beside bedsides, explained scan results, and offered hope when we could. We’ve been the calm in t…
The role of contingency management in addiction treatment
Before leaving office, the Biden administration increased the annual cap for Medicaid-reimbursed contingency management (an evidence-based psychosocial intervention) as part of an individual’s addiction treatment. This move demonstrates what I ha…
What Avarie’s death in Rome teaches us about the gaps in food allergy education
I’ve just returned from the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Conference in Michigan, an inspiring confluence of advocacy, research, and business, all focused on one shared mission: improving the lives of those living with food allergies. I’ve be…
How moving abroad eased my allergies
A personal discovery “I used to have respiratory allergies back home, but since I moved to Málaga, they didn’t bother me anymore,” a patient answered to the usual question, “Do you have any allergies?” during a checkup in …
