Category: Conditions

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic

“Come to triage right now, and wear your N95. A patient going straight to OR and she’s having fever and chills.” I was summoned to the triage area of labor and delivery for a patient brought in from the ultrasound clinic and found to have absent fetal …

Where does science end and where do politics begin? 

In the past 12 months, as the coronavirus swept from coast to coast and back again, scientific knowledge and inquiry have been thrust to the forefront of American political consciousness. With science’s newfound centrality to our public life has come i…

Reimagining diet: Why cheating brings the win

Keto, Mediterranean, Paleo, intermittent fasting. How many times have you or your patients been sucked into the latest diet trend only to crash and burn just a few weeks later? I have tried every diet in the books and every single time, draw the same c…

Cartoons that explain how the COVID vaccines work

Emily Waters is a physician who shares how the mRNA COVID vaccines — known as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — work (click to enlarge): The other option, the single-dose vaccine created by Johnson & Johnson, is explained here (click to…

My Shot! A COVID vaccine adaptation

Vax’n 8, a group of physicians from Northern California working in a variety of specialties in medicine, are proud to present “My Shot!”, a song adapted from the hit Broadway show Hamilton. “My Shot” addresses the social, scientific, and political issu…

COVID is a race with no finish

As a devoted runner, I find life lessons from this movement that help me get through difficult times. Journey with me for a moment. We have signed up for a distance running race. For some of us, this is familiar territory. For others who consider payin…

An anniversary: Reflecting on COVID-19 and combustion

One year ago today, my hospital system admitted its first patient with COVID-19. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been twelve months. It simultaneously feels immensely long ago and like it was only yesterday; that what I know of medic…

Hypertension is killing pregnant mothers. Blood pressure monitoring can help.

Hypertensive disorders with onset during pregnancies are among the leading causes of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the U.S. and can have far-reaching consequences for the long-term health of the mother and child. In Dr. Jerome Adams’ r…

Could a glass of wine diagnose long COVID?

Acute COVID-19 infection ranges from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to life-threatening.  What about long COVID (the symptoms occurring more than three weeks after infection, also known as post-acute COVID syndrome)?  Could there be thousands of people wit…

I remain hopeful: a personal reflection of the pandemic

I did not lose a loved one. I did not lose a friend. Yet, COVID has forever changed me in ways that I cannot even begin to rationalize. I feel old — my body, my soul, my heart. It has been one year since I have hugged my parents. It has been one year s…