“How can we, as physicians, convince Black patients to take the COVID-19 vaccine?” my residency interviewer asked me, a Black fourth-year Johns Hopkins medical student. I paused. I couldn’t help but wonder if the interviewer had asked all of the other …
I’m of Irish heritage and we love to tell stories. This story feels like it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. I grew up in Texas, where football is king. Here’s my story so parents can make a more fully “informed consent” when deciding if their ch…
In some people, COVID-19 causes mild or no symptoms at all. In others, it can cause significant respiratory distress that can lead to death. Once infected with COVID-19, is there anything that someone can do to foster a less severe infection? The answ…
Like most modern marriages with spouses in the same profession, ours is one based on an exquisite balance of willful one-upmanship and reluctant admiration. A pandemic with two physicians in critical care medicine, albeit in different disciplines, serv…
Keep it Simple is a bumper sticker slogan. Life during a pandemic has been anything but simple, and the holiday season presents (not the gift kind) its own special challenges. So does living alone and trying to stay humanized. In his book Together: The…
The roll-out of the COVID vaccine, which started in the U.S. recently, brought hope to millions of Americans reeling under the protracted coronavirus pandemic. The phrase “this is the beginning of the end” was used repeatedly by interviewed…
Some poignant moments with patients take me by surprise. I have had hundreds (thousands?) of difficult discussions with patients. They are all difficult and unique, but sometimes they unexpectedly and without good explanation, catch me off guard. I s…
Despite advances in the science of diabetes, including a huge armory of new drugs, over 34.2 million people still suffer. More than 88 million adults are at risk for diabetes, disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities. Individuals with d…
On the first day of COVID my hospital administrator gave to me, A pep talk and some shoddy PPE. On the second day of COVID my hospital administrator gave to me, Two nitrile gloves, And a pep talk and some shoddy PPE. On the third day of COVID my hospit…
As cases exploded across the country, I watched with horror as I saw people go on with their daily lives as if hundreds of thousands of people were not dying, as if millions were not infected, as if our health care system was not collapsing. I watched …
