Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus

Mother’s Day during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kisses, hugs, cuddles, breakfast in bed/beautiful brunch outdoors is how I remember celebrating Mother’s Day with my kids in the past, but 2020 was a bit different. As a physician caring for children with COVID-19, along with being a mother of 2 young …

Responding to the COVID pandemic: a lesson in coalescence [PODCAST]

“When faced with an existential crisis, any organization, as large as a nation or as small as a marriage, will go one of two ways. Either it will bond together, coalesced in a common purpose, or it will collapse in a spasm of blame and shame. Whi…

The tragic dance of the vaccine rollout

You would think that the vaccine rollout wouldn’t be so difficult. We had some brilliant scientists who raced against time and developed novel vaccines with technology never used before. Both Pfizer and Moderna used unique mRNA technology. The va…

The next impending health crisis for families

For over a year, I have watched and witnessed the multitude of ways that COVID has ignited crisis after crisis in our country and across the world. At first, the crisis of the unknown and the ill-prepared – we as health care professionals did not know …

A plea for help from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic

I am a palliative care physician in a hospital in our nation’s capital region.  Like most urban hospitals, ours has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.  My colleagues and I are exhausted and emotionally devastated.  We are not alone.  …

Using nano “couriers” to deliver PKD drugs to just the right address

The term “mRNA lipid nanoparticle” has become common of late, given the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines make of nanoparticles to carry mRNA into cells. Once inside a cell, the mRNA instructs the cell to make pieces of the prote…

The COVID-19 tragedy in India: a caution to other countries

You have seen those harrowing pictures.  Patients dying outside the hospitals while waiting for a bed.  People on oxygen masks gasping for air-sharing beds. Dead bodies piling up in morgues. Overstretched crematoriums and burial grounds.  COVID has hit…

A pediatrician’s approach to vaccine hesitancy in a pandemic

I feel privileged to have received both of my COVID-19 vaccine doses. Although, despite the COVID-19 pandemic killing over 562,000 Americans, 37% are hesitant about receiving this vaccine themselves. The World Health Organization defines vaccine hesita…

Falling in love during a pandemic: a medical scribe’s story [PODCAST]

“Nowadays, I go on long walks through the city alone. I make dinner for one. When I go on bike rides, it’s a solo activity. I find comfort in myself, slowing down and making every small occasion a simple, peaceful one. I have a stronger sense of …

I’m a doctor who had COVID. Did I deserve this? Does anyone?

During this pandemic, do we blame people for acquiring COVID or do we empathize? I wonder this as I read a message from my senior, who mentions that people are suffering or in isolation due to COVID because of their own negligence. My mind reflects bac…