I’m a doctor passionate about public health and public policy born and raised in Wisconsin and educated at the Medical College of Wisconsin (the same institute that bestowed Mr. Rodgers an honorary degree in 2018). I’m also a Packers shareh…
Category: Infectious disease
Is misinformation deadlier than the virus?
Lurking in the shadows, it creeps in. Spreading itself across the world. Creeping into all recesses of human civilization, like a slug oozing slime as it moves slowly and surely. A microscopic, spikey ball of evil engineered for killing. Attacking its …
A pregnant mother dies of COVID
In this small town I live in, a funeral procession is a big deal. The hearse is followed by several black cars turning into an array of family and friends cars. All of them roll slowly and sadly to the final destination. I knew all about this funeral. …
COVID ravaged my mother’s body
The day that my 82-year-old mother was scheduled to receive her first COVID vaccine, she was admitted to the intensive care unit, critically ill with COVID pneumonia. It was late January. My siblings and I hadn’t heard from our mother in a few days, an…
To booster or not booster? That is the question.
Gen. Colin Powell , the first Black U.S. secretary of state, passed away this week due to COVID complications. Yes, Powell was fully vaccinated but immunocompromised. However, he had scheduled the booster but was too ill to receive it. After President …
Carry on, my weary one: Persevering in the aftermath [PODCAST]
“Frontline workers may have temporarily experienced a heightened sense of personal success and gratification, but I doubt many of us are still able to feel satisfied at this point, after all the repeated moral injuries and losing so many patients…
Which is better: Psychotherapy using video or in-person while wearing masks?
At the very start of the pandemic last year, I met with a couple of patients in the office while we wore masks. Based on that limited experience, I quickly concluded that seeing each other’s faces was of paramount importance, even if over video. That…
Crossing the liminal space of the pandemic
We have been walking down a long hallway for many, many months. We left the room we resided in pre-COVID, but we have not yet found a room to rest. We are in the liminal space of COVID. This is unsettling and unnerving — liminal space often is. Liminal…
I was thinking about retiring, and COVID-19 gave me a push [PODCAST]
“Last March, I was working in a small primary care practice on the west side of Denver. COVID-19 came to town. On Thursday, March 12, we were told the schools would be closing. On Friday, we were told that clinic staff had to wear masks — and the…
The dimming of the shining city
In March 1630, John Winthrop delivered the treatise “A Model of Christian Charity” at Holyrood Church in Southampton, England, prior to leading the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay colony on their to journey to the New World. In his …
