If you’ve ever used a medication to treat an illness, you have a clinical trial to thank for it. Every standard therapy used in medicine today once started as a clinical trial. And it is commonly understood that today’s clinical trials are shaping trea…
Actor Peter Fonda, son of Henry Fonda and younger brother of Jane Fonda, passed away August 16 at his Los Angeles home. Fonda, who was 79, is probably best known for his role as Wyatt in Easy Rider, a movie he co-wrote, produced, and starred in. Fonda …
It was a common enough reason for someone to have a CT scan. The order read, “Abdominal pain, colon cancer resected in January.” It was now March, only two months post-surgery. Yet the patient’s CT scan showed a number of large masses in the liver, con…
Prior to my 10-year-old son being diagnosed with leukemia, I worked as a diabetes nurse educator at a local hospital. I had been an RN for over 15 years and was able to balance home life with work; I loved educating patients on how to deal with their d…
There are two versions of “the conversation” we have with men: One is for teenage boys, and it is about wet dreams, sexually transmitted disease, unwanted pregnancy and at one point also about testicular self-examinations. Those have now been edited ou…
During my training to become a primary care physician, the importance of preventive cancer screening was ingrained in me. The idea of catching cancer at an early stage so we can better treat it made intuitive sense. But as I’ve learned over the years, …
Doctors and policy wonks hear a lot these days about “low-value care.” What exactly is that, and should you care? The term refers to tests, medications, and procedures that add little to a patient’s health or well-being but which cost them or the syste…
Hey there, Dr. Brown. Just wanted to send a little note to warn you that I’m coming to see you soon for my yearly “checkup.” You and I both know that this is my annual opportunity to spew all of my worries on you and for you to reassure me that I’m not…
Being a first-generation college student is hard. Being a first-generation college student and being pre-med is even harder. And since education and income are closely linked in the U.S., it’s no surprise that many first-generation college studen…
How do you respond when patients with a good prognosis want to delay chemotherapy to try an anticancer diet for a few months or visit an unregulated clinic for unproven therapies? I’m asking because of an alarming finding of ASCO’s 2018 National Cancer…
