Category: KevinMD

How to develop a mission-driven personal brand

We see examples of personal branding every day on TV and social media. Sometimes these catch our attention, and sometimes they annoy us. That’s the thing about personal branding: it can be trustworthy or cringe-worthy. While personal branding may…

Medicine’s culture forces us to ignore our health [PODCAST]

“Physicians are steeped in a noxious culture that seems to be averse to creating healthy physicians. We ignore mountains of evidence that show exercise, sleep, and healthy eating is beneficial for cognitive function, learning, and performance — a…

COVID-19 is causing small but growing fractures in our hospitals 

It’s an odd time to be a new physician. One of the best parts about working at a hospital is the sense of friendship and professional camaraderie that you build with other doctors, nurses, therapists, medical assistants, secretaries, etc. However, in t…

The story of how a supportive residency program made a difference

An ecosystem of inpatient medicine moved at full speed around me as the news came in. It was the fall of my intern year, and my mother’s glioblastoma was back. Just months earlier, I had begun residency as a liability – a brand new, unproven doctor who…

Clearing the misinformation surrounding medical cannabis

An excerpt from Medical Marijuana: A Clinical Handbook. Imagine two patients sitting in the waiting area of a clinic. The first is a man in his sunset years who has recently begun treatment for stage 2 lung cancer. His treatment involves the use of che…

Health care’s tech renaissance during the pandemic extends to medical training

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in at least 25 million cases worldwide with a continued spread in the United States, causing global disruption in every sector of society and forcing adaptation to a new normal relying increasingly on technology. Even…

It is time to pause, reflect, and decide what being a physician means to us

A bird slams into the glass. A bird slams into the glass. A bird slams into the glass. Over and over again, head first, determined to defeat its own reflection. A headbutt of bravado. I watched it, time and time again. From the inside, I studied the do…

Residency applications during COVID-19: a rain cloud with a silver lining for some

Like everything in life, applying for residency this year is going to be radically different. There won’t be any long cross-country plane flights, no driving across state lines, no crashing at friend’s places to save money on hotel nights. …

Recognizing childhood stress is so important. Here’s why. [PODCAST]

“Advocate for the children in your community. Studies show that one of the most powerful buffering factors for kids experiencing toxic stress is having at least one supportive, caring adult in their lives. Who in your circles needs you to provide…

Facebook has become a dangerous platform for misinformation. Or has it?

I read with fascination the opinion piece published New York Times:’” But I Saw It on Facebook’: Hoaxes are Making Doctors’ Jobs Harder” because it’s a topic that’s been on my mind lately.  Particularly after I engag…