Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Orthopedic surgeon Adil S. Ahmed discusses his article, “Academic medical centers under threat: the impact of funding cuts.” He outlines the essential, multifa…
Category: Public Health & Policy
When rock bottom is a turning point: Why the turmoil at HHS may be a blessing in disguise
Recent headlines confirm what many Americans have sensed for the past few years: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in crisis. A sweeping wave of layoffs is reshaping federal health agencies at every level—from the NIH to the CDC…
Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies
Why has faith in government health agencies never been lower? Because conflicts of interest (COIs) have never been higher. At the FDA, concerns about drugmakers “buying” drug approvals go back to passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Ac…
America, our health care workforce training isn’t evolving alongside our needs
It was recently match day in the medical school world. Students who have given their lives to their studies to become doctors learned where they’d spend the next three to seven years in their chosen specialty completing their residency. This is o…
C. Everett Koop’s defining stand against the tobacco industry [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Historian and ethicist Nigel Cameron discusses his article, “C. Everett Koop’s fearless fight against the tobacco industry,” drawn from his biography of …
A surgeon’s late-night crisis reveals the cost confusion in health care
During Trump’s first address to Congress, he continued to promise economic reform. In the wake of the administration’s brazen attempts to cut costs, we have watched in awe as combat veterans are fired from the VA, lifelong civil servants ar…
The school cafeteria could save American medicine
I grew up in Pickens, South Carolina—a small, poor Appalachian town burdened by health struggles. In school, I saw food insecurity long before I had the vocabulary for it. Classmates ate honey buns and chips for breakfast, and lunch trays held processe…
How Earth Day can inspire better health for doctors and patients
When I was a kid, my dad and I used to go on regular weekend hikes up to Henninger Flats at the Eaton Canyon Natural Area in Altadena, California. When we made it to the top, we would sit at one of the wooden benches overlooking the San Gabriel Valley,…
The altar of equity: a cautionary tale from the temple of healing
In a nation where the Hippocratic Oath stands as a sacred covenant, one expects the temple of healing to be a fortress of precision, expertise, and unerring competence. Yet, a recent pilgrimage to an academic hospital in our fair city unveiled a scene …
Pope Francis dies at 88. What his care reveals about America’s failing hospitals.
Pope Francis passed away this morning at the age of 88. Just weeks ago, he had spent 38 days hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for what was described as “double pneumonia,” before returning to his Vatican apartment to recover. H…
