In a grocery store recently, a friend’s young child gave a big hug to a brightly colored, meter-high plastic cartoon mascot for a well-known candy brand standing at the end of an aisle surrounded by many bags of the candy on sale. “Aww, tha…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Raising reimbursements: the Medicaid imperative
One early evening in June, we sat in the second row of a Health Sciences Building classroom with 79 other students enrolled in the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP). We were excited to hear a guest lecture from a program alumnus, a cl…
Food is medicine: Why doctors care about the Farm Bill
As the spring planting season approaches, seven farmers from my home state of Illinois traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the “Farmers for Climate Action” rally. Farmers sought meetings with lawmakers, including Illinois Sen. Dick…
The true value and power of respect is too often undervalued
Everyone recognizes that respect is essential in critical relationships with colleagues, patients, their families, and others. So why should the topic deserve closer scrutiny? Seven Ways to Fix Policing NOW: Building Trust, Authentic Partnerships, and …
Physicians take a stand against anti-LGBT laws: a call to action
In the 1970s, my brother and I were raised as twins. He’s a year older than me, but we wore matching denim outfits, had thick side-parted hair, and worshiped The Beatles. Near identical though we were, only one of us was queer. And America was ly…
Uncovering the controversial debate surrounding climate change
In a recent posting, “The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools,” the author concluded that climate change is “here and undeniable” and, based on her experience of wildfires, that the cataclysmic conseq…
Tackling the health care crisis with artificial intelligence: Combating physician and nursing shortages in the United States
The United States is grappling with a significant health care crisis as physician and nursing shortages impact the nation’s ability to provide adequate care to an aging population. A combination of factors contributes to these shortages, with con…
Physicians are a finite resource we need to protect
As we pause on Doctors’ Day to salute America’s physicians and all the ways they’re contributing to healthier families and communities, it’s important we also recognize the extraordinary pressures physicians are facing in a time…
The Iranian diaspora’s fight for liberty: Overcoming challenges in the largest women’s rights movement of our century
For 44 years, Iranians have been living in captivity. Since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, Iranians are no longer willing to tolerate life under the Islamic Republic and have spearheaded the largest women’s rights movement of our century. With th…
The dark side of medicine: an urgent call to action against greed
An editorial in JAMA by Donald Berwick, MD, speaks about the “existential threat of greed in U.S. health care.” He points his finger at all segments of health care, including physicians. In my specialty of vascular medicine, I have encounte…
