In 2020, firearm fatalities displaced motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death of U.S. youth (ages 1 to 19). We long ago dramatically reduced infectious deaths (though vaccine hesitancy threatens to upend this victory), and the “big …
Category: Public Health & Policy
Faced with yet another variant, epidemiologists must act more like silicon valley start-ups
With yet another highly contagious COVID variant sweeping the East Coast, it’s never been more clear that we need a systems approach to reforming epidemiology in the U.S. Several legislative approaches, including the PREVENT Pandemics Act and pu…
New York nurses strike for dignity and respect on the frontlines
As a PA, I’ve worked in some of the city’s busiest emergency departments. While they differ in practice styles, patient population, and architecture, they all have one thing in common: the nurses are overworked. As thousands of them go on s…
Saving mothers: How technology can aid in the fight against preventable maternal deaths
Maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the United States are among the highest in the developed world—impacting roughly 50,000 women each year and taking the lives of 700 mothers annually. Three in five of these deaths are preventable, according to …
Student loan forgiveness: a key step in achieving health equity for minority physicians and patients
As student loan forgiveness awaits a decision from the Supreme Court, the Department of Education has launched a program that can forgive student loan debt for over 40,000 Americans and ease student debt burdens for up to 3.6 million borrowers. As this…
Creating a trauma-informed society: the role of government policy in reducing adverse childhood experiences [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we speak with Ariane Marie-Mitchell, a preventive medicine physician who discusses the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health and development. She discuss…
The CHIPHIT complex and the future of health care: Can we create a low-cost, high-quality system?
The high cost, low quality, and systemic inequities of the U.S. health care system have prompted its redesign. The current health care system is now controlled by consolidated health care institutions, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and…
Iranian women’s rights movement faces brutal retaliation from government
A 23-year-old girl reached out to me, a medical professional, seeking advice. “I’m not afraid of them killing me,” she said, referring to the torture and rape that men and women endure in Iranian prisons. “What I’m afraid …
You can take your teeth to the grave
My grandma went to her grave with no teeth. I made a full denture for my dad as a dental student. But you can take your natural teeth to your grave. Just before last Halloween, there was a sign near the elevator on my floor in my building in Greenwich …
Doctors trained abroad will save rural health care
Health care is growing hard to come by in rural America. Three-quarters of rural counties suffer from doctor shortages. More than 200 rural hospitals are at risk of closing due to financial hardship within the next two to three years, according to a st…
