“I’m sad you are leaving! But I’m sure you had your loans forgiven by coming here! So I am happy for you!” A colleague said this upon learning I was leaving to pursue a fellowship. Her comment stung. As a non-citizen with privat…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Politics is health care on a grand scale
At the same time that gun violence becomes the leading cause of death for children in the U.S., lawmakers and political pundits caution the public against turning gun violence into a political issue. Yet as Jelani Cobb writes in the New Yorker, the mas…
It’s time for evidence-based change to reduce gun violence
As we are all processing the horrific events that occurred in Texas, as a psychiatrist and advocate for individuals suffering from mental illness, I beg you not to state this individual was mentally ill. We do not know enough information to come to thi…
Senators are killing children by failing to enact gun control laws
Nineteen children were killed in a mass shooting in Texas. I have barely escaped the pandemonium of the pediatric emergency department to scarf down a bowl of pasta when I hear the announcement on the breakroom TV. My stomach drops. Again? How is it po…
The Buffalo mass shooting and food deserts
On May 14, 2022, ten people were fatally shot with three injured at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, NY, constituting the second most deadly mass shooting this year at the time of writing. As the number of mass shootings and fatalities continues to climb…
A gun message for woke corporations
It is too early to hear the narratives from the families of the 19 children slain this week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, near San Antonio, Texas. But narratives from the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newto…
The visionary pediatrician may soon be an endangered species
If I were writing a book about what it’s like to be a visionary pediatrician speaking up for children’s health, I would title it, The Hate We Get. A few months ago, I received a death threat comment on a TikTok video I posted advocating for COVID vacci…
Automatic refill and 90-day fill programs don’t improve medication adherence
Health care has fooled us into believing a number of myths that—taken at face value—sound logical and true. Here’s one of the most pervasive and dangerous myths: Pharmacy’s value comes from convenience and access. And here’s another one: 90-day fills, …
Only patients can save U.S. health care [PODCAST]
“Having a physician partner who knows us well, who we can trust, and whose judgment we value exponentially increases the odds of accurately making the distinction between self-limited illness versus a significant disease process. This will also a…
The J-1 work exemption: a flawed solution to the physician shortage
A few years ago, my rural town expected the addition of a “J-1,” or foreign, physician. This addition was meant to alleviate the work of my father, who had been the only neurologist at our underserved hospital for the past few years. And ye…
