Category: Public Health & Policy

The answer to hate speech or false speech is not censorship

I am at a loss.  While trying to explain the events to my children since January 6, I feel profound sadness and fear.  Our country is built on freedom, yet the latest in a parade of crisis’ is being used by those in power to remove our freedoms at an a…

It is not enough to say we are anti-racist. We must address glaring disparities in treatment.

Sometimes structural racism surfaces in a way that even those of us who would like to be “color-blind” cannot help but see. In the spring of 2020, the video-recorded death of George Floyd (who was Black) at the hands of a law enforcement officer (who w…

Dear medical community, it’s time to engage in the climate movement [PODCAST]

“I plan to reach out to climate organizations and see what I can do to get involved. Whether that means writing more op-eds like this one or writing to legislators, I now recognize that as part of the medical field, especially in regard to mental…

Democracy and the health of a nation 

I am a Philadelphian. I was born in a hospital within a few blocks of Independence Hall, where the Constitution was written, and of Thomas Jefferson’s lodging, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted. Whether it was elementary school trips to…

Why states need to develop rural health outreach programs

Disparities in rural health care have been well established with respect to socioeconomic status, race, and geography. COVID-19 brought these disparities to the surface within most rural communities in the United States, highlighting the limited access…

Maximizing COVID-19 vaccine equity and minimizing death in South Carolina and beyond

That hospitals in South Carolina (SC) began COVID-19 vaccinations in mid-December of 2020 is a marvel of human ingenuity, resilience, and courage. Tragically, however, more than 5,000 confirmed South Carolinian lives have now been lost due to COVID-19….

Medicine is failing rural Americans

In recent years, the divide between rural and urban areas of the United States has become more pronounced, with sharply divergent views on both social and economic policies. The results of this latest election show starkly that the divide persists, and…

Care is no longer personal. Care is political. [PODCAST]

“To care for dependents, the carer must be cared for, both for the sake of her charge and for her own sake. Without such basic infrastructure, we have anxiety, confusion, and chaos. Contagion knows no independent individuals.  Its boundaries are …

Translating social justice into meaningful change for underrepresented minorities in academic medicine

As communities of color continue to be disproportionately decimated by COVID-19 and the brutal impact of racism and other longstanding systemic inequalities, academic medicine finds itself at a critical inflection point in defining its role in addressi…

The failure of COVID-19 vaccine distribution confirms government incompetence

The COVID-19 vaccine has failed. I don’t mean that the vaccine itself doesn’t work—far from it. I mean the ineffective way such an important lifesaving, pandemic-ending vaccine is being rolled out. The slovenly effort is putting the lives of millions o…