Conditions

Clinical research is evolving. Patient involvement is no longer optional.

Conditions
April 30, 2025

In January 2025, the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) formally adopted the updated E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines. Annex 1 and the revised 12 principles are already in effect. Annex 2 arrives in July. This is not just regulatory housekeeping. It is a clear message to the research world: Meaningful patient involvement is no longer aspirational. It is expected.

For decades, clinical research positioned patients as participants, …

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How smartphones are stealing your focus—and what you can do about it

Conditions
April 28, 2025

Over the past two months, I embarked on a mission to complete two reading tasks: A journey in service, the autobiography of Nigeria’s former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, followed by Dream count, the latest work by the world-renowned writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Unfortunately, I have barely progressed beyond the opening chapters of either. My focus, the essential ingredient for deep reading, has remained elusive.

I first realized the extent of …

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Why ADHD isn’t just a childhood disorder and what that means for adults

Conditions
April 25, 2025

Current studies identify the negative impacts of failing to diagnose and treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which contributes to well-described impairment, morbidity, and mortality. Timely diagnosis, acceptance, and treatment do, in fact, improve outcomes. Benefits include a decrease in negative impacts on self-esteem, depression and other mood disorders, substance use disorders, suicidality, motor vehicle crashes, and criminality. These consequences result from easy distractibility and impulsiveness, which can be damaging …

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Fat guy in a little coat: Preventing childhood obesity

Conditions
April 24, 2025

Childhood obesity is not just about kids outgrowing their clothes faster than their parents can buy them— it’s a growing public health crisis. If we don’t step in now, the next generation might need bigger coats and even bigger health care budgets. Today, approximately one in five children and adolescents in the U.S. have obesity. The annual medical expenses related to childhood obesity in the U.S. is estimated …

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Gen Z is already transforming mental health care—are we listening?

Conditions
April 23, 2025

In a clinic in India, I once watched a young mother wait for hours to be seen, clutching her child and a paper folder filled with years of handwritten notes. There was no digital health record, no streamlined triage system—just patience, resilience, and the unspoken expectation that care would eventually come.

That moment has stayed with me—not because it was unique, but because it was far too common. It reminded me …

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Within the white walls of silence

Conditions
April 23, 2025

Silence is a prison that locks away the truth,
hiding it in the shadows of life.

Words yearn to be spoken,
but are instead swallowed whole.
It’s a safer alternative
than facing an empty void.

Your gaze is directed elsewhere,
avoiding the person who sits
before you … one who is waiting for
compassion that never arrives.

So, the spaces between words
grow longer and
the disconnect becomes stronger.

Words exchanged fall flat,
drowned out by the ticking clock
and the clicking of a keyboard
as …

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The heartbreaking pandemic story I will never forget

Conditions
April 22, 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world five years ago, and the world seems to be contemplating that history lately. Numerous articles reflect on that time now that we are passing that first major milestone. In many ways, we are still struggling with the fallout and will be for the foreseeable future.

In mid-2021, things started returning to “normal” in the health care setting. The absolute jubilation of having a vaccine available …

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Pope Francis dies at 88. What his care reveals about America’s failing hospitals.

Conditions
April 21, 2025

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.

Had he been an American hospitalized in the U.S., he might not have made it even that far.

As both a geriatric doctor and a patient, I have seen firsthand how the U.S. …

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When modesty kills: the CPR gender gap you didn’t know existed

Conditions
April 18, 2025

A chilling incident from a past summer camp at Achimota School still resonates: A young woman collapsed with her life hanging in the balance. The male Red Cross prefect, attempting to administer potentially life-saving CPR, was quickly stopped by concerned students. The bystanders’ focus was on protecting her from exposure, and it overshadowed the urgency of the situation. This experience, now viewed through the lens of my medical training, reveals …

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Fatty liver disease is no longer reserved for older adults

Conditions
April 17, 2025

Increasingly, it’s showing up in people in their 20s and 30s—individuals who don’t drink excessively, don’t appear outwardly unhealthy, and often have no idea their liver is under stress. The condition, now referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), is emerging as a quiet epidemic, and diet and gut health are playing a larger role than many realize.

As a gastroenterologist, I’ve observed a shift in the demographics …

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What money can’t fix: the scars left by a friend

Conditions
April 17, 2025

I stood at the check-in counter of my physician’s office, waiting for my yearly physical. Beside me, another patient was checking in. I recognized her instantly.

It was Denise—my childhood best friend.

And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say hello.

We had spent our childhoods side by side—playing Barbies, cheerleading, swimming at the neighborhood pool. Every single day. She wasn’t just a friend; she was my safe place. We stayed close all …

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Why vaccine access still fails America’s most vulnerable groups

Conditions
April 16, 2025

The health, judicial, and socioeconomic disparities among ethnic minorities are pervasive, and vaccination rates are key among them. The inequities among marginalized groups are largely driven by social determinants of health, education, and access to care. The United States has a well-documented history of these inadequacies, strengthened even further by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, leading to higher mortality and …

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ADHD isn’t one-size-fits-all: Why nuance in diagnosis matters

Conditions
April 16, 2025

I read with great interest the recently published article in The New York Times by Paul Tough, who has reported on child development and education over the last twenty years. He outlines statistics, specifically the rise in diagnosis of children and adults since the 1990s, and then discusses implications, including questioning a current understanding of the disorder and its treatment.

Neurodevelopmental disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder …

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How the CDC’s opioid rules created a crisis for chronic pain patients

Conditions
April 15, 2025

Adapted from Greed to Do Good: The Untold Story of CDC’s Disastrous War on Opioids.

The 2016 CDC opioid guideline seemed to make obvious sense: Americans were consuming far too many prescribed opioids. Many users of illicit opioids reported that prescribed opioids had been their gateway to illicit usage, even addiction. And users of illegal opioids, whether addicts or not, were dying of overdoses—more and more each year. The prescription …

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When leadership turns defensive: the impact of workplace paranoia on professionalism

Conditions
April 15, 2025

Leadership in any industry, especially in health care, demands a delicate balance of trust, ethical judgment, and professionalism. However, when leaders view collaboration through a lens of suspicion, assuming that employees are conspiring against them, it can lead to a culture of distrust and unprofessional behavior. This article delves into the psychological and ethical aspects of such behavior, its impact on workplace dynamics, and practical strategies for navigating these challenging …

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From the other side of the table: a plea for empathy

Conditions
April 14, 2025

Unless you’ve lived it,
you can’t fully understand.

We’ve all cared for patients with cancer. We’ve delivered hard news, sat beside bedsides, explained scan results, and offered hope when we could. We’ve been the calm in the storm. That’s what we were trained to do.

But being on the other side of the table changes everything.

When you become the patient, the world shifts beneath you. Suddenly, you’re the one in the gown, lying …

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The role of contingency management in addiction treatment

Conditions
April 13, 2025

Before leaving office, the Biden administration increased the annual cap for Medicaid-reimbursed contingency management (an evidence-based psychosocial intervention) as part of an individual’s addiction treatment. This move demonstrates what I have seen in my own practice: Contingency management drives results when it comes to treating substance use disorder.

Despite the evidence and fact that every individual living with substance use disorder (SUD) requires a unique approach to treatment for …

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What Avarie’s death in Rome teaches us about the gaps in food allergy education

Conditions
April 12, 2025

I’ve just returned from the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Conference in Michigan, an inspiring confluence of advocacy, research, and business, all focused on one shared mission: Improving the lives of those living with food allergies. I’ve been attending food allergy research forums around the world for over a decade, and I can honestly say the momentum and possibilities in this field have never been more exciting. We’re entering an …

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How moving abroad eased my allergies

Conditions
April 12, 2025

A personal discovery

“I used to have respiratory allergies back home, but since I moved to Málaga, they didn’t bother me anymore,” a patient answered to the usual question, “Do you have any allergies?” during a checkup in my occupational medicine practice. He was from India, and he had moved to Málaga two years before our talk. He was the fourth patient within a month telling me the same story (before …

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How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey

Conditions
April 8, 2025

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) often develops unnoticed, gradually impairing kidney function. Approximately 950 million people worldwide are affected by CKD, and it is now the 9th leading cause of death, projected to become the 5th leading cause in the near future.

For years, I was unaware of the severe health battle brewing beneath the surface—until a routine pregnancy scan in 2015, at the age …

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