ER threats aren’t rare anymore—they’re routine

Physician
May 24, 2025

I read Dr. Harry Severance’s recent piece, “Violence in health care: Why doctors and nurses are leaving,” with a sinking feeling of recognition. He’s right. Health care is becoming the most dangerous profession in America. Violence is no longer rare or shocking—it’s something every physician and nurse now half-expects at some point in their career.

I still remember an early shift in the ER when I was stitching up a …

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ER threats aren’t rare anymore—they’re routine

JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.

Conditions
May 24, 2025

“We are under-exercised as a nation; we look instead of play; we ride instead of walk.”
—John F. Kennedy, Sports Illustrated, 1960

In 1960, then-President-elect John F. Kennedy issued a striking warning: Americans were becoming physically unfit, and this trend threatened not just individual health, but the vitality of the nation itself. He saw physical activity as foundational to our strength—not just as a people, but as a country. Over sixty years …

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JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.

The silent threat in health care layoffs

Tech
May 24, 2025

The health care industry rightfully remains vigilant against external cyber threats, with the Director-General of the World Health Organization even labeling file loss from ransomware as potentially “issues of life and death.” Patient safety and the sanctity of confidential health information are paramount—which are also the very reasons health care organizations are prime targets for malicious actors. But as economic headwinds lead to corporate layoffs and government budget cuts dominate …

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The silent threat in health care layoffs

Why true listening is crucial for future health care professionals [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 23, 2025
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Certified coach Kathleen Muldoon discusses her article, “The cost of presence: a lesson in listening.” She recounts a poignant experience observing a health care student disengaged during a powerful presentation by a …

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Why true listening is crucial for future health care professionals [PODCAST]

Surviving kidney disease and reforming patient care [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 22, 2025
YouTube video

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Health care executive and patient advocate Aja Best discusses her article, “How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey.” She shares her harrowing personal experience with a delayed diagnosis …

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Surviving kidney disease and reforming patient care [PODCAST]

Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

Physician
May 22, 2025

It’s not the easiest question to ask aloud—especially in medicine, where we pronounce death but rarely reflect on it.

We chart it. Certify it. Explain it.
But what does it mean to die?

For most of us, the word carries a double weight. It means to stop biologically. To cease. To end.
But it also means to vanish. To be forgotten. To be no longer seen, needed, or named.

As a surgeon, I saw death …

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Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

Conditions
May 22, 2025

I have always been a performer at heart, starting with theater in school. For 28 years, I was a law professor at Indiana University in Indianapolis, and teaching gave me a captive audience. Beyond the classroom, I have always been passionate about music. I play the guitar and sing, and back in the day I was part of a band. I was also a distance runner and dreamed of completing …

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My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

Antimicrobial resistance: a public health crisis that needs your voice [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 21, 2025
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Health care public relations leader Melanie Doupé Gaiser discusses her article, “Antimicrobial resistance needs a publicist.” She highlights antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as an urgent and deadly public health crisis that is not …

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Antimicrobial resistance: a public health crisis that needs your voice [PODCAST]

Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

Education
May 21, 2025

The field of emergency medicine (EM) is at a crossroads. Faced with rising burnout, a constantly changing health care landscape, and an evolving trend in unfilled residency positions, the specialty is now grappling with another proposed structural change: A proposed mandatory fourth year. While the idea has been periodically debated over the past two decades, it gained new momentum with proposed changes to the ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical …

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Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

Conditions
May 21, 2025

In numerous writings and venues regarding physician practice, the claim is made that “physician education is lacking in nutrition, geriatrics, care for non-cisgender people, relating to patients in general, cultural respect, equitable treatment, etc.” While all of these suggestions have merit, to what extent would they lengthen the already most extended medical school curriculum among developed countries? Or would those who advocate for these additions propose that they replace parts …

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Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

Education
May 21, 2025

In the grand theater of American higher education, where the pursuit of knowledge once bowed to the austere discipline of merit, a troubling drama unfolds. The medical school admissions process, now awash in the murky waters of holistic review, risks becoming a stage for ideological caprice rather than a crucible of intellectual rigor. Amid the clamor of the Gaza conflict—a geopolitical tempest that has spilled onto university quads and inflamed …

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Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

Conditions
May 21, 2025

Even before Mia was born, I could sense that something about her was different. With my other children, I felt constant movement during pregnancy, but Mia stayed curled up in one spot and hardly moved at all. When I mentioned this to my obstetrician, he assured me that it was normal. But I was sure that there was something more going on.

As soon as Mia was born, there were signs …

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She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

Rethinking medical education for a technology-driven era in health care [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 20, 2025
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Medical student Rishma Jivan discusses her article, “Medical curriculum 2.0: Integrating technology and innovation in medical education.” She argues for an urgent update to medical training, embedding technology and innovation as core …

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Rethinking medical education for a technology-driven era in health care [PODCAST]

From basketball to bedside: Finding connection through March Madness

Physician
May 20, 2025

Here in the Midwest we have finally made it through the doldrums of winter, which also indicates the season that basketball fans eagerly anticipate all year: March Madness.

The annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) single-elimination basketball tournament inspires millions of folks to fill out brackets predicting the winners, myself included. I love sports for a multitude of reasons, and witnessing these young adults experiencing some of the best—and hardest—moments of …

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From basketball to bedside: Finding connection through March Madness

In medicine and law, professions that society relies upon for accuracy

Tech
May 20, 2025

Integrity and trust are foundational. But today, that trust is under assault—not from human error, nor negligence, but from the sophisticated but disturbingly unreliable outputs of artificial intelligence (AI). What the media euphemistically calls “AI hallucinations” are not benign mistakes—they are dangerous fabrications, systematically undermining both clinical and legal standards.

As a psychiatrist, I confront the reality of hallucinations regularly. Patients vividly describe voices, visions, and sensations with profound distress. Hallucinations, …

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In medicine and law, professions that society relies upon for accuracy

Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain

Conditions
May 20, 2025

There’s an ever-growing body of evidence to suggest that diabetes contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Some even go so far as to dub Alzheimer’s disease “diabetes type III.”

How might diabetes cause Alzheimer’s disease?

It’s the sugar: Chronic high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) can damage blood vessels, including those in the brain. This vascular damage reduces oxygen and nutrient delivery to brain cells, increasing …

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Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain

How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher

Conditions
May 20, 2025

Mother scholar.

The phrase rolls off the tongue with the force and ferocity of a curse word—blunt, unsparing, weighty. I didn’t coin the term, but I inhabit it. A vessel for the seeming contradictions of tenderness and skepticism, integration and dissection. Of being simultaneously maternal and cerebral in institutions that reward detachment, autonomy, and efficiency.

As I sit in reflection this May—a month of devotion to motherhood and due dates for faculty …

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How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher

Jumpstarting African health care with the beats of innovation

Conditions
May 20, 2025

The heart, often overlooked in its relentless duty, only garners attention when it falters. For centuries, the notion that life is impossible without this vital organ has been unchallenged. However, recent advancements have shattered this belief. The groundbreaking implantation of a fully artificial heart by BiVOCAR, led by the visionary Dr. Daniel Timm, heralds a new era in cardiothoracic surgery. This achievement is not just a medical milestone; it is …

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Jumpstarting African health care with the beats of innovation

Empowering IBD patients: tools for managing symptoms between doctor visits [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 19, 2025
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Gastroenterologist Shamita B. Shah discusses her article, “How doctors can help IBD patients manage symptoms between visits.” Addressing the rising prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the U.S., Shamita highlights the …

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Empowering IBD patients: tools for managing symptoms between doctor visits [PODCAST]

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