Not long ago, a patient came to my busy clinic holding her phone. She had recently watched one of my short educational videos on heart attack warning signs, in Bengali. She told me, “Doctor, I did not know women can have different symptoms than men. That is why I came in today.”
That heartfelt conversation might have truly saved her life. And it was made possible not inside a hospital, but …
As a urologist, I consider myself an expert on the subject of prostate cancer. Here is a urologist’s view of a hypothetical announcement from a former U.S. president, five months after leaving office, of widespread high-grade metastatic prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males. It begins as a cancer in the prostate, and with progression, metastatic disease occurs, primarily in the axial skeleton. Prostate cancer is known …
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Psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article “It’s time to operationalize physician wellness.” Muhamad explains why wellness cannot remain a slogan or a poster …
I thought of this while watching the Cincinnati Open tennis today. Between games, a sports drink ad flashed on screen claiming it “hydrates better than water.” The players kept chugging neon bottles, and the announcer repeated the tagline like gospel.
That is when it hit me: For recovery, I would still reach for milk.
Hydration is more than water replacement.
Hydration is not just about replacing fluids; it is about keeping them in …
I can sit with patients and families and talk about hospice, dementia, or end-of-life care without hesitation. Years of training as a physician and geriatric psychiatrist have prepared me for those conversations. But when my own parent needed care, all that training suddenly felt useless.
Medical knowledge didn’t shield me from fear or guilt. It didn’t stop the second-guessing that came with every decision. It didn’t help me navigate the family …
I was not just a contributor. I was the pediatrician in the room, the one who translated clinical reality into research clarity, even when the system preferred abstraction.
From 1997 to 2003, I lived a six-year burst of energy: equal parts clinical invention, research precision, and institutional resistance. It was my Trinity Site: a catalytic moment where everything fused: rural care delivery, editorial rigor, and systems reform. The fallout still shapes …
A demographic shift in viewership
With the rise of streaming, one platform is surging to prominence. According to Nielsen’s March 2025 report, YouTube now commands the highest total TV usage share of any media company at 11.6 percent. This marks a 53 percent increase in viewership compared to two years ago. But it is not because of younger generations sensationalized “addiction” with phones. It is a surge driven largely by …
The idea that medicine is a “calling” has been entwined deeply within our profession. From white coat ceremonies to recruitment posters featuring smiling doctors holding stethoscopes, we are told that to enter medicine is to answer a higher purpose. This framing is powerful. It inspires loyalty, fuels commitment, and builds identity. That is how the brainwashing begins as it also hides a dangerous truth: Labeling medicine as a calling has …
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Licensed counselor and coach Mary Remón discusses her article “A mindset shift for physicians: Retrain your brain to see what’s going well.” Mary explains how physicians are trained to scan constantly for …
The alarming relationship between artificial intelligence and adolescent body dysmorphia
That is what the American Health Law Association called the global increase in social media usage: an epidemic.
Indeed, social media usage and reliance, especially by youth, is becoming a mental health phenomenon quickly escalating out of control.
Nearly 25 percent of youth report spending over four hours on social media daily, with 46 percent of adolescents claiming that social media …
As a parent and a doctor of nearly four decades, I’ve often found myself navigating the rugged terrain of a dual existence: the life of a devoted physician, and the life of a dedicated parent. I have not always succeeded in both arenas. My wife and I both bear the weight of our professions, drawn into the noble yet demanding world of medicine. Our missions and ambitions, while fulfilling, have …
In the quiet that follows a routine pediatric check-up, a single word, “vaccines,” can suddenly change the air. Where vaccines were once a simple part of childhood, they have become something parents scrutinize, debate, and sometimes outright resist. The shift is palpable, and it is increasingly showing up in clinic rooms every day.
As a medical student training in New York City, I am constantly struck by a paradox: We live …
There is an old parable about a farmer whose horse runs away.
The neighbors cry, “Such bad luck!”
The farmer only replies, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.”
The next day, the horse returns with two wild horses. “Such good fortune!” they cheer.
Again, the farmer answers, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.”
Soon after, the farmer’s son breaks his leg taming one of the horses. “Such misfortune!”
The farmer answers, “Maybe so, maybe …
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Amanda Heidemann, family physician and senior clinical content consultant for clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health, discusses her article, “Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care.” Amanda explains how digital natives are …
In the quiet moments of illness, I witness love and loss unfold.
I usually place the beds of relatively sick patients closest to my workstation. While I can monitor all the patients, except for a few female beds behind curtains, this arrangement helps me keep a closer eye on those who are more ill, particularly those receiving chemotherapy.
Directly in front of my counter lies a 50-year-old gentleman recently diagnosed with primary …
An excerpt from Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love.
Scott and I held hands as the last few minutes of waiting expanded to rival the anticipation of the days that had already passed. Two weeks ago at this same medical center, our perinatologist had performed a chorionic villus sampling, the procedure to collect the fragment of placenta that would determine our course. I had been …
For over forty years, I worked as a general and vascular surgeon. For the last ten of those years, I was employed under an RVU-based compensation model. That period is when my dissatisfaction with medicine truly began. Complex, life-saving operations were reduced to “productivity units.” The pressure was relentless, the system unforgiving.
And unlike primary care physicians, surgeons do not have the option of concierge or direct-pay models. We are necessarily …
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Infectious disease physician Tyler B. Evans discusses his article “Meeting transgender patients where they are: a health care imperative.” Tyler, an infectious disease specialist and author of Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics: Decoding …
I’m not a financial advisor. But after 35 years in internal medicine and lipidology, I’ve realized that physicians are essentially wellth managers, stewards of human energy, rhythm, and resilience.
We help people diversify their time, protect their emotional capital, and build habits that generate compound interest in the form of years, vitality, and peace. In a way, our patients are portfolios: living, breathing balance sheets of choices and consequences.
It’s not money …
When I started practicing medicine more than thirty years ago, I believed the system was imperfect but noble. We worked hard, we cared deeply, and I thought that if we just kept doing our best, things would gradually improve. I trusted that technology, new policies, and better organization would eventually bring us closer to the ideals of medicine. Some of those changes helped. Many did not.
If I am honest, there …
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