Are we repeating the statin playbook with lipoprotein(a)?

Conditions
August 14, 2025

In the late 1970s, a Japanese biochemist named Akira Endo discovered a compound from fungus that inhibited HMG-CoA reductase, the enzyme responsible for making cholesterol. It was an academic curiosity at the time. No one knew if lowering cholesterol would prevent heart attacks—it just lowered a number on a lab slip.

That compound eventually became lovastatin, and in 1987, Merck brought it to market with no proof of improved outcomes—only a …

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Why our fear of AI is really a fear of ourselves [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 13, 2025
YouTube video

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Physician executive Bhargav Raman discusses his article, “Why fearing AI is really about fearing ourselves.” He argues that the common doomsday predictions about artificial intelligence are a projection of our own human …

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Why physicians with ADHD are burning out

Conditions
August 13, 2025

It is time we talk about a critical, yet often overlooked, factor contributing to physician burnout: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly in those with high IQs and a history of academic and professional success.

Many physicians, often driven and intellectually gifted, develop sophisticated coping mechanisms that mask their ADHD symptoms for years, even decades. Their high IQ can, paradoxically, compensate for executive function deficits, allowing them to excel in demanding environments like …

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The heart was fine—but something deeper was wrong

Physician
August 13, 2025

Sometimes, the stethoscope doesn’t catch what the heart is really saying.

It was just another morning during my surgery posting. I was reviewing pre-op workups when I was asked to assist with the echo evaluation of an elderly woman scheduled for a routine procedure. Her echo report flashed across the screen: smooth curves, rhythmic contractions, and valves opening and closing like well-oiled gates. The left ventricular ejection fraction was over 60 …

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Why more physicians are quietly starting therapy

Conditions
August 13, 2025

It is happening more often than most people realize. The same physicians who seem unshakable in the OR or clinic, the ones who handle chaos without blinking, are quietly scheduling therapy appointments. Not because they have “hit rock bottom” or cannot do their jobs anymore, but because they are realizing they do not have to slowly carry it all alone. Nor can they sustain this level of burnout anymore.

As a …

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Why nearly 800 U.S. hospitals are at risk of shutting down

Policy
August 13, 2025

Over the past several years, each time a periodic U.S. hospital closures report is released, the number failing financial stress tests and at extreme risk of closing rises. The number now approaches 800 nationwide.

Meanwhile, many project that the just-passed One Big Beautiful Bill will rapidly increase these closures and further degrade health care access for American citizens.

Touted reasons for accelerating hospital closures, especially impacting …

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The unfiltered truth about surviving emergency medicine residency with purpose

Physician
August 13, 2025

Emergency medicine residency: where the pager announces before your coffee cools, and your personal life takes a number far behind sepsis alerts and trauma activations. Amidst this storm, there’s an unexpected survival manual—not found in Tintinalli’s or Rosen’s, but in Mark Manson’s self-help book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

Manson argues that life’s meaning isn’t found in chasing positivity, but in embracing struggle, choosing your battles wisely, …

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How to safely undergo IVF with von Willebrand disease [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 12, 2025
YouTube video

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Renowned fertility specialist Oluyemisi (Yemi) Famuyiwa discusses her article, “When bleeding disorders meet IVF: Navigating von Willebrand disease in fertility treatment.” She explains that von Willebrand disease (VWD), the most common inherited …

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Summer’s dark side: How not to dim your fun

Conditions
August 12, 2025

It’s all fun and games until your health becomes one big puzzle to solve, and little do many people know what risks and hazards might surround us during our favorite summertime activities. I learned this personally after what should have been an innocent business trip turned into a year-and-a-half nightmare for me after contaminated water made me sick. I contracted bacteria that led to a secondary chronic inflammatory breast disease. What …

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Closing the diversity gap in Parkinson’s research

Conditions
August 12, 2025

When people think of Parkinson’s disease (PD), they often picture Michael J. Fox or Muhammad Ali, iconic figures who bravely shared their diagnoses. But the real face of Parkinson’s is much more diverse than what we see in the media, and the research that shapes our understanding of the disease has not caught up.

Despite affecting people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, …

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Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives

Physician
August 12, 2025

I knew there was a cost when I chose to become a physician: The long hours, delayed gratification, the strained relationships. I could understand these things as familiar from my lived experiences. I knew there would be a financial burden, and having been raised by two immigrant parents, an electrician and a nurse, I was no stranger to the pressures of financial insecurity. I was fortunate too: my parents did …

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Why boredom is good for your brain and health

Conditions
August 12, 2025

A few weeks ago, I heard Michelle Obama say something that stopped me in my tracks:

“We have to learn to be OK with the regular days. The in-between. The parts of life that aren’t exciting.”

I thought of my kids in the back seat during a long car ride, sighing dramatically, claiming they were “literally dying” of boredom. I thought of patients sitting in a waiting room with nothing but their …

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How health care branding can unintentionally stigmatize patients

Conditions
August 12, 2025

I first grasped the disconnect between health care professionals and the public while designing a brochure for a cornea donation campaign.

My original concept featured a young boy smiling, wearing an eye shield—an approachable image meant to encourage public participation. But the overseeing specialist rejected it. He insisted instead on a clinical close-up of a post-surgical eye, sutures and all. To him, it represented medical success. To potential donors, it was …

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How interoperability solves the biggest challenges in health care [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 11, 2025
YouTube video

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Physician executive Steven Lane discusses his article, “Why interoperability is key to achieving the quintuple aim in health care.” He explains that true interoperability is not just about technology but about aligning …

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The hidden cost of racism in sickle cell disease treatment

Conditions
August 11, 2025

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is frequently referred to as an invisible disease and is often overlooked due to a lack of research and overall resource shortages resulting in substandard clinical care. Part of the problem is difficulty objectively identifying SCD characteristics due to lack of laboratory markers and poor objective pain indicators. This disease mainly affects African American populations. Systemic marginalization of stigmatized populations results in less funding; and therefore, …

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How to lead from the heart in a system that rewards the intellect [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 10, 2025
YouTube video

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Pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “Why the future of medicine depends on leading from the heart.” Drawing from her experience leading a workshop for women cardiologists, she explores …

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How humor builds trust in pediatric oncology

Physician
August 10, 2025

“Dr. Who?” the child asked.

“Dr. Hijano,” I said. “But you can call me Dr. Diego. Like Go Diego Go! Dora the Explorer’s cousin, the one with the baby jaguar who saves the rainforest.”

A pause. A smile. And just like that, the ice broke. In pediatric oncology, that is no small thing.

I work in a pediatric cancer center, most often in the bone marrow transplant unit. When people hear this, they …

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What a dying patient taught me about compassion in silence

Physician
August 10, 2025

I remember a night during my first year of residency in oncology when I was on call. It was after midnight, and I was sitting at the ward counter.

I often struggle to sleep during night shifts, especially when I’m the only doctor on call. I prefer to stay at the counter because I dread the thought of some terrible thing happening and not being able to reach the ward in …

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