Elizabeth Métraux is a writer and medical anthropologist.

Why the WHO’s pandemic accord is critical for global health care

Policy
June 2, 2023

In a recent article in Health Affairs, U.N. Foundation vice president Peter Yeo and former Director of The Global Fund Mark Dybul, MD, broke down the elements and imperatives of a process underway to develop a better approach to pandemic preparedness. Currently in draft form, the “Pandemic Accord” is being shepherded by the World Health Organization at the behest of its 194 Member States after the global COVID-19 response called …

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Why the WHO’s pandemic accord is critical for global health care

Medical schools need to produce more clinician-activists to help drive social change

Policy
September 30, 2019

STAT_Logo For hundreds of years, health care providers have been on the front lines of social change. Think Margaret Sanger, a nurse who championed women’s rights and started the organization that later became Planned Parenthood, or Max Recamier, one of the physician founders of Doctors Without Borders, who openly worked against governments fomenting …

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Medical schools need to produce more clinician-activists to help drive social change

Inaction is driving our collective burnout

Physician
January 9, 2019

I sat knee-to-knee with a nurse practitioner at a school-based clinic in rural Ohio. Choking back tears, she described a patient she couldn’t get out of her head: a middle-school girl, accompanied by her mother and a social worker. Just days prior, the girl was dropped off at her father’s home for the weekend. Before the promised Friday night football game, she discovered him unconscious on the bathroom floor. Within …

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Inaction is driving our collective burnout

I experienced trauma working in Iraq. I see it now among America’s doctors.

Physician
April 9, 2018

STAT_Logo I was on my honeymoon in Colombia when I first became aware of the true extent of my post-traumatic stress disorder. My husband and I were walking across a smooth, granite platform to take a closer look at a fountain in downtown Cartagena. As we neared the structure, mist from the fountain’s jets dampened the ground …

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I experienced trauma working in Iraq. I see it now among America’s doctors.

I’m speed dating my doctor

Physician
February 14, 2018

I’ve been single for nearly a decade. A career-driven professional, juggling parenting, PTA, and post-graduate studies, my time is precious.

But there’s something about this season — the heart-shaped Valentines and assorted chocolates — that has a way of evoking a longing for love. So this year, bowing to the goading of friends and against my better judgment, I decided to do something I never — never — thought I’d try.

I …

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I’m speed dating my doctor

We don’t need more joy in medicine. We need more vocal discontentment.

Physician
October 26, 2017

A few years ago, as numbers of burnout, depression, and suicide among physicians continued to rise, the notion of “joy in medicine” was conceived. From conferences and books, to support groups and consultants, another health care-related industry popped up around improving provider satisfaction and fostering workplace wellness. It was well-intentioned, as these things often are, but like the familiar adage about roads and good intentions, joy in medicine seems poised …

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We don’t need more joy in medicine. We need more vocal discontentment.

Please make primary care as sexy as Grey’s Anatomy

Policy
October 11, 2017

STAT_LogoDear Shonda Rhimes, the brilliant mind behind my favorite television show,

We need to talk about “Grey’s Anatomy.”

I’m a fan. A really, really big fan. The kind of fan who — in the last 48 hours — rewatched all of last season’s episodes to prepare for the season premiere, and who has blocked off every Thursday night this …

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Please make primary care as sexy as Grey’s Anatomy