My mother has always been very close to me. I was her eldest daughter, born in an unfamiliar city where she had relocated as a newlywed bride. She didn’t have any family or friends in this unfamiliar city. I was practically her only friend.
My mother began sharing her problems with me when I was very young. Sometimes I think she shared too much. She also told me intimate details about …
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Arnold Eiser, an internal medicine physician and author, discusses his KevinMD article, “What Chadwick Boseman’s death reveals about cancer prevention and risk factors,” examining how environmental toxins and systemic health inequities shaped …
Even a half-century later, a physician cannot forget the first death of a patient under their care. It happened for me during my postgraduate medical training in the 1970s in an academic medical center hospital in the western half of the United States.
She was a delightful young married woman who was the mother of three small children. She was admitted to the hospital for recurring seizures. Her workup revealed a …
My mom won’t be home that weekend
Since it was a Sunday, I told my dad that I needed to wake up early for work, so he should wake me up in the morning.
My mom and dad have very different approaches to waking up their children.
My mom’s approach is more aggressive. She shouts at the top of her lungs, turns on the light, and snatches the quilt from us. Sometimes, she …
Every year, medical trainee hopefuls submit the dreaded personal statement. Most follow a familiar formula based on advice from mentors, peers, or online guides: “Don’t stick out,” “Tell a story about a patient,” and so on. While this approach isn’t wrong, it leaves little room for the “personal” aspect—the only part of the ERAS application that truly allows insight into the individual behind the resume. Before submitting mine, I was …
“Almost everyone I know has either quit” – my friend paused, “… or died.” She said the “or died” part with a bit more resignation than horror.
We were having this conversation outside of our busy local pub a few weeks ago. Some of us had stepped outside to get some fresh air, and someone pulled out a package of cigarettes and offered them around.
What was once a common occurrence now …
I have worked in clinical oncology in Pakistan. As an oncology physician, I was not supposed to interact with patients in the ER. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with recent medical graduates in an emergency medicine setting. This experience was new for me, as I have been focused on oncology for a long time.
However, that’s the beauty of life—it pushes us to do things we never thought we …
When it comes to medical breakthroughs, it can be a long journey between discovery and implementation.
Implementing new technologies and therapies for patients is often hindered by slow adoption, inaccurate application, and delays caused by the rapid pace of guideline updates, which providers may struggle to keep up with. These challenges can prevent patients from fully benefiting from medical breakthroughs, leaving their potential only partially realized.
For example, the development of genomic …
I have spent nearly half a century in the world of health care leadership, first in management and later as a consultant. Throughout my career, one of my most consistent observations has been that most health care organizations do not treat physicians very well.
I knew it because I saw it nearly every day in the hospitals I worked with. But it wasn’t until this year that I experienced firsthand how …
I have an eye for finding beautiful clothes. Though I find jeans and shirts/kurtas comfortable, I’m not sure why I adore the shalwar kameez so much! Perhaps it’s because it’s my national dress, and I adore everything that connects me to my homeland. Secondly, I’ve been wearing it since I was a child. My mother was an expert at sewing clothes, and she made all of my dresses.
Jeans and shirts/sweaters/kurtas/tops …
I believe in forgiveness and not hating anyone, no matter what. But, ultimately, we are all human. I believe in karma, and we should not hurt or push people to their limits so much that they become damaged beyond repair. I’ve seen cruel people end up in miserable lives. Some people excel at concealing their sorrows, while others struggle. But we indeed reap what we sow. Those who are cruel …
I visited my school after many years. I enrolled in first grade in 1998 at age five and graduated from FSc Pre-Medical (12th grade) in 2011. After that, I started medical school in 2012, and since then, I haven’t returned to my school.
It was one of those schools where skipping classes was simply not an option. The teachers were professional, dedicated, and sincere. Although it was a government school with …
It’s important to highlight the significant progress being made to improve outcomes for men facing health challenges. Efforts to transform men’s health focus on advancing awareness and reshaping how conditions such as prostate cancer are understood and treated.
Globally, prostate cancer remains one of the most significant health challenges faced by men. Fortunately, advancements in data science are offering promising solutions to improve outcomes. While traditional methods of tracking prostate cancer …
In today’s medical world, cancer treatment guidelines are constantly evolving. CME events are held worldwide to help health care professionals become more familiar with new treatments. They can be live events held at specific locations or online activities. I will not go into further detail about the CMEs or industry-sponsored CMEs because that is not the focus of this story.
The best thing about being a physician is the opportunity to …
We lost a very talented actor and director, Chadwick Boseman, way too early to colorectal cancer in 2023. When I recently became aware of his enormous talent, I resolved to examine his premature death as best I could with the hope of sparing others such a life snuffed out in the midst of a highly successful career.
Although I usually work in the sphere of neurodegenerative disorders, a curious phenomenon links …
I didn’t know who Emmitt Smith was. I didn’t know September was Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. I didn’t know what was going on in the weekend football game my husband was watching next to me on the couch. I was typing a clinic note because, in general, that is what I am doing if I am sitting down, regardless of the day or time. I am an academic physician with …
I enjoy buying gifts for people I adore. It’s my love language. I enjoy seeing the smile, joy, or surprise in the eyes of those who receive my gifts. I live for these moments.
There were times when people did not express how much they appreciated my gift, but I could see it in their eyes. It’s not just my wild imagination; it’s because I’m always confident that what I buy …
Life has a way of teaching us through the most unexpected experiences, often in moments that feel daunting. I reflect on this often, especially when I consider my own journey—a journey shaped by illness, loss, inspiration, and a constant hunger for knowledge. One lifetime can feel too short to absorb everything there is to learn, yet the most meaningful lessons often emerge in this brevity.
As a child, I never imagined …
The withdrawal of Oxbryta (voxelotor) from global markets, announced by Pfizer after a recent data review revealed a rise in deaths and complications, has left sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in a precarious situation. The sudden nature of the announcement caught the patient and physician community off guard, as there was no prewarning. For an already narrow world of options available to people with sickle cell disease, this came as …
Almost three years ago, I was the chief resident of our training program. The chief resident was primarily responsible for designing curricular activities in collaboration with the faculty, attending and representing the department and the residency program at the majority of hospital and administrative meetings, providing regular updates on resident performance, designing the on-call schedule and rotations, and supervising juniors.
It was the most difficult job for me. I found it …
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