If I were to ask you right now to list the most important qualities you want in a doctor, you would probably start with “competent” and “empathetic.” The first word out of your mouth would probably not be “creative.” And yet, there is a growing
Amrita Karve, MD is a fellow in cardiology at The Ohio State University. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. She grew up in Okemos, Michigan, and attended college and medical school at George Washington University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending her
Leana Wen, MD, MSc is the Baltimore City Health Commissioner and an emergency physician, public health leader, and patient advocate. Since her appointment in January 2015, Dr. Wen has led implementation of the citywide opioid overdose prevention and response plan, and in the wake of
Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine is a literary journal created in 2010 by students in Columbia University’s Master of Science in Narrative Medicine program. The journal is now open to submissions for its Fall 2015 issue. The deadline for submissions is Friday, July 31st at midnight. Intima
With the publication of my historical fiction novel Isthmus, the second book in the Widow Walk saga, I am now scheduled to tour the book and present it at a number of gatherings. Book readings are always interesting experiences. Another physician-writer friend, Richard Selzer MD, once
Terry Buchmiller, MD is an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a specialist in pediatric surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also a skilled violinist who plays in the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra in its 28th year that is composed
In my last two posts (Part 1 and Part 2), I explored the research paradigm of American medical training. The takeaway was that research requirements may create inefficiencies that have a host of consequences, including an unnecessarily long training process, a potential physician shortage, and
Damon Tweedy, MD, JD is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and staff physician at the Durham VA Medical Center. He is a graduate of Duke Medical School and Yale Law School. His first book, Black Man in a White Coat:
The ends of the black and white picture are fraying like a newspaper held over a warm flame. It’s a photo of my grandfather in the early 1900s; he’s wearing a suit and tie with wide, round rims that encircle his inquisitive eyes. Thick eyebrows comfortably
Robert M. Wachter, MD is Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and also Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine and Chief of the Medical Service at UCSF Medical Center. In April, he released his sixth book, The Digital
Kathryn A. (Kathy) Hughes, MD is a general surgeon and blogger who has spent the majority of her career in private practice in community hospitals. She blogs at Behind The Mask, where she shares experiences from her surgical career and life. She is a Fellow of
We must be “brave, brave, brave” as we exhaust and challenge ourselves to reconcile the disparities that exist in our country. These words, delivered by keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson at the 2013 Teaching and Leadership Development Summit, inspire me as I continue on my mission
Abraham Verghese is a physician of many talents. He teaches internal medicine at Stanford, he writes opinion pieces, and he has published two memoirs and one novel. Many know him for the celebrated 2009 novel Cutting For Stone, which reached the New York Times bestseller list. Verghese also has a unique
Matt McCarthy, MD is an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and an assistant attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, as well as a published author and journalist. Dr. McCarthy’s first book Odd Man Out was a memoir about his year (between
I became a doctor because I was excited by the idea of helping people every day. Following a lifelong fascination with science, I found myself in medical school, surrounded by bright classmates. We bonded over late night study sessions at the library and kegs of
Bon Ku, MD, MPP is an emergency medicine physician and associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University. He teaches design thinking to medical students as a co-director of the design track at Jefferson’s medical school. This track, called “College within a College—Design,” launched this year with fifteen students.
Kathy Nieder, MD began her career as a family medicine doctor in 1984. She became interested in social media as a tool for healthcare in 2011 and has been blogging at Family Practice 2.0 and actively using other sites, particularly Twitter, to stay abreast of
In my last post, I discussed points brought up by Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, and John Ioannidis, MD, about research in medicine. The takeaway was that students are strongly incentivized to do research during their training, but those incentives don’t necessarily reward high-quality work. Furthermore, they don’t directly contribute
It is a truism of American medical education that students should do research. Stanford medical school’s website espouses a “strong commitment to student research,” because it makes us “valued members of any medical field.” A similar message can be found at almost any other institution.
There are some pieces of journalism that are so gut-wrenching that they can have immediate effects. The recent investigative series on the terrible conditions of nails salons that came out in the New York Times, for example, was so horrific that it caused the governor of New York to, within 3