Perspectives
A Word From the President
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
What Americans think about medical schools and teaching hospitals
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
“That’s when I knew I wanted to be a doctor”
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
Viewpoints
Monday, August 13, 2018
“Until one day I stood on a bridge, looking down”
by Leonard Su, MD
A physician sounds the alarm on mental illness and his own escape from the depths of despair.
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Should pregnant women be included in clinical trials?
by Julie Kim, MD, PhD
Each year, millions of pregnant women worldwide face a difficult decision: Should they take a medication — often for serious conditions like depression or cancer — based on slim evidence about its safety and effectiveness during pregnancy, or should they forgo the medication and risk possible danger to themselves or the child they might bear?
Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), was returning to Washington, D.C., after a weekend with her family when she received a panicked call from her daughter. Her family had been waiting for a connecting flight home to Indianapolis, Indiana, when Verma’s husband collapsed and stopped breathing.
“If it weren’t for the bystanders and the first responders at the airport, my kids would’ve watched their father die,” Verma told an audience at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in March 2018. Unfortunately, because his health care records weren’t immediately available, those first responders and the medical team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania knew almost nothing about his medical history. Verma tried desperately to round up the information they needed, making calls back to her husband’s doctors in Indianapolis. Over the next week, doctors eventually discovered the cause of his cardiac arrest and successfully treated him. But even when her husband was finally released, getting the records from his weeklong treatment transferred to his doctors back home was a struggle.
Academic Medicine in the News
Friday, September 14, 2018
Research sheds light on Malaria
Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have gained insight into how malaria infects red blood cells, a finding which could lead to new treatments for the disease.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Educational program seeks to improve health care costs
Two students from the Ohio State University College of Medicine are participating in a new program that teaches first-year medical students to assess the value of every procedure, test, and surgery in order to improve health outcomes and lower health care costs.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Nutrition education integrated into the medical education curriculum
Nutrition can play a crucial role in treatment plans for a wide variety of diseases and conditions. The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is integrating evidence-based nutrition education across all four years of its curriculum to help future physicians feel more comfortable when discussing nutrition with their patients.
