Perspectives
A Word From the President
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
10 wishes for the new year
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
From more affordable health care to greater humanism in medical education, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, outlines his aspirations for 2019.
The integrity of our research depends on the full disclosure of industry relationships
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, says the failure to disclose potential conflicts of interest harms patients and the medical profession.
Viewpoints
Tuesday, February 05, 2019
Rooting out implicit bias in admissions
by Quinn Capers IV, MD
At one medical school, admissions committee members didn't even know they harbored hidden biases. But some simple training opened their eyes — and the school's doors — to a more diverse body of students.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Recognizing and stopping human trafficking
by Larissa Truschel, MD, MPH, with Hanni Stoklosa, MD, MPH
The media often portrays victims of human trafficking as young women in developing countries who are kidnapped, sold into slavery, and physically held against their will. But trafficking occurs every day in the United States, too, and physicians must learn to recognize the signs.
Jeff Marquis, a professional chef, loved nothing better than snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking on the trails near his Montana home. Then, in 2011, catastrophe struck. Marquis, 29 at the time, was thrown from his bike. “I remember lying on the ground, realizing my hands weren’t working right and I couldn’t get up,” he says.
Marquis was told that a severe spinal cord injury meant he’d never stand or walk on his own again. But during rehabilitation, he learned about the efforts of researchers at the University of Louisville School of Medicine who were testing whether implanted electrical stimulators could help restore some movement for paralyzed patients. “I decided to go for it,” he recalls.
Five years later, Marquis stood on a specially designed treadmill at the university’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and took his first tentative steps. Thanks to a revolutionary combination of targeted physical therapy and electrical stimulation of neurons in his spine, Marquis is now able to walk up to a quarter of a mile, using horizontal poles for balance.
Academic Medicine in the News
Thursday, February 21, 2019
To advocate for patients, medical students turn to the law
A new program allows Georgetown University School of Medicine students to complete an elective “rotation” in a law clinic, helping to educate medical students on the use of the law as a tool to improve health and well-being and teach them how to better advocate for patients who need special accommodations or are from underserved backgrounds.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
High schoolers shadow physicians to gain insight
A group of high school students from underrepresented backgrounds in the Charlottesville, Virginia, area are taking part in a new program, called Discover Medicine, that allowed them to visit the University of Virginia Medical Center to shadow physicians in order to experience a career in medicine and be inspired to consider medical school.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
“Mini-Medical School” offers healthy aging courses
The John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is holding its semiannual Dr. Rosita Leong Mini-Medical School for Healthy Aging, a program that educates seniors on positive ways to maintain health and well-being throughout life. Almost 180 seniors are enrolled in the five-week course, which is free for members of the local community.
