Medical
I have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). What should I eat?
One of the most frequent questions that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ask is: what should I eat? It is clear that in addition to genetic factors, certain environmental factors, including diet, may trigger the excessive immune activity that leads to intestinal inflammation in IBD, which includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).…
Read MorePhysicians and the psychological trauma of COVID-19
In April 2020, Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency medicine physician from New York-Presbyterian Medical Center, came to the University of Virginia Medical Center, not as a physician, but as a patient. She had been working at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic in Manhattan, and was staying with her family in Charlottesville when she committed…
Read MoreAmid COVID, first do no harm
I am a surgeon, mother, daughter, researcher, and ethicist. These multiple roles dancing together to a more discordant tune amid this unprecedented time. The “daughter” has managed to convince her ageing parents that they really ought to not leave the house and that she will step in to accommodate their needs. Simultaneously, the “surgeon” is…
Read MoreThe crisis of rotation availability during a pandemic: a medical student’s ethical conundrum
With COVID-19 still consistently creating setbacks in the health care community, we see yet another issue for medical students because of this pandemic. In prior years, the traditional medical student would be expected to be part of a team assisting medical professionals in the field, developing relationships with future mentors, and gaining the experience necessary…
Read More3 coronavirus facts Americans must know before returning to work and school
We can’t un-bungle our nation’s COVID-19 response. Political leaders acted too slowly; health agencies committed unforced errors with testing kits and, amid the confusion, an information fog settled over the land. Americans remain afraid, perplexed, and chronically misinformed (despite wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage across the leading cable news programs and print publications). To counter the uncertainty, any plan to get us out of…
Read MoreHow to work from home and not lose it
Your alarm may still go off at the same time, but I’ll bet what happens next is not the same as it was back in February. There is no denying our daily lives have been turned upside down in both stressful and heartwarming ways. While recent stories have made headlines of news anchors in boxers…
Read MoreJohn Henryism and African American physicians during COVID-19
As an anesthesiologist, you are trained to not only perform but to thrive and act in emergency situations. Four years of residency builds psychological resilience, which is defined as the ability to mentally or emotionally cope or return to pre-crisis status quickly. These crises often occur when a patient’s heart stops beating, or a patient is…
Read MoreA pediatrician’s silver linings during the pandemic
A few weeks ago, while I was still seeing a full schedule of patients and the crisis was just beginning, I asked myself, “How can I reach this little person on the exam table in front of me?” It was our first meeting. He was deaf and partially blind, neither of those affecting his spirit…
Read MoreThe importance and power of physicians advocating for themselves
The COVID-19 pandemic has most of the country in isolation, but it is bringing doctors together. We are no different. After medical school, we parted ways, and thought nothing of it. We met in our first year, endured 4 of the most trying and formative years of our lives together, and then moved to opposite…
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