HHPR Editor James Jolin interviewed Dr. Marcela del Carmen, the Chief Medical Officer for the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and Gynecologic Oncologist at the Center for Gynecologic Oncology. They discussed the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the Massachusetts General Hospital System, lessons learned, health equity and vaccine distribution.
Read MoreA new age of medical innovation requires a new style of medical communication. How can governments and scientists overcome issues like vaccine hesitancy to ensure the effective spread of medical information?
Read MoreAs the COVID-19 pandemic continues and vaccines become more widely available, what challenges and opportunities arise from the legal and ethical perspective?
Read MoreMedicine has been plagued by assumptions of the gender and sex binary for far too long, contributing to long-standing health disparities among trans, gender-diverse/nonbinary, and intersex patients. Challenging such attitudes is the first step, and several promising developments aim to establish frameworks that integrate truly inclusive gender-affirming care.
Read MorePeople often think of health as what happens in the health system and medicine, but our lives are shaped by so much more than that, and unless we get the laws right, the policies right, the systems right, unless we reach all of these different stakeholders in a real human way, I don't think we can shape the environment that we need to get health right.
Read MoreAs we move forward through the COVID-19 pandemic and look ahead to new epidemics that the future will inevitably bring, computational researchers should remember the value provided by domain experts. The interface between algorithms and socio-technical problems will never be straightforward to navigate. Scientific teams which leverage a complete spectrum of expertise are our best hope for developing algorithmic approaches which meet the needs of complex medical and public health challenges.
Read MoreGoing forward, it would be prudent for authorities—no matter the circumstances that they find themselves in—to carefully consider whether they are sufficiently acknowledging the critical role that family caregivers play. Still, the case of the CDC’s guidance of symptoms reveals that sometimes there is just not enough information—that rhetoric can not heal all wounds.
Read MoreIn 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, and clinicians scrambled to find effective treatments for their patients. Through unprecedented rates of research and collaboration across disciplines, several therapies were demonstrated to show promise, while others fell short. In this piece, we argue clinical trials can—and, indeed, must—be done during a pandemic to identify safe and effective therapeutics and that these trials must be completed free of political pressures. For optimal treatments, we ought to prepare clinical trials before—not during—public health emergencies.
Read MoreIn our time, asthma is among the diseases that are most strongly determined by the structural contours of racial capitalism in the US. The current economic system and history of ‘redlining’ in US cities ensures that working-class people of color are far more likely to live in dilapidated housing or in areas with poor air quality.
Read MoreTo what extent should national governments expand their presence during a pandemic, and does American aversion to “big government” need reconsideration during one?
Read MoreHigh prescription drug prices have long been a problem in the United States. But now, the Biden administration has a unique opportunity to tackle this issue head-on.
Read MoreThe medical literature is replete with data indicating the dangers of eating animal products. Plant-based diets are associated with lower rates of obesity and diabetes, high quality of life and longer life-expectancy, as well as less hypertension, dyslipidemia, peripheral artery disease, coronary disease, myocardial infarction, erectile dysfunction, heart failure, stroke and death.
Read MoreImmigrant policing has these multiple hidden health-related consequences that affect not just undocumented immigrants, but all people including their families and the hospitals on which all of us rely.
Read MoreIn order achieve vaccine equity, change must occur. Broadening the concept of health equity to include shifting decision-making power to marginalized communities, creating demand, and requiring accountability with regard to data is necessary and will improve vaccine uptake and overall health well beyond this pandemic.
Read MoreThe Global Health Security Index (GHSI), published in 2019, ranked the United States first among nations in its pandemic preparedness. This paper uses the GHSI framework to explore how systemic racism resulted United State's failure to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic adequately.
Read MoreAn ongoing public health crisis results from lack of access to abortion care in the United States, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities in access to abortion care. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic has also seen a plethora of telehealth innovations, including telemedicine abortion services, that may become an integral part of care after the pandemic. However, telemedicine abortion can only become standard care with substantial policy change at both the state and federal levels.
Read MoreThe way in which we regulate the food system is disjointed and leads to unequal burdens placed on women, people of color, the elderly, food workers, and community-level food producers. Through the implementation of a National Food Strategy, we could help get input from different stakeholders and have the way we regulate drive towards optimal goals.
Read MoreThe nutraceutical and health foods markets are among the fastest growing and most promising markets worldwide. Thus, it is important that the intersection of food and medicine is studied because dietary supplements play an important role in our nutritional culture and in people’s approaches to nutrition.
Read MoreSuccessful contact tracing requires acknowledging structural inequities, deliberately designing programs to address them, and fitting solutions within broader support systems. After all, a program to stop community transmission will not achieve its intended impact if people are unable to isolate/quarantine.
Read MoreThe United States’ long history of legislation restricting access to comprehensive health insurance, labor protections, and economic opportunities for immigrants set the stage for disproportionate morbidity and mortality during COVID-19. If we continue to erect and fortify policy barriers to the equitable distribution of healthcare and economic opportunities, the impact of COVID-19 will remain disproportionately experienced by our immigrant neighbors, colleagues, and friends.
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