The Natasha Richardson effect

Tom wrote this …
The recent death of actress Natasha Richardson, after what initially seemed just a minor bump on the head, was tragically sad.
However, we are seeing evidence now that her untimely passing at the age of 45 has provided a valuable public health lesson.
For example, CNN reported this story about a 7-year-old girl in [...]

Mr. President, Ask Us to Sacrifice

Clinton wrote this …
President Obama has made health care reform one of his three top agenda items. He did so again in Tuesday’s press conference.
Dean Roper knows a thing or two about policy, and his position has shifted in recent years. Yesterday we discussed national health care reform, following up on President Obama’s press conference.
[...]

Lance Armstrong breaks collarbone in bike crash in Spain

Tom wrote this …
I was saddened to find out that Lance Armstrong broke his right collarbone in a crash today at the Castilla y Leon bike race in Spain.

This is definitely a setback to the seven-time Tour de France winner, who was planning to make an unprecedented return to the Tour [...]

Medical students match, but there still are gaps

Clinton wrote this …
Everyone got an envelope!
UNC’s 156 fourth-year med students participated in Match Day yesterday. That’s the frantic, euphoric and butterflies-in-the-stomach-breeding occasion that happens simultaneously — noon Eastern — across the country when people who have toiled mightily for four straight years as students learn where they’ll mightily toil for another year as interns, [...]

Prostate blood test: Lifesaver, or not?

Tom wrote this …
One of the most frequently repeated public health messages, when it comes to cancer, is that screenings save lives. Thus women are told to do self breast exams and get annual mammograms while men are told they must submit to the glove and be screened for prostate cancer.
Trouble is, that mantra isn’t [...]

UNC-led CATIE study makes cameo appearance in Washington Post story

Tom wrote this …
A front-page story in today’s Washington Post reports that a 1997 study of the  antipsychotic drug Seroquel was “buried” by drug maker AstraZeneca, presumably because the results were not to its liking.
“It took eight years before a taxpayer-funded study rediscovered what Study 15 had found — and raised serious concerns about an [...]

Good Morning America Craves Bulik

Clinton wrote this …
It’s been ages since we wrote about Cindy Bulik. We’re going on four weeks now. That’s slacker-time for Bulik, one of the most prolific people anywhere.
This morning (Tuesday, March 17, 2009) Bulik was on the set of Good Morning America today talking about her newest book with Robin (She’s also online and [...]

UNC on the airwaves; covering HIV, mental health

Clinton wrote this …
Editor and Publisher reported recently that health journalists have fewer resources to do their jobs (no!), but, they’re doing it just as well, and as often, as ever (not the best argument if they want more resources; these are journalism majors who didn’t go to law school).
The ranks of medical reporters are [...]

A librarian to the rescue: references “comparative effectiveness research”

Clinton wrote this …
Jean Blackwell, one of the many talented and dedicated, and supremely specialized librarians in UNC’s Health Sciences Library, wrote the other day to lend a hand the way librarians do best — with information, carefully culled, easily referenced.
“In this debate about government funding for comparative effectiveness research, it seems like there’s a [...]

From one sister to another, many lives are touched

Tom wrote this  …
When you work in a hospital, you see some really amazing stories.  Some are terribly sad, while others are incredibly uplifting. This is one of the latter.
Back in 1991, Carmencita Conry needed a kidney transplant.  Her sister, Marisa McLeod, volunteered to donate a kidney, and together the sisters came to UNC Hospitals [...]