Do we have two pandemics circulating around the world under the same name? Covid-19, which is the name we all recognize, and a twindemic of the Western “lifestyle” disease states associated with Covid-19’s worst impacts? The Covid-19 pandemic has been called the “great equalizer.” And yet in an unfamiliar twist…

Editor’s Note: This appeared originally on Duke professor Carol Apollonio’s blog, ‘Chekhov’s Footprints.’ It is written to the Russian culture ministry. Thank you for notifying me that the Russian Ministry of Culture has awarded me a medal (“The Great Russian Writer F. M. Dostoevsky”). This is a great honor; I…

A recent DEA warning about deadly fentanyl-laced rainbow pills that look like candy is another reminder that overdoses are killing our kids at an accelerating rate. This is a national emergency — and few of us are even aware. Young people and their families need more information and intervention to…

In national public health emergencies like monkeypox, our sensitivities around not stigmatizing people can keep us from our goals. We don’t deliver helpful information or use language that doesn’t resonate with the intended audience. The result? We lose valuable time. And we don’t have time to waste. The…

There is a Black maternal and infant health crisis plaguing the United States of America. It’s so easy for us to passively consume this issue, be unphased or even numb because we see this problem on TV, a post on Instagram or in a news story. However, this is not…

The country is perched on the precipice of a financial healthcare disaster, and far too few Americans know it. Ominous forces are coalescing: more than 100 million Americans — including 41 percent of adults — have significant medical debt, and nearly 20 percent have debt in collections. Meanwhile, inflation is…

As a future physician, I had hoped that providing medical care alone would lead to healthy patients. However, recent studies indicate that clinical care accounts for less than 20% of a person’s overall health. Most of a person’s health is actually determined by social factors including income, education, psychosocial support…

When asked recently what the impact of an overturned Roe v Wade would have on his state’s high maternal mortality rates, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy — who is also a physician — responded: “About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal…

By Helen Solterer As the centenary of James Joyce’s Ulysses gets off to a boisterous start this month, critics and writers are celebrating his multilingual writing. This soundscape of the novel resonates personally for me. Before I could even put it in words, it was part of my family life…