The developments are startling. Over the last week, the official number of coronavirus 2019-nCoV cases has doubled every day, and yesterday the WHO declared this a Global Health Emergency. While most cases (10,000+) are confined to China, the early death rate stands at 2-4 percent and as of today, 27 nations are reporting infections. […]
What is ahead for you this year? You may be contemplating resolutions, worthy goals, or even detailed plans. You may also be sensing a familiar uncertainty about foreseeing the future. Our lives are strikingly vulnerable to unexpected illness, trauma, broken relationships, financial chaos, legal ruin, and more. But into the unknown we must proceed.
This week our world suffered another blow. Amid the relative stability of hard-won, post-ISIS recovery, families in the mountainous region of eastern Turkey, NE Syria, and northern Iraq were just preparing for harsh winter weather. Then, sudden redeployment of peacekeeping soldiers this week immediately set off a political power struggle we’ve watch unfold. In
“Why are we studying typhoid, dengue, and leishmaniasis? These diseases don’t impact us in China,” protested one mid-career physician. “We are all Han Chinese. We understand our society, so learning cultural skills are not really relevant,” objected another. “I am a physician,” noted one, disapprovingly. “Public health is in a different department.” Thus, began
This is a complex question. By what criteria could, or should, a physician be measured? We could consider such standards as years of experience, board certification(s), institutional affiliations, academic appointments, research grants & publications, and newly added, patient satisfaction surveys. Yet, none of these measure one of the most important qualities we expect of physicians:
David Livingston died of malaria. So did celebrated individuals like Oliver Cromwell and Vasco de Gama. Today some one million children and pregnant mothers each year succumb to malaria. Personally, I’ve treated hundreds of malaria patients in Angola, and at least twice suffered from malaria myself. As a tropical medicine student at Walter
How did you learn to speak your language? Through what technique did you master basic personal care? What was the mechanism through which you first acquired personal values? In each case, the answer is most likely through following the model of your parents. As we progress in life the number of models increases, but the
Generosity clearly results in significant benefits for individuals, and even for entire communities. Our voluntary gifts of time, talent and treasure can enrich others with daily needs and useful skills, and also add sentiments of hope and important role modeling to their lives. We shall continue to give – for all its moral good.
Rare and precious was an event I enjoyed this spring: lunch together with my medical school dean and two of my most influential professors. Through lecture and lifestyle, they mentored me in the nuances of medicine and health. But we are all older now. Signs of age weigh upon us. And for we four,
The world tomorrow witnesses another royal wedding, with its majestic charm and exuberant happiness. Multitudes of people will feel inspired by the spectacle, sensing that perhaps in spite of our world’s devastating pain, true love does exist and good wins out over evil. In this light, it’s timely to remember the final days