Opinion: The Wegovy shortage is part of a much bigger problem with weight loss drugs
After physically debilitating cancer treatment, Laurie Brunner encountered another medical hurdle: She had developed lymphedema…
Category: First Opinion
Opinion: How good are AI health technologies? We have no idea
AI has the ability to revolutionize human health. It is used to detect potentially cancerous lesions in…
Opinion: Connecticut’s comptroller explains his thinking about GLP-1s for state employees
This article is part of a partnership between First Opinion and Tradeoffs, a podcast exploring our…
Opinion: STAT+: How payer-participating trials could help transform clinical research on FDA-approved drugs
Earlier this year, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf proposed something radical: that…
Opinion: The next frontier in biomedicine: AI models of the human immune system
If the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us one thing, it is how little we really…
Opinion: Phenylephrine is no better than a placebo. What if that’s still better than nothing?
As the temperatures cool, the season of colds, flu, and now Covid-19 is heating up….
Opinion: How health care organizations can set up chief medical officers up for success
It should be obvious that medical school and clinical experience, in themselves, can’t fully prepare…
Opinion: The case against age limits for politicians
A recent poll from YouGov/CBS News showed that 77% of respondents said that there should…
Opinion: Listen: How two abortion providers grapple with their post-Roe reality
Physicians Alison Block and Nikki Zite knew what they were getting into when they became…
Opinion: How headlines about the RSV antibody injection could cloud parents’ decision-making
As theorists from Samuel Coleridge to Kenneth Burke have noted, language often does our thinking…
Opinion: The new fertility technology IVG is supposed to change everything. Don’t count on it yet
There are times when a new medical technology is thrust into the public spotlight because…
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Opinion: AI-driven data analysis could exacerbate misaligned incentives in biomedical research
This summer OpenAI released Code Interpreter, a plug-in for the popular ChatGPT tool that allows…
Opinion: Congress could stop free public access to government-funded research
Have you ever needed to read a research paper, only to find it was locked…
Opinion: Paxlovid is not fully accessible to those who need it most: the immunocompromised
The pandemic is over for most of the world. But for the 2.7% of adults…
Opinion: STAT+: The problem with potential changes to the biosimilar regulatory framework
Biosimilars are no longer a new and untested class of medicines. Today, they provide critical…
Opinion: How medical schools are failing students who need mental health care
Medical students experience significant mental distress, including high rates of anxiety, alcohol use, depression and…
Opinion: Policymakers must take action on the physician shortage
The pressures of the last three and a half years have affected every corner of…
Opinion: Every smartphone should have an app to connect to 988, the mental health crisis line
At the height of the pandemic, when everything was shut down, a patient with whom…
Opinion: Lessons from Ukraine on protecting mental health during conflict
In March 2022, one of us, Kristina, was in Ukraine, running a training on a…
Opinion: Brain drain, skills loss, and other unintended consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade
Every day at the Kansas clinic where I perform abortions, I take care of pregnant…
Opinion: Value-based payments are making it harder to see your primary care doctor on short notice
Difficulty scheduling an urgent or time-sensitive appointment is now the most common gripe my patients…
Opinion: A popular breast cancer genomic test underestimates risks for Black women
When a woman first learns she has breast cancer, her mind immediately floods with “what…
Opinion: Where are HHS and the FTC on online privacy for people with substance use disorder?
The era of rampant, unconsented, and unregulated online data collection may finally be winding down…
Opinion: The morally ground-shifting legacy of Ian Wilmut and Dolly the sheep
Ian Wilmut, the British scientist behind the first-ever cloning of a mammal, died Sept. 10,…
Opinion: How the Wegovy shortage is making life impossible for my patients — and for me
There is just not enough Wegovy. The current manufacturing shortage will eventually end, and those…
Opinion: Long Covid is a new name for an old syndrome
Long Covid goes by many names. Today, it is no longer a new public health enigma,…
Opinion: PEPFAR, one of the greatest public health inventions of our time, is at risk
In the clinic where I work, I met a patient the other day whom I…
Opinion: STAT+: The IRA needs changes to better support patients with rare diseases
This time last year, members of Congress were working around the clock to draft and…
Opinion: Patients might finally receive practical information with prescriptions — if the FDA doesn’t blow it
Patients often ask two questions about every medical treatment: Will it help me? Will it…
Opinion: Doctors in the U.S. can learn a lot about advocacy and activism from their Israeli counterparts
Israeli doctors are bracing for a fight. On Sept. 12, the Israeli Supreme Court is…
Opinion: STAT+: Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson: The right way to bring AI into pharma
While it’s widely accepted that the pharma industry is innovative in R&D, it is also…
Opinion: How the drug price negotiation program could affect Medicare Part D beneficiaries
After the recent announcement of the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation, much…
Opinion: How health care systems can protect patients from sexual assault by providers
Health care providers have a sacrosanct relationship with patients. That unique position of trust also…
Opinion: What a viral study criticizing cancer screening gets very, very wrong
A recent study prompted CNN to report, “Most cancer screenings don’t ultimately give someone extra…
Opinion: What does ‘bona fide competition’ actually mean in the biologics market?
On Aug. 29, Medicare released its highly anticipated list of 10 therapies for which it…
Opinion: I cured my ARFID with psilocybin. I shouldn’t have needed to self-treat it
For 27 years, I tried to make myself eat vegetables. Last fall, I ate my…
Opinion: The question list is a simple way to help patients prepare for appointments
The term for a patient who lists their questions was likely coined in the late…
Opinion: Looking for a climate job? Consider biotech
More and more people, especially early career workers, want jobs fighting climate change. But when…
Opinion: Why isn’t there any enforcement of the ACA mandate to support breastfeeding?
Eleven years ago, the Affordable Care Act codified a critical aspect of postpartum care: breastfeeding…
Opinion: It’s long past time for a more comprehensive Covid treatment approach
Because Covid cases and hospitalizations are no longer front-page news, many Americans might be surprised…
Opinion: How learning the truth about chaos theory has helped me as an inpatient child psychologist
In inpatient child psychology, we treat children in crisis deemed at imminent risk of harm…
Opinion: Every senator should fill out a legislative advance directive
Advance directives were born in the Senate. Now they can help preserve the dignity of…
Opinion: How the twin crises of climate change and poor public housing are harming people’s health
Climate change is an existential problem for human health. As climate change intensifies, the frequency…
Opinion: Psychiatrists like us cannot keep up with their inboxes
When you’re a psychiatrist, there’s no such thing as a typical day. But if you’re…
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Opinion: Surfing, camping, and deciding when to stop: Australia’s human-centric approach to dialysis
In 1972, as Congress promised dialysis and rehabilitation for all kidney failure patients in America,…
Opinion: Current large language models will not fix health care. Here’s what could
Advancements in LLMs such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 have generated substantial excitement. Many see these…
Opinion: How to save the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings
U.S. News & World Report recently issued its 2023-24 Best Hospitals ratings. The ratings come at…
Opinion: A roadmap for making over-the-counter birth control affordable
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Opill, the first over-the-counter access birth control pill,…
Opinion: I’m a doctor who specializes in treating leprosy. Here’s what I want you to know
In recent weeks, you may have seen alarming headlines about how leprosy might become “endemic”…
Opinion: How to take care of trans patients in hospice
In the United States, more than 1.6 million people identify as transgender. Of these, more…