Opinion: What the recent failures of Mindstrong and Pear tell us about the future of digital mental health
Over the past five years, digital mental health has risen from a niche topic to…
Category: First Opinion
Opinion: Rural hospitals are closing labor and delivery services. Babies’ lives are in jeopardy
A hospital in Idaho recently announced it will shutter its labor and delivery services due…
Opinion: OTC naloxone is a baby step toward making the life-saving medication accessible
In an attempt to make naloxone more accessible amid the massive human toll of the…
Opinion: Where are the guidelines for the production of animals with intentional genomic alterations?
Genetic engineering has the potential to transform how we raise animals for meat and other products, making…
Opinion: I’m a biopharma supply chain specialist — and even I can’t find the Adderall I’m prescribed
For 10 years, I have depended on Adderall to help me function. But in February,…
Opinion: ‘Internist’ is a confusing, outdated term. It’s time for a new name
When my children were young, they repeatedly asked, “Dad, what does ‘internal medicine’ mean?” The…
Opinion: Michael J. Fox: As a Parkinson’s patient, I felt a little left behind by biology’s century — until now
Last fall in STAT, Matt Herper questioned whether the biomedical research enterprise is really laying…
Opinion: Harvey Washington Wiley campaigned for food and drug safety in the early 20th century. Digital mental health needs its own Wiley moment
Prior to the early 20th century, America had no regulation of medications or food additives….
Opinion: The mifepristone debacle is just the latest blow in an ongoing assault on the FDA’s authority
When legislators tour their home states and districts, private sector leaders often tell them: We…
Opinion: Current heat warning systems are woefully inadequate in an age of climate change
I’ve spent a decade studying the health impacts of extreme heat. In the communities I’ve…
Opinion: Why genetic testing should always be offered to children with neurodevelopmental differences
At 10 months old, my daughter Gabrielle had missed key milestones for gross motor, fine…
Opinion: I declined to share my medical data with advertisers at my doctor’s office. One company claimed otherwise
I care deeply about privacy, and as a professional researcher, I take meticulous notes. During…
Opinion: In a world of synthetic biology, publishing virus DNA sequences may mean perishing
The wholly synthetic mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 saved nearly 20 million lives in just their…
Opinion: How the U.S. health care system is like a Jackson Pollock painting
When I envision the U.S. health care system, the first thing that comes to mind…
Opinion: Millions of people take birth control to treat endometriosis — but it doesn’t work
At 14, after nearly three years of haunting the local urgent care clinic because of…
Opinion: Emergency rooms need clear guidelines about how to handle law enforcement
The patient arrived in the trauma bay with gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen….
Opinion: STAT+: 3 keys to successful biopharma-academia drug development collaborations
Academia can be an excellent source of novel drug targets and new technologies that can…
Opinion: To deal with the next pandemic, the FDA needs an Office of Preparedness and Response
New evidence of the spillover of the avian flu virus, known as H5N1, to some…
Opinion: Why the rise of DNA testing is creating challenges — and an opportunity
Twenty years ago, virtually all people seeking genetic testing were individuals diagnosed with diseases possibly…
Opinion: Biden’s budget boosts funds for future pandemics, but cuts them for current ones
The Biden administration has rightly talked a lot about pandemic preparedness. And to its credit,…
Opinion: Rolling back SNAP benefits puts millions of children at risk of hunger and long-term health consequences
At our pediatric clinic, we recently saw a child whose mother lost her job during…
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Opinion: Strengthen science by funding living evidence synthesis
A recent high-profile paper suggesting that science is becoming dramatically less disruptive set the academic…
Opinion: The surprising biomedical legacy of the Iraq War
Monday marked the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war, which resulted in an estimated 110,600…
Opinion: I finally got used to practicing telepsychiatry. Now the DEA wants to change everything
I am by no means telepsychiatry’s biggest fan. But since March 2020, when my practice…
Opinion: There is no epidemic of autism. It’s an epidemic of need
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced another increase in the prevalence…
Opinion: The lesson biotech absolutely should not take from Silicon Valley Bank’s failure
As a five-time biotech CEO, I’ve guided my companies through recessions, supply chain disruptions, Wall…
Opinion: The much-maligned ‘quality-adjusted life year’ is a vital tool for health care policy
Health policy circles have erupted in debate over a wonky administrative tool: the quality-adjusted life…
Opinion: Living kidney donors rely on a promise to protect our future health. We’re scared it will go away
Five years ago, I donated my “spare” kidney at the Mayo Clinic to a woman…
Opinion: The lab leak conversation shows it’s time to rethink our biosecurity infrastructure, not just policies
The Covid pandemic exacerbated fear and panic regarding the potential for a future bioterrorism agent….
Opinion: Americans should be able to register to vote when they apply for health insurance on HealthCare.gov
The last time you renewed your driver’s license, you likely had the opportunity to register…
Opinion: Will there be any emergency doctors to see you in the future?
In the emergency room today, everyone is suffering. Many emergency medicine physicians are struggling to…
Opinion: The staggering financial burden of a proposed HIPAA rule
The already beleaguered U.S. health care system is facing a new and costly threat that…
Opinion: The Cancer Moonshot will never take off without economists and finance experts
In February, President Biden announced the reboot of the Cancer Moonshot and vowed to reduce…
Opinion: Listen: Big changes for First Opinion
After two years as host of the “First Opinion Podcast” and many more as the…
Opinion: AI chatbots can improve health — but only with help from humans
Chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT can hold fun conversations across many topics. But when it comes…
Opinion: Drug developers navigating ‘biology’s century’ need a model. We made one
STAT’s Matthew Herper struck an industry nerve when he wrote that the drug development industry…
Opinion: NRC: be straight about when clinicians need to report errors that lead to radiation exposure
A recent action by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should have protected patients who…
Opinion: The second age of psychedelic therapies for mental health
Psychedelics like psilocybin and ketamine are being touted as the next generation of treatment for…
Opinion: Ranked to fail: Does gatekeeping affect diversity in The Match?
For graduating medical students hoping to secure a residency training position — and that’s virtually…
Opinion: Clearing the patent thicket: A pathway to faster generic drug approvals
Revelations that AbbVie, the manufacturer of Humira, made more than $100 billion in extra profits…
Opinion: Use warranties, not outcomes-based agreements, to make payers whole when a gene therapy fails
A decade ago, I had pegged gene and cell therapies as the next frontier. As…
Opinion: How cross-state licensure reform can ease America’s mental health crisis
Teletherapy has made mental health care more accessible than ever before, making care possible for…
Opinion: Public health layoffs and tech layoffs: a world of difference
Layoffs in the tech sector — think Google, Amazon, Meta, and the like — from…
Opinion: The FDA is the right agency to regulate CBD products, but it needs help
The dietary supplement industry has been begging for federal oversight of products containing cannabidiol (CBD),…
Opinion: Generics: a missing piece in China’s Covid-19 crisis response
China’s massive Covid-19 crisis, sparked in part by the country’s rolling back its strict zero-Covid…
Opinion: Invasive strep A: bad in affluent countries, far worse in low-income nations
The deaths of nearly 30 children under the age of 15 years from invasive strep…
Opinion: Disruptive science is leaping forward, not limping along
A recent study and accompanying news story in the preeminent journal Nature provocatively concludes that…
Opinion: Unlocking the promise of learning from everyone with cancer
Locked behind the firewalls of proprietary systems sits a treasure trove of data that could…
Opinion: Promises — and pitfalls — of ChatGPT-assisted medicine
Not long after the artificial intelligence company OpenAI released its ChatGPT chatbot, the application went…
Opinion: How the Biden administration’s Covid preparedness policies could narrow America’s political divide
The White House’s Covid Winter Preparedness Plan is a missed opportunity to narrow the divide…