Opinion: STAT+: Building a better on-ramp for health innovation
The pandemic crisis has illuminated a stark reality that innovators, particularly those in biotech, have…
Category: First Opinion
Opinion: Deaths of despair: the unrecognized tragedy of working class immiseration
Given the socioeconomic effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it should have come as no…
Opinion: Managing mental health tech’s blitzscaling blind spots
Pro basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo told GQ magazine last month that he and most of…
Opinion: Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s foot-dragging on patient irradiation suggests regulatory capture
Government agencies responsible for protecting the public from negligence and harm must act with independence…
Opinion: 5 most widely read First Opinion essays of 2021
In the second turbulent year defined by a global pandemic, 2021 provided an abundance of…
Opinion: Gain-of-function research advances knowledge and saves lives
Congress is considering a massive overhaul of the nation’s scientific enterprise, much of it in…
Opinion: I work in a locked psychiatric ward. These days, you do too
At parties, I used to explain to people who wanted to know what I do…
Opinion: At a time when the U.S. needed Covid-19 dialogue between scientists, Francis Collins moved to shut it down
This week, emails released through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American…
Opinion: An Omicron oddity: The number of cases doesn’t predict the number of deaths
Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the case fatality rate was frightening. This metric represents the…
Opinion: Listen: Looking back on the first year of ‘First Opinion Podcast’
We started the “First Opinion Podcast” in February 2021 because we knew there was rich,…
Opinion: Inflexible methadone regulations impede America’s efforts to reduce overdose deaths
Imagine if people who needed insulin to control their diabetes had to trek across town…
Opinion: Claims of vaccine hesitancy in African countries are at odds with the reality on the ground
MBARARA, UGANDA — When word gets out that Covid-19 vaccines are locally available, crowds rush…
Opinion: STAT+: Forget the hype and embrace the reality: How AI can improve health outcomes right now
The story of artificial intelligence (AI) driving better health care outcomes has been a convoluted…
Opinion: Clinical labor pricing updates are needed to address workforce shortages, financial strain
The ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care physicians are jarring. Fewer than…
Opinion: Justice for Sackler family members, not immunity
Your neighbor’s kid is still sitting in jail for selling heroin — to people who…
Opinion: It’s not the mission of universities to perpetuate inequity. Why do Emory and others do that?
As billions of people in the Global South continue to confront Covid-19 unprotected because they…
Opinion: STAT+: 8 reasons ‘move fast and break things’ doesn’t work for health care companies
Entrepreneurs at tech startups are likely to hear the Mark Zuckerberg adage that it’s important…
Opinion: Health care workers’ suffering goes far beyond burnout. Self-care isn’t the cure
We survived the pandemic’s early days with purpose-fueled adrenaline. Working in the epicenter of the…
Opinion: Why the big questions about drug prices are rarely asked: It’s hard to do
Public debate over legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs has been…
Opinion: Listen: A parent on advocating for people with autism who can’t advocate for themselves
Alison Singer learned how to advocate for a child with autism by watching her mother…
Opinion: Many states aren’t ready for a 988 crisis line. The deadline is looming
America’s fragile mental health safety net all too often leaves people nowhere to turn but…
Opinion: FDA’s outdated Birth Control Guide blocks access to the innovations the agency has approved
Every day, women in the United States are routinely denied access to the latest birth…
Opinion: Don’t let ‘shelved assets’ gather dust. Make them into new lifesaving drugs
Life-science companies have changed the world with the breakthrough vaccines and therapeutics they created —…
Opinion: STAT+: Maintaining trust in science is crucial to public health. Here’s how the biopharma industry can help
Against declining trust in traditional news sources and institutions that provide data and information, the…
Opinion: Forensic medical examinations are key to helping asylum seekers prove trauma
After a decade of horrific abuse by her husband, Ms. A. felt she had no…
Opinion: Vaccine skepticism is healthy. Cynicism is not
Misinformation is tightening its stranglehold on the American psyche. My 9-year-old daughter, Sonia, knows no…
Opinion: The U.S. is at a Kasserine Pass moment for Covid leaders
In the military, as in business and civilian life, leadership change can be needed to…
Opinion: Vaccine equity is essential. Vaccine makers need to drop barriers to reaching refugees and other displaced people
National-level Covid-19 vaccination figures can tell a lot about how the battle against the pandemic…
Opinion: Gatekeepers need to tame ‘Wild West’ of mental health and other digital health therapeutics
From individuals to employers, there’s growing interest in using digital services to help people work…
Opinion: Ending the pandemic requires global solidarity, not blame
When historians write about the Covid-19 pandemic, they will certainly highlight the essential research behind…
Opinion: Listen: A public health expert passes on football’s full body collisions for youth
If there was one moment that led Kathleen Bachynski to a career studying the public…
Opinion: Archaic in-person exam for digital prescribing is holding back health care innovation
At a press conference in 1986, President Ronald Reagan said he felt the nine most…
Opinion: Stopping the spread of mass hysteria by Facebook, other social media platforms
How are angry mobs storming the Capitol and Facebook driving our daughters to bulimia related?…
Opinion: Labels can harm, but they also can help: See ‘profound autism’
Labels are a divisive subject. When used inappropriately, they have the power to misrepresent and…
Opinion: Solving the U.S. drug pricing crisis starts with a crucial confirmation hearing
The Senate began its confirmation hearing last week for President Biden’s nominee to head the…
Opinion: It’s time to open up health care’s secret analytics
Each year as older adults begin choosing between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage, they…
Opinion: Covid-19 is fueling a pandemic of violence against women and girls
The emergence of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 with its many mutations has rightly sparked…
Opinion: In defense of not treating everyone the same
As a third-generation Black physician who has experienced firsthand discrimination from health care providers, I…
Opinion: Reforms needed for FDA’s regulation of medical devices
Medical devices are mainstays of modern medicine, from basic products like gloves and bandages to…
Opinion: The Fifth Circuit Court got the science wrong on OSHA’s vaccination mandate
In mid-November, a federal judicial panel assigned the Cincinnati-based United States Court of Appeals for…
Opinion: Another fight for Covid long-haulers: having their pain acknowledged
After his second hospitalization for acute Covid-19, Tony Marks expected to get better. Then pain…
Opinion: Listen: Who owns your health data — and why you should care
It can be hard to fathom that anyone other than you might own your information….
Opinion: Losing Faith: Reflecting on 40 years of the HIV pandemic
Faith was the first child I lost to HIV. I can still see her, sitting…
Opinion: Stigma, not science, is the biggest barrier to ending the HIV epidemic
“I am really sorry to reach out like this, David, but I’m worried about my…
Opinion: In AI development, equality starts with a mandate for fairness and inclusivity
What are the most important ethical considerations for artificial intelligence (AI) in health care? The…
Opinion: Resident-to-resident incidents are a hidden source of harm in nursing homes. They shouldn’t be
Dwayne E. Walls was a Korean War Veteran and an investigative reporter at the Charlotte…
Opinion: Countries shouldn’t invoke the Nagoya Protocol to avoid sharing pathogens and genetic sequences
This week, health officials from around the world will meet in Geneva — and virtually…
Opinion: The pandemic has deeply affected many people with eating disorders
Many Americans are becoming accustomed to discussing how pandemic-related lockdowns and remote engagement have changed…
Opinion: Next boy up: Kids continue to die on high school football fields
“The glamorization of football and war lends to misguided metaphors,” wrote sports reporter Jason Shoot…
.jpg)
Opinion: Listen: Revisiting: A medical historian on the deadly epidemics of the Civil War
Diseases like smallpox, measles, and dysentery killed two-thirds of the 1 million people who died…