Opinion: Even fully vaccinated, people with organ transplants aren’t fully protected until more Americans get their shots
“When can we go back to Starbucks?” My brother, Anmol, asks me that question every…
Category: First Opinion
Opinion: If the FDA approves Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment, I won’t prescribe it
Most visits to the memory center where I care for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease…
Opinion: STAT+: SARS-CoV-2 brought the world to its knees. Its digital twin is helping bring us back
“Bad news wrapped up in protein.” That’s how the late Nobel Laureate Sir Peter Medawar…
Opinion: Created correctly, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health will accelerate medical innovation
The U.S. needs a bold initiative to achieve transformative progress in the fight against Alzheimer’s…
Opinion: The CDC’s latest blunder is about trust, not masks
The announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that fully vaccinated people…
Opinion: Is the Sputnik V vaccine too good to be true? Without the data, it’s hard to know
Sputnik V, the Covid-19 developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute, was the early rising…
Opinion: Listen: Danielle Ofri on Covid surges and her postmortem folder
This week on the “First Opinion Podcast” I’m joined by Danielle Ofri, a physician, writer-editor,…
Opinion: In ‘vaccine apartheid,’ Nepal is ground zero. It needs U.S. help
The world has reached the era of Covid-19 “vaccine apartheid.” That was the warning this…
Opinion: The U.S. mental health care system failed my brother — and millions like him
On February 25, I got the phone call I had been dreading for years: My…
Opinion: The U.S. mental health care system failed my brother — and millions like him
On February 25, I got the phone call I had been dreading for years: My…
Opinion: The U.S. mental health care system failed my brother — and millions like him
On February 25, I got the phone call I had been dreading for years: My…
Opinion: Congress needs to pass the Dr. Lorna Breen act to support U.S. health care workers
Some people are vaguely aware of the story of Dr. Lorna Breen. Among physicians and…
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Opinion: Medicare: Cover amyloid PET scans and stop keeping people with dementia in the dark
One morning in 2012, my wife Geri looked in the mirror and failed to recognize…
Opinion: Use single-cell biology to shed light on pediatric diseases currently in the dark
There are few things harder for a physician to say to a patient than “I…
Opinion: To help solve climate change, look to the biosciences
President Biden’s pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 is an…
Opinion: Routine cognitive screening can help detect early signs of dementia
Both of us lost our dads to Alzheimer’s disease, and both of our families carried…
Opinion: Restore a better balance to public-private funding of biomedical research
The pharmaceutical industry says that if the U.S. reduces the astronomical drug prices paid by…
Opinion: As syphilis comes roaring back, newborn babies are tragic victims
Some diseases fade away. Others seem to do that, but then come roaring back. That’s…
Opinion: Chelsea Clinton talks fracking, public health, and childhood newsletters
A growing body of research is identifying the health hazards of hydraulic fracturing, better known…
Opinion: Listen: Chelsea Clinton on fracking, oxygen shortages, and other public health crises
Chelsea Clinton joins the “First Opinion Podcast” this week to discuss her work in public…
Opinion: Beyond a symbolic gesture: What’s needed to turn the IP waiver into Covid-19 vaccines
The Biden administration’s announcement to support an intellectual property (IP) waiver for Covid-19 vaccines was…
Opinion: Doctors should talk about race and racism with their patients. Here’s how
“Why do Black lives matter?” a patient asked me. “Why can’t all lives matter?” It…
Opinion: Luck is not a strategy: The world needs to start preparing now for the next pandemic
As countries grapple with the worst global pandemic in a century, it’s hard to think…
Opinion: All states should harness nurses’ full potential
The U.S. health care system should learn many lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. A key…
Opinion: Nix the bald cancer patient motif. Precision medicine needs precision marketing
Every time I see a pharmaceutical or health care ad or other marketing material that…
Opinion: Health depends on the strength of the doctor/technology relationship
For the past few decades, technology has been gradually revolutionizing health care for patients. It…
Opinion: My Covid scars need time to heal. Going maskless and getting back to ‘normal’ will take me a while
I am a physician. A scientist. A researcher. I understand the inner workings and rationale…
Opinion: What do we do with the masks now? Be grateful for them — and for science
When word came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fully vaccinated Americans…
Opinion: Make drug companies partners — not adversaries — to expand global Covid-19 vaccine access
The Biden administration’s announcement that it would support waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines to…
Opinion: Setting the record straight: There is no ‘Covid heart’
After a year of frightening headlines, widespread concern, and countless retweets that the virus that…
Opinion: STAT+: The many benefits of expanding the reach of state all-payer claims databases
Appointments to the newly created State All Payer Claims Databases Advisory Committee in March were…
Opinion: Let’s banish the term ‘patient’ from the health care lexicon
Almost every industry has changed the term for the people they serve. We are now…
Opinion: Listen: A veteran health reporter on the brutality of India’s Covid-19 crisis
In this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” reporter and editor Kalpana Jain details how…
Opinion: STAT+: ‘Induced proximity’ is why I am optimistic about treating undruggable diseases
So-called undruggable proteins — those that supposedly can’t be targeted by pharmaceuticals — represent a…
Opinion: My ‘postmortem’ folder and the intensely personal nature of the latest Covid-19 surge
Each morning I when I arrive at my primary care clinic, the first thing I…
Opinion: Pandemic-inspired idealism is prompting careers in health care. Caveat emptor
Health care workers facing notoriously difficult work lives and high levels of burnout were some…
Opinion: STAT+: The pharma industry needs to measure patient experience from the patients’ perspectives
The relationship between clinical outcomes and the patient experience — the sum of all of…
Opinion: My work as a Black OB-GYN tempered my joy as I prepared to give birth
Expectant mothers tend to spend time fine-tuning their baby registries and decorating their nurseries. I…
Opinion: Rather than turning its back on the QALY, pharma should collaborate on efforts to improve it
A key element in the long-simmering debate on reining in drug prices in the United…
Opinion: STAT+: Faster approval of complex generics is central to affordable, equitable care
The push to improve Americans’ use of effective and less-expensive generic medications is getting a…
Opinion: Dollar stores: gateways to equitable Covid-19 vaccine distribution
With the number of Americans receiving Covid-19 vaccines each week starting to decline, it’s time…
Opinion: Listen: A physician and a philosopher on long Covid’s mind-body mystery
In this week’s episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” I talk with critical care physician…
Opinion: India’s ‘vaccine heist’ and lax regulatory oversight imperil global vaccine access
When Covid-19 began sweeping across the globe in 2020, many experts expected India to be…
Opinion: Unlocking federal funding for fentanyl test strips will save lives
It has been said that the opposite of addiction is connection. Covid-19, however, has frayed…
Opinion: People recover from addiction. They also go on to do good things
The news about addiction — rising rates of addiction, record numbers of overdose deaths, and…
Opinion: STAT+: How the FDA’s ‘master plan’ will affect NIH funding for digital medicine projects
The term B.C. took on a new meaning — Before Covid — last year when…
Opinion: India’s Covid-19 catastrophe reflects years of neglecting its health system
Covid-19 is surging uncontrollably throughout India, disrupting big cities like Mumbai and devastating rural areas…
Opinion: STAT+: Improving health care means improving data diversity. Federated learning can help
Many companies are developing innovative artificial intelligence solutions for health care. Too often, though, these…
Opinion: ALS groups to the FDA and drug sponsors: ‘We won’t be played again’
Working to improve the fight for therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as…
Opinion: Congress should end dialysis companies’ third-party games with insurance coverage
The Covid-19 relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in March temporarily expanded…