some favorites

portfolio

So What About That Acrylamide In Your French Fries?

In 2002, scientists reported that acrylamide forms when seemingly healthy carbohydrate-rich foods like potatoes, other root vegetables and...

NED, A Vibrant Band Of Doctors Rocking For Women With Cancer

N.E.D. is a doctor’s old shorthand for remission, when there’s No Evidence of Disease. It’s...

A Call For More Research On Cancer’s Environmental Triggers

No question about cancer is more contentious than its causes...

Why The Movie About Henrietta Lacks Matters Today

What’s most compelling about the new movie is that it illuminates the patient, Henrietta Lacks...

The Personal Toll Of Practicing Medicine

In this article, I reflect on the circumstances that led me to stop practicing medicine—work...

John McCain is a fighter, no question. But can attitude affect cancer?

Language can be a powerful tool in medicine. As with physical remedies, there are potential...

The Enduring Clicks of an Ancient Game

Some members of the Manhattan Mah Jongg Club have played for half a century; others...

with Kathy LaTour

Unlocking the Mystery of Cancer Stem Cells

Scientists research whether cancer stem cells are the key to eradicating the disease...

Who’s a Survivor?

Survivor seems a strange term for a patient like me, said by her oncologist to...

Missing Tony Soprano

Over the course of its six groundbreaking seasons on HBO, we discussed every aspect of...

The war on cancer

Doctors today generally caution against framing malignancy as an enemy that one must personally defeat...

Notes From The ‘Die-In,’ A Demonstration For Metastatic Breast Cancer

Die-in for metastatic breast cancer, Washington DC, October 13, 2015 (photo courtesy of Zachary Parker)...

photo credit: © 2010 Scott Ruddwww

A Clinical Eye on Abramović

A doctor dissects the MoMA blockbuster...

‘The Fault In Our Stars,’ a Movie About Young Cancer Patients, Does Well

I liked this serious movie, despite all the sentiment and blatant over-use of metaphors. Kids...

How Water Aerobics Can Keep You Fit As You Age

Among adults – including millions of baby boomers – water aerobics is becoming a popular...

The Physician Burnout Epidemic: What It Means for Patients and Reform

In a large analysis published this week in Archives of Internal Medicine , researchers at...

Lifting the Fog on Chemobrain

Lifting the Fog on Chemobrain

New research helps clarify what chemobrain is and why it happens...

Chatting With Anne Parker: A Patient’s View On How Cancer Care Has Changed Since The 1960s

Anne Parker’s perspective on cancer care – as a family member, patient and advocate –...

‘The Knick’ Depicts Medical Care In 1900: Doctors, Blood And Incredible Drama

The Knick offers a distorted but rare look at urban medicine in the early 1900s...

Scientific American, April 2009

A Chip against Cancer: Microfluidics Spots Circulating Tumor Cells

With an ordinary blood sample, a device can monitor cancerous cells for spread or resistance...