The Passing of Pioneer Roger McFarlane May 18, 2009

It’s with surprise and sadness that I announce the passing of Roger McFarlane.  I first met Roger thru a dear friend. He was tall, charismatic, and confident.  He loved to talk to me about his experience as an HIV/AIDS care giver, organizer and executive.  Roger was there at the beginning of the HIV epidemic and bore witness to the devastating effects of HIV on friends and loved ones.  He, as many will attest to, dared to do something about the HIV epidemic. Roger started an HIV hotline, became  Gay Men’s Health Crisis’s first paid executive director and was executive director for Broadway Cares.  Most recently he was the executive director for the Gill Foundation.

Roger often gave career advise and was a great strategist. Lots will be said about Roger in the upcoming days, weeks and months but I will remember Roger for his strange humor, advise and laugh. We all carry a different piece of the man that had a profound impact on so many lives. God speed to his family and friends.

Yours in Good Health

Potential New NYC Health Commissioner May 17, 2009

 

 

 

 

Mayor Bloomberg is wasting no time selecting a new health comissioner for the city. It is rumored that Dr. Thomas Farley, currently a division head at Tulane University will become NYC’s Health Commissioner replacing Dr. Frieden.  The formal announcement will come tomorrow, May 18th. I have little personal knowledge about Dr. Farley outside of what is written in the NYTimes article (link below). He is said to be a staunch public health advocate and he has worked as an adviser to Dr. Frieden in the past. New York has a tendency to test the best of us. We will wait for the official announcement and wish who ever takes the position God speed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/nyregion/17health.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Yours in Good Health

CDC’s New Director Dr. Thomas Frieden May 16, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Obama selected Dr. Thomas Frieden as CDCs new director. Dr. Frieden served as New York City Department of Health’s Health Commissioner for 7 years. He has spearheaded several (then controversial) initiatives such as no smoking in offices, restaurants/bars, condom distribution, posting food calorie counts on menus in restaurants chains and most recently decreasing the salt content in meals. He is often mocked and ridiculed in the halls and offices of various New York City advocates due to his style but love him or hate him you must respect him. He has made a tremendous impact on the health of all New Yorkers. In response to his appointment a recent New York magazine online post read, “Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden to Take Fun-Hating National.” America get ready to get healthier. Here comes a little guy with a giant health push.

Below are some recent articles and posts regarding Dr. Frieden and his Bio:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/commish/combio.shtml

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/thomas-frieden-cdc-direct_n_203828.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/nyregion/19lives.html 

Yours In Good Health

President Obama’s Science Ambassadors February 24, 2009

Interesting article about President Obama’s science advisors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/science/24tier.html?_r=1&8dpc

Downpayment on Healthcare February 20, 2009

The American College of Physicians recently published an article about the impact of the recent economic stimulus package on our current health care system. It’s short, take a read.

http://www.healthbanks.com/PatientPortal/MyPractice.aspx?UAID={A830907D-8345-4AA5-A0D5-F8776BBC08BB}&TabID={X}&ArticleID=624310

Yours In Good Health

African Americans and Increase Death Rate After Surgery February 18, 2009

The researchers at Center for Outcomes Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia conducted a study to review the reasons for improved survival after surgery in teaching hospitals had unexpected results. It is generally acknowledged that survival after surgery is higher at teaching hospitals (hospitals with medical students and physicians in training).  Teaching hospitals are generally felt to provide better care because they are larger, generally have advance technology, greater volume and better nursing staff.  Using medicare claims data the researchers were able to show that improved survival is because of lower mortality after complications (better failure to rescue) and generally not because of fewer complications. However, the high survival and failure to rescue results seen in white patients were not seen in black patients. It appears that black patients fare about equally well in teaching and nonteaching hospitals, whereas white patients have significantly better risk-adjusted mortality and failure to rescue at teaching hospitals than at nonteaching hospitals. The explaination for these findings are unclear.

In an earlier study by the same researchers found racial differences in the length of surgery for comparable procedures and income. Black medicare patients had surgery that took 29 minutes longer than whites. The authors suggested that Blacks tended to receive their surgeries from hospitals with longer procedure times.

http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/144/2/113

Yours In Good Health

Peanut Butter and Salmonella January 29, 2009

The Salmonella outbreak has been reported in 529 people and caused 8 deaths such far.  Outbreak has been found in 43 states and in Canada. It has been uncovered that a Georgia peanut plant, Peanut Corp. of America identified salmonella in several of their internal controls (small samples of peanut butter taken during production) two years ago.  Peanut Corp. did not report the salmonella contamination even after the salmonella outbreak started.  They continued to distribute the peanut butter and paste dispite the presence of Salmonella.  A recent inspection by Food and Drug Administration inspectors found roaches, moth and a leaky roof among some of the problems.  Several people have requested a probe into criminal charges against Peanut Corp.

Salmonellosis is an infection with a bacteria called Salmonella. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

For additional information about the Salmonella outbreak please read the following:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm58e0129a1.htm?s_cid=mm58e0129a1_e

Yours in Good Health

 

IAS Update II August 6, 2008

 

Here are a couple of websites with varied coverage of the conference.

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2008/

http://www.aids2008.org/

http://www.blackaids.org/ShowArticle.aspx?pagename=ShowArticle&articletype=NEWS&articleid=594&pagenumber=1

Yours in Good Health

Senator McCain’s Health Plan April 6, 2008

I was recently asked “why don’t you have Senator McCain’s health plan highlighted on the Blog?” similar to the democratic nominees.  In response to that question, I give you this New York Times article.  Read it, it’s not that long.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/opinion/04krugman.html?em&ex=1207540800&en=f01f4dbf8080b294&ei=5087%0A

Match Day Follow-up March 25, 2008

Below is a short article from the ACP regarding the 2008 Residency Match and future trends.  Something to think about.

A record-high number of medical students matched with a residency of their choice last week, but internal medicine saw a decline in the number of U.S. students filling residency programs, according to results released by the National Resident Matching Program.

While the overall number of students matching in internal medicine increased from 4,720 in 2007 to 4,751 this year, the number of slots filled by U.S. medical graduates decreased from 2,680 to 2,660. Overall, internal medicine saw a slight decline in the percentage of slots filled, from 98.4% last year to 97.8%.

“If this trend continues, a shortage of general internists and other primary care physicians will likely develop more rapidly than many now anticipate. Since the education and training of new physicians takes a number of years, this problem must be addressed now to assure access to care and to prevent a crisis in the future,” said Steven E. Weinberger, FACP, ACP Senior Vice President for Medical Education and Publishing.

The match as a whole was the largest ever, with 28,737 applicants, including 15,242 U.S. grads, vying for 22,240 first-year residency positions. Of the U.S. applicants, 94.2% successfully matched and 84.6% got one of their top three program choices. Notable increases this year were seen in the number of international and osteopathic applicants.

Family medicine residencies saw increases in both the number of slots and the percentage filled for the first time in several years. This year, 1,156 (7.6%) of U.S. medical seniors matched in family medicine compared with 7.2% last year. Continuing recent trends, plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, dermatology, otolaryngology, diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology and general surgery proved to be popular specialties among U.S. medical graduates.

For additional information about the match read the following:

http://www.acponline.org/clinical_information/journals_publications/acp_internist/weekly/2008/3/25/index.html#heparin

http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2008/080320.htm

 

Yours in Good Health