A thought experiment
Our perfectly designed US healthcare systemThe interregnum between a presidential election and the inauguration is a time of feverish activity, in which the president elect and his staff decide who will help them govern and what they will try to do first. The press and pundits speculate breathlessly on who will be appointed and what they will do first. As I write this, for example, we have just learnt that the new administration’s secretary of health and human services is likely to be a respected former US senator, Tom Daschle. He has written a book about healthcare reform, which is likely...
Read MoreDr. Huang in Iraq
URMC neurosurgeon saves lives in Iraq Before Dr. Jason Huang became a major in the U.S. Army, he faced tanks at Tiananmen Square, served three years of house arrest, signed daily confessions to the Chinese police, was blacklisted by the government, had himself declared mentally ill, used a fake passport to enter the United States and became a political refugee, an American student, an American citizen and eventually a neurosurgeon at Strong Memorial Hospital. To understand the story is to know that – behind his calm words and steady hands – there are pieces that can only be...
Read MoreURMC’s Vega and Fugate
Med students want to help minority communitiesJoshua Vega, 23, sees a medical career as one way to break down cultural barriers that affect the Hispanic community. Thomas Fugate, 22, has always been concerned about the high incidence of hypertension and heart disease in the African-American community. As a doctor, he thinks, he’ll be able to help solve the problem. Vega, a St. John Fisher College graduate from Rochester, and Fugate, who’s from Fairport and graduated from Xavier University in New Orleans, are first-year medical students at the University of Rochester School of...
Read MoreDean Guzick’s Newsletters
Dr. David Guzick, who has been Dean of the U of R School of Medicine and Dentistry for the past several years, writes a very informative bimonthly newsletter that goes out to the faculty. His most recent one is a fascinating essay about the life and career of Dr. Arthur Kornberg who died earlier this year and for whom the Kornberg Medical Research Building is named. For those of you who may be interested, Dr. Guzick’s newsletters are archived here.
Read MoreI Ask
A blood pressure check, I put my hand on her wrist to take a pulse, a small, hard rectangle protrudes from her skin I ask. She says, A bullet. I ask. She says, My husband shot me. She is a small woman, quiet, calm. Five times in the stomach. This bullet somehow wayward, wandered to her wrist. In the 50s, when I lived in Virginia, she says, I had to have part of my stomach taken out. They weren’t sure if I’d live. But I did. The poet, Mona Arif, recently graduated from the U of R School of Medicine and is currently a pediatrics resident at the University of Texas Southwestern...
Read MoreWelcoming New Students
On August 16th from 12:45 to 2:00 pm MCCF will have a booth at the Activities Fair in Flaun Atrium at the Medical School with more information about our group and plans for regular meetings. Our first student get-together will be on Sunday, August 19th at 4 pm in PBL #1 (Room 1-8405). We’ll have Subway sandwiches, drinks, and cookies. Come and bring a friend!
Read More
