An alarmingly small fraction of physicians are familiar with the concepts of evolutionary medicine. Why? Because evolutionary medicine is rarely included, especially in the form of full courses treating the topic as a basic science, in medical schools. Nearly half, 48%, of North American medical school curriculum deans stated that they “anticipated igniting controversy at…
As a loyal Kansas City Chiefs fan for the last decade, I have lived through forgettable season followed by forgettable season. I remember watching the Indianapolis Colts erase a 28-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Chiefs in the Wildcard Game in 2014. One could imagine how excited I was about this season…
“Prinum Non Nocere”; Medical School Students say these lines in the Hippocratic Oath, pledging to do no harm. Traditionally this promise is made with the notion that physicians will do everything in their power to cure ailing patients. Yet, complications arise when doctors make decisions on who, and what to prioritize when they must provide…
An effective democracy calls for the active participation of its citizens through voting. Regardless of socioeconomic class, gender, race, or religion, every citizen of the United States, above the age of eighteen, has the right to vote. Nevertheless, only about fifty to sixty percent of eligible voters turn up at the polls in presidential elections,…
It’s midnight and Olin Library is packed with students studying for their exams. Soon enough, midnight becomes 2:00 am, yet most students still study away. In fact, most of these students don’t return to their dorms until around three, which is often a mere seven hours before their first classes. By the time they get…
The problem of gun violence in the US is deeply complex and especially serious among developed nations in the world. Despite being declared as a major public health issue in 1989 by the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, gun violence has received remarkably little attention from researchers, due to political controversy and lack…
As medicine becomes increasingly specialized, it is more important than ever to train medical students to not only be competent but caring physicians. Nevertheless, many medical ethics courses continue to tend towards presenting impersonal, austere case studies that prioritize taking action and immediate decision making over seeing the patient as first and foremost, a person…
People have wondered what it would be like to face the unimaginable: hearing a physician read off a hopeless list of test results, being forced to make an inconceivable decision regarding intubation and life support, while questioning what their beloved friend or family member would have wanted. Health providers often avoid and families often put…
With what seems to be an endless midterm season, I often find myself dragging my feet to Olin library, the only place I’ll ever get my work done. As soon as I settle into my chair, I put in my earphones and turn on my Spotify playlist. Looking around my surroundings, I see that my…
Seventeen dead in Parkland. Twenty-six dead in Sutherland. Forty-nine dead in Orlando. Twenty-seven dead at Sandy Hook. Fifty-eight dead in Las Vegas. As death tolls continue to climb and the frequency of mass shootings increase, gun violence has become one of the leading causes of premature death, killing more than 30,000 people and causing nearly…