Here's a tale that will tug on your heart strings: It begins in a small town in Pennsylvania, in 1926, at the birth of Joe …
Month: November 2015
A reminder before World Diabetes Day: “We need more people educated about the disease”
Bay Area native Anna Simos had always been the healthy one in her family — never a candy eater, she said — but, at 15, …
California’s vaccination exemptions cluster in white, affluent communities
California's measles epidemic was no fluke; between 2007 and 2013 the percentage of kindergarteners using a "personal belief" exemption to enroll in school without vaccinations …
To boost diversity in academia, “true grit” is needed
With evangelical fervor, Freeman Hrabowski, PhD, president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), challenged the School of Medicine to tackle inequality throughout its ranks, an …
Helping kids with chronic medical conditions make the jump to adult care
With just one dramatic example from her practice, Stanford pediatric critical care specialist Yana Vaks, MD, recently illustrated for me the importance of better adult …
Stanford’s Karl Deisseroth talks about the work he was “destined to do”
Earlier this week we announced the exciting news that Stanford bioengineer Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD, had won a $3 million 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Before he …
Pain-in-the-neck, begone! Better way to relieve chronic neck and shoulder pain?
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide (115 million in the United States alone) suffer from chronic pain. Stanford diagnostic radiologist Sandip Biswal, MD, calls this …
Researchers develop molecular target for brain cancer
About 23,000 new cases of brain and central nervous system tumors are diagnosed annually, and more than 15,000 patients are expected to die of brain cancer …
Bad actors: Viruses, pathogenic bacteria co-star in health-horrific biofilms
A group under the direction of Stanford infectious disease investigator Paul Bollyky, MD, PhD, has uncovered a criminal conspiracy between two microbial lowlifes that explains …
Mysteries of medicine: Why I’m not learning as much as I thought I would in medical school
Stanford Medicine Unplugged (formerly SMS Unplugged) is a forum for students to chronicle their experiences in medical school. The student-penned entries appear on Scope once a …
Former medical school dean discusses learning and longevity at Stanford 125 event
The year-long celebrations for Stanford University's 125th anniversary are in full swing, and Philip Pizzo, MD, former dean of Stanford's medical school, recently helped kick off …
Stereotype perception linked to psychological health in female surgeons
Female surgeons who believe there's a stereotype that men are better doctors are more likely to suffer from psychological distress, according to a recent study led by …
A family’s story changes the science of a rare tumor
When Danah Jewett's 5-year-old son, Dylan, was dying from a brain tumor in 2008, she wanted to know if there was anything her family could …
A new way to scan for plastic explosives could someday detect cancerous tumors
Sci-fi shows and superhero films are full of gadgets and beings that have the power to remotely scan their environment for hidden things. For us …
OrderRex taps decisions of thousands of “doctors like me”
As a new clinician, Stanford's Jonathan Chen, MD, PhD, struggled to treat patients with unfamiliar conditions. He yearned to ask one or, even better, dozens of …
Turning loss into hope for others: New website teaches about mental health
Suicide slices close to the heart for me, and I remember well the story of Shelby Drazan, a Woodside, Calif. 17-year-old who died by suicide …