This week, the United States began allowing HIV-positive individuals to enter the country for the first time in 22 years. This shameful policy prohibiting U.S. …
Author: Ruthann Richter
Trimming treatment for AIDS patients
I read the New York Times account of the president’s new AIDS plan, and all that came to mind were the images of people I …
How to best care for AIDS orphans in Africa
During my travels in Kenya, I met a toddler named Mary Maishon who at one time had been a starved bundle of rags. She had …
Dramatic new film on Kristof's search for social change
Last night I previewed a new HBO documentary, Reporter, in which New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof takes viewers on an astonishing journey in his …
Some sobering reflections on World AIDS Day
On World AIDS Day, I typically take time to reflect on the people I have met who have been affected by this ongoing crisis. They …
The girl who would be Queen
Queen died today. That is the latest bit of distressing news I received from friends in Kenya. She was a quiet little girl whom I …
South Africa finally comes to grips with AIDS
It was nearly a decade ago that I wrote a story about a protest by 5,000 scientists worldwide, including several at Stanford, against South Africa's …
Nothing without a face: Surgeon talks about landmark transplant
Famed transplant surgeon Jean-Michel Dubernard is flipping through slides of his celebrated patient, Isabelle Dinoire, the first woman in the world to receive a face …
An insider's view of health care reform
Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, says in a recent Q&A that inaction on health care reform is simply not an …
Skepticism and questions about AIDS vaccine trial
Yesterday I attended a fundraiser in Palo Alto for the Rotary's Child AIDS Project, where some national leaders in the AIDS fight expressed skepticism about …
Frustration turns to hope with AIDS vaccine
I recall three years ago, at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, hearing virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi of the Institut Pasteur in Paris question whether development …
Faculty consulting work: now on public view
Stanford School of Medicine is once again helping to set a trend among academic medical centers with steps to ensure integrity and transparency in its …
Death recalls struggle over intern work hours
I don't usually read obituaries but a recent one in the New York Times caught my eye. It was for Sidney Zion, a prosecutor, lawyer …
Fighting diabetes in fat mice
Twin brothers working in labs 2,260 miles apart are part of a team of scientists who found a simple way to reverse the effects of …
Testing for Alzheimer's: the psychological risks
I've always thought it would be crushing to know that I carry a gene for some dread disease yet could do nothing to prevent it. …
Practicing low-tech medicine in Africa
Patients at Mulago Hospital in Uganda are entitled to receive only one thing: a thin mattress. Everything else -- meals, fresh clothes, sheets, blankets -- …