By Katherine Lewis On August 1st, 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. The outbreak is currently classified…
By Katherine Lewis Howard Kushner, the Nat C. Robertson Distinguished Professor of Science and Society Emeritus at Emory, is a highly influential figure in the field of medical humanities. He is currently engaged in teaching and research at San Diego…
Editor's note: This article is the last of a two-part series on the legal and ethical implications of the modern opioid crisis. You can read the first part here. The Sackler family, who made their fortune in Purdue Pharma and…
By: Katherine Lewis Editor's note: This article is the first of a two-part series on the legal and ethical implications of the modern opioid crisis. The second can be found here. In 2016, Forbes magazine named the Sackler family the…
By: Katherine Lewis Editor's note: This article is the conclusion of a 3-part series on measles and vaccines. You can read part one here and part two here. This debate over who can decide if a child is vaccinated–the government,…
By: Katherine Lewis In 2007, a German doctor declared that the “Berlin Patient”, later identified as Timothy Ray Brown, had been cured of HIV following a bone marrow transplant intended to cure his cancer. Brown’s case was extremely unique because…
By: Katherine Lewis Editor's Note: This article is the second of a 3-part series on measles and vaccines. Although the US has significantly greater vaccine coverage than Madagascar, 6 outbreaks (defined as 3 or more cases) have been reported so…
By Katherine Lewis Editor's Note: This article is the first of a 3-part series on measles and vaccines. Measles, a potentially lethal respiratory illness, was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 due to the widespread success of the…
By Katherine Lewis Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, with nearly 80 million Americans currently infected. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “HPV infections are so common that nearly all…
By: Katherine Lewis Editor's Note: This is the first in a new series, Health Beyond the Blog, that aims to introduce readers to good health-related content in other media contexts. We will be reviewing books, movies, tv shows, art, and…