3D Printing of Body Parts
The merger of biological and non-biological parts in the human body is underway. It is not hard to imagine amazing cures for things previously thought impossible. Thousands die every year while waiting for a transplant. That will become history. Clinicians can’t print an operating human liver yet, but they can print liver tissue. Progress is […]
Women in Healthcare
This week I attended the 32nd Annual Research Day at Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN). The keynote speaker was Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, Associate Professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Nunez-Smith’s research focuses on promoting healthcare equity for vulnerable populations with an emphasis on healthcare workforce development, patient assessment of healthcare experiences, and […]
Three Impediments to Meaningful Healthcare Reform
Many Americans are quite upset about our healthcare system. We should be. Healthcare represents nearly 20% of our economy and it is a mess. There is a long list of problems, but, from my perspective, two things stand out as the most outrageous. First is the lack of healthcare reform and the high cost of […]
Value of a Second Opinion
A recent study at the Mayo Clinic concluded getting a second opinion is critical. The researchers examined the electronic health records of 286 patients who had received a second opinion about a prior medical diagnosis. The results were stunning. In nearly 90% of the cases, the second opinion was either refined or redefined. Only 12% of […]
BioEverything
In 1963, when I started in engineering school, there were two tracks that an electrical engineering student could choose from — electronics or power. Electronics was about solid state devices such as transistors. (The Intel microprocessor was not to come until 1971). The “power” track was mostly about electric motors and power generation. Fast forward fifty years and you […]
