Do you blog? Journal? Write in your spare time? Are you interested in pursuing communications at any level in parallel with your professional training? We need you! Biomedical Odyssey: Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is a newsfeed dedicated to showcasing the accomplishments of the students, postdocs, residents and fellows here at the Johns(...)
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Would You Eat Lab-Made Meat?
Posted by | Did You See This?As a researcher in a muscle biology and regeneration lab, it’s disturbing to picture myself eating the tiny pieces of muscle I grow in petri dishes. However, the idea of growing muscle (meat) from avian (chicken) or bovine (cow) stem cells in the laboratory for human consumption is a reality today. Some people consider it(...)
Bringing Medicine to Politics: MedChi and Beyond
Posted by | Did You See This?, Events and HappeningsWe live in a tumultuous time for politics across the country. Although our country may remain divided on key issues, we can all agree that with rapid legislative changes and dynamic dialogue about an uncertain future, it is ever more important for people to engage with legislators and lawmakers to shape the future they want(...)
Changing the Game: Bloodless Medicine and Surgery
Posted by | Did You See This?The concept of bloodless medicine first arose in the 1970s, when Denton Cooley, the legendary Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine alumnus and cardiac surgeon, performed operations on a group of patients that most other doctors turned away: Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to their doctrine, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not permitted to receive blood transfusions, largely due(...)
Potential Cuts to Science Funding Threaten US Position as World Leader in Biomedical Research
Posted by | Did You See This?We Americans are privileged to live in a country that boasts the top scientific research in the world being conducted in our laboratories, research institutions and government establishments, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The United States is currently considered the leader in biomedical research, but what most Americans don’t realize is that our(...)
The State of Digital Health
Posted by | Did You See This?Digital health is one of the hottest buzzwords in health care. It seems like a new health care app is on the news every day, and big data, we’re told, is on the verge of ushering in an era of personalized, efficient medicine as we’ve never seen before. But what does this mean for the(...)
Planned Parenthood’s Effects on Our Community
Posted by | A Day in the Life, Did You See This?It’s often said that it is hard to imagine what life must be like for someone until you have walked a mile in his or her shoes. It took me less than a mile to venture to my local Planned Parenthood. Located right up the street from the Johns Hopkins medical campus in the heart(...)
Hidden Figures: On Discrimination and Women’s Rights
Posted by | Did You See This?, Events and HappeningsOn Jan. 21, 2017, millions of women around the globe marched in solidarity with women in the United States to protest against various forms of social injustices and misogyny they experience on a routine basis. As I listened to the massive crowds chanting various slogans in repudiation of perceived inequities, one message rose above the(...)
New Statin Guidelines Herald a New Era of Preventive Medications
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchIn medicine, we would like to believe that treatment decisions are black and white, evidence is clear cut and uncertainty is a bygone impediment, squashed decades ago by the tight jaws of the scientific method. Yet it seems the more we learn, the more we have to argue about. Uncertainty is here to stay. As(...)
At the Vanguard of the Psychedelic Renaissance
Posted by | Did You See This?, Perspectives in ResearchA priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center to ingest psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Although this probably sounds like the beginning of a great joke, new advancements in the field of psychedelic medicine are no laughing matter. After nearly 50 years of prohibition, academic studies and clinical(...)