Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Academic Medicine Changes Due To AI, Lack Of Funding; Some Turn To TikTok Diets For Cures
Stat: The Rapid Rise Of The Unconventional Academic Medicine Scholar
For much of the 20th century, the academic medicine ideal was clear: a physician-researcher supported by NIH grants, publishing in high-impact journals, climbing a predictable ladder of assistant to associate to full professor. Research was formal, structured, and often slow. Productivity was measured in citations, and prestige came from peer-reviewed work and institutional affiliation. But that model no longer holds uncontested sway. (Jonathan Avery, 10/17)
Bloomberg: TikTok Diets Are Helping People When Medicine Can't
TikTok and YouTube have made stars of influencers who tout — often with the help of celebrities — the virtues of various lifestyles from veganism to juicing to subsisting on nothing but meat. Advocates of some of these trends even claim their diets have cured them of serious diseases. (F.D. Flam, 10/18)
Stat: Gestational Surrogacy, Under Serious Threat, Should Not Be Banned
Earlier this year, I was invited to discuss gestational surrogacy with dozens of the heads of women’s rights organizations looking to shape global policy. I was startled to discover I was the only participant on the Zoom call who had anything positive to say about surrogacy. (Arthur L. Caplan, 10/20)
Chicago Tribune: Early Cancer Detection, With New Tools And Genetic Testing, Saves Lives
The deadliest cancers in Illinois are those of the lung, colon/rectum and prostate. These three cancers account for over half of all cancer deaths across our Prairie State. The good news is that these cancers also all have preventative screening tests available that can find cancer before any symptoms arise and treat pre-cancers and cancers early, before they have a chance to spread. (Wenora Johnson, 10/20)
Stat: Biodiversity Loss Is A Threat To Human Health
In 2021 and again in 2023, more than 200 scientific journals issued a rare joint call for health professionals to treat climate change and biodiversity loss as one indivisible global health emergency. This framing reflects a growing recognition that human wellbeing is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of other animals and the planet. (Neil Vora and Chris Walzer, 10/20)
