Juliet K. Choi named chief of staff and senior advisor to Office for Civil Rights HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Director Leon Rodriguez announced today that Juliet K. Choi has been appointed as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to OCR.  As the Department’s civil rights and health privacy rights law enforcement agency, OCR […]

Hospital mock-ups help refine plans before construction begins Even though the actual rooms haven’t been built yet in the future Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital expansion, physicians, nurses and other personnel have already toured full-scale hospital rooms and caught a glimpse of the future of those facilities. Their tour included model operating, […]

Questioning the use of video games to get kids more active The next time I babysit my video game-loving nephews, I may not be so quick to insist that they break from their hand-controlled strategy games to play Dance Central with me. A study out today in Pediatrics suggests that playing active games does not necessarily render a kid more fit. […]

A 60-year-old missionary recounts a mastectomy in 1855 Today Letters of Note is featuring a fascinating letter from Lucy Thurston, a 60-year-old missionary living in 1855 Hawaii, in which she recounts undergoing a mastectomy withoutanesthesia. Writing to her daughter, she describes how the procedure began: Thus instructed, and everything in readiness. Dr. Ford looked me full in the face, […]

Surviving is just half the battle: More on Stanford’s new survivorship clinic For many cancer patients who have beaten their disease, graduating from their oncologists can be a daunting process, as becoming a “survivor” comes with its own set of challenges. As discussed here earlier this month, Stanford is the latest in a small but growing trend of hospitals that […]

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital partners with high schools on student mental health programs Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has taken an active role at two Palo Alto, Calif., high schools on initiatives aimed at encouraging students to seek help, improve their understanding of mental illness and strengthen social bonds through peer networks. Shashank Joshi The initiatives are described […]

Blumenkranz, Pfeffer receive endowed professorships Two faculty members at the School of Medicine, Mark Blumenkranz and Suzanne Pfeffer, were recently named to endowed professorships. Mark Blumenkranz Blumenkranz, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, has been appointed the H. J. Smead Professor of Ophthalmology. Much of his clinical work has focused on the diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of […]

Drug Improves Alzheimer’s-like Condition in Mice Scientists report that a decade-old cancer drug quickly clears proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease from the brains of mice. The drug restores memory, social behavior and other defects often seen with the disorder. But more study will be needed to see if the medication is safe and effective for […]

Study supports use of quick shot for seizures For treating prolonged seizures outside a hospital setting, a quick intramuscular shot of anti-convulsant medication with an auto-injector, a kind of spring-loaded syringe, is as effective — if not more effective — than starting an intravenous line to administer medicine directly to the bloodstream. That’s the finding […]

5 Questions: Blaschke on patients who don’t ‘dose’ properly Terrence Blaschke Your doctor writes out a prescription that calls for you to take a pill twice a day for the next month. So, that’s what you do, right? Wrong. A huge number of Americans fail to properly follow their doctors’ orders. And while it may […]