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In Focus

One for All

A global pandemic treaty—a health plan on par with nuclear and climate deals—is now in the works. Does it stand a chance?

The decision-making arm of the World Health Organization, the World Health Assembly, begins to meet in special session on November 29, 2021. Delegates from its 194 member states will meet virtually and in person to focus on one question: whether to begin the process of creating an international “pandemic treaty.”

The uneven, uncoordinated responses...

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In Depth

The Great Pox

Syphilis brought the very first patient to the hospital—and the disease drove some of the most important moments in medicine.

The Nurses’ Eyrie

The history of nursing runs throughout the Bulfinch Building—even up and into its iconic dome.

The Atom and the Adam's Apple

The use of energy waves in medicine leapt forward with the contributions of two Bulfinch pioneers.

The Cholesterol Deniers

For decades, a tiny encampment of researchers has held that statin treatment is a hoax. In a time when contrarian views roar to life on social media, how can medicine keep minority opinions from doing irreparable harm?

An Epochal Change in Care Delivery

During the lockdowns, virtual care took a giant step forward. Can it surmount the obstacles ahead?

Telemedicine and its Discontents

Not everyone stands to benefit from digital care. How can we change that?

The Cracks in Walls That Divide Us

In the COVID-19 crisis, rival institutions joined forces. Can those collaborations endure?

Hard Lessons in Health Care Economics

The economic pinch weakened hospitals and providers. How can we build them up again?

A Turned Page on Racialized Medicine

Bias gets baked into algorithms that guide medical care. Rooting it out will take patience and cooperation.

A Future Informed by Gender-Affirming Care

The transgender community is quietly reinventing the medical paradigm.

A Reckoning for Nurses and Nursing

In the isolation of the COVID-19 wards, nurses were a lifeline. Hospitals stand to benefit from their insight.

A Turning Point in the Burnout Crisis

Mental health treatment for medical practitioners will never be the same.

Medical Education Will Be Transformed

Dozens of pandemic-era innovations, and the experience of teaching during a crisis, have all left an indelible mark.

Our Call to Communicate the Truth

Science and public health have been under steady attack. It is up to medical professionals to fight back.

Two Takes on a Pandemic

Every nation has had its own experience of COVID-19. The stories of Denmark, a model of socialized care, and Rwanda, a bright spot among developing nations, both hold wider lessons for the world.

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Dispatches

Is Surgery Still a Boy’s Club?

Women surgeons face discrimination, harassment, and difficult personal choices—frustrations examined in a spate of new studies.

They Opened a Medical School During a Pandemic. What Could Go Right?

The new, tuition-free school from Kaiser Permanente opened last year with a mission of community engagement. Dean Mark Schuster explains how it went.

Science is Failing. Good.

Public trust in science has declined, and its skeptics are more vocal than ever. Can a new openness around scientific failures change that?

Should We Monkey with the Microbiome?

Genetically engineered microbes could create miniature drug factories inside the gut. Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

The Search for a Regeneration Switch

Can studying salamanders and spiny mice help humans grow new limbs? Answer: It’s complicated.

The Other Plasma

The fourth state of matter—and not the compound in blood that goes by the same name—may be on track to transform wound and cancer care.

Who Has the Right to Repair Medical Equipment?

If a simple latch breaks, a lifesaving device could be down for months. Should hospitals be allowed to fix their machines themselves?

Podcast: Diagnosing the Long Dead

New data may solve two of the most famous “cold cases” in medical history—the deaths of Ernest Shackleton and Edgar Allen Poe.

Telemedicine for All?

The technology could benefit people with disabilities—but only with design and policy changes that improve access and useability.

Should We Insist on Shots?

Massachusetts broke ground on mandatory vaccination in 1905. History may repeat itself with COVID-19.

Clinician Violence Moves Online

As practice goes digital, so too does a brutal workplace hazard.

The Rage Room

A woman finds therapeutic value in sledgehammers and broken plates.

The Year of the Nurse

The World Health Organization gave Elizabeth Iro the job of advocating for nurses everywhere.

The Doses Left Over

Is there any hope for saving wasted medications?

Racism in the Black Body

For decades, researchers have looked at social factors to explain the greater presence of disease in Black populations. But the stress of experiencing racism causes great harm, too.

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From Mass General

What a Hospital is Built For

As COVID-19 first swept through Boston, the people of Massachusetts General Hospital responded. Their efforts offer a portrait of medicine in motion.

Our Response to a Pandemic

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss how Massachusetts General Hospital is tackling COVID-19.

The Changing Landscape of Primary Care

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss a shortage of primary care physicians and how to address the problem.

A Safe and Controversial Place

Physician Mark Eisenberg discusses the furor over (and the desperate need for) safer injection sites.

Next-Generation Vaccines

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the revolution of rational vaccine design.

A Revolution in Cancer Treatment

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the promise of CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors.

Climate Change Meets an Aging Population

The most common victims of extreme weather events are older people. New research looks into how the health system fails them, and how it can be fixed.

Singular Exceptions

Should primary care physicians be trained to spot unusual, medically important cases?

Silent No More

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the need to end workplace violence in health care.

An Extra Pair of (A)Is

Machine intelligence takes a big step into the clinic, with a technology that helps identify patients with an elevated risk of breast cancer.

Doctoring on a Screen

Telemedicine made its first broadcast 50 years ago in an airport clinic.

Ending the AIDS Epidemic

Since the early 1980s, AIDS has killed more than 35 million people worldwide. But researchers are determined to find better treatments, cures and preventions that many finally put an end to the epidemic.

For Some Clots, It Takes a Village

Treatment of pulmonary embolisms may benefit from a team approach. But that model faces obstacles inside and outside the hospital.

Shining a Light on Depression

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris highlight the need for new approaches to treating depression.

A (Small) Cause of Big Pain

Neurologist Anne Louise Oaklander investigates a cause of chronic pain that is treatable without opioids.

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Charts & Data

What Is a Collaborative Community?

An unconventional new model makes industry meetups a key part of medical device regulation.

The Body on Chips

An engineered model of human physiology hits an important milestone.

How to Green a Hospital

Health care leaders look for ways to scale back an outsized carbon footprint.

The New Anatomy

Parts of the body are constantly being proposed or discovered. Where do they come from?

Anatomy of a Hashtag

Public health messaging online yields beautiful—but sometimes worrying—data.

How Did COVID-19 Get Here?

Genomic analysis details how SARS-CoV-2 spread through Boston.

The Village Without Memory

In France, a home for people with dementia is designed from the ground up.

To Choose Death

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act crosses the 20-year mark.

In Passing

How does a hospital keep patient details from getting lost in the shuffle?

To Catch a Protein

The world of protein imaging undergoes a chilly revolution.

The Next Zika

Vaccines are most helpful before an epidemic hits. So which diseases should researchers prepare for next?

ResearchKit

A software platform from Apple is helping medical researchers collect health data from any iPhone user

White Coats

The standard garb of the physician comes with surprising risks and benefits.

Unsound the Alarm

Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?

Babel in the ICU

Machines in an ICU can't speak to one another—but what if they could?

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