The 2009 NATA conference for me was a big success and well worth the trip. Unfortunately because of family commitments I needed to miss all of Saturday, but my goals for Thursday and Friday were met and exceeded on all fronts. By way of a background over the past several years I make the conference [...]
Archives for Science and Medicine
Plea to NIH to fund research to decrease antibiotic use
The NIH needs to solicit and fund a massive effort to reduce, refine and replace the use of antibiotics. This is desperately needed because of the growing problem of drug resistance. Microbes become resistant to antibiotics via a kind of natural selection when the genes of the bacteria mutate and become resistant to our attempts [...]
Why do most research universities in the USA lose money on research?
Why do most research universities in the USA lose money on research? That is a question that comes up in numerous college, university and teaching hospital conference rooms. Deans, Department Chairs and essentially all administrators are asking that question. It is not because of the economy although the economy contributes to the very bad situation [...]
Meetings and a lesson learned
I have spent innumerable hours in meetings and do what ever I can to avoid talking and leading meetings. People know that the best way to get my opinion is to ask and people tend to listen if I am forced to participate. I tell people I am a voracious note taker and bring my [...]
scientists in congress
I was asked an interesting question a while ago that deserved thought before responding. Here is the question and response. It seems that all of our politicians are lawyers. There are a few medical doctors in congresses but why are there no Scientists? Good question. The answer is, “I have no idea why there are [...]
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; HIPAA is not Helping People
HIPAA; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was supposed to protect patient’s privacy from being abused by insurance companies. So a lot of confidentiality issues were addressed in the act. The result has done almost anything but help patients. What is has done is made research and [...]
A day in the Emergency Room
I had a chance to spend the day in an emergency room this past week. Fortunately it was not because of an emergency for myself or loved one. Rather I was shadowing a physician to evaluate technologies used in the emergency room and to help identify areas of technological improvement. This was an interesting assignment [...]
Professional writing versus scientific writing
An interesting paradox has arisen. An email came through my website that commented on “My Ambulance Education” and referred to it as my first professional writing. That comment, while kind in its intention, gave me pause for thought. I actually do consider myself a professional writer and did so before this. My job as a [...]
Becoming a scientist
I intentionally avoid this discussion of how or when I knew that being a scientist was right for me. The reason is because the answer, while truthful and kind of humorous, is not the stuff of learned scientific careers. In fact some might call it somewhat nefarious. I was always interested in science, medicine biology [...]
The American Education System; One Person’s Perspective
As most people who read my blog and My Ambulance Education, I am heavily committed to the education of all individuals at many levels of academia as well as science and medicine. Currently I am a Professor of Neurology in the University of Cincinnati. It has been my privilege to work and learn in the [...]
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