Table of Contents
A Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Vol. 33, No. 4 • Summer 2009
FEATURES
With U.S. health-care costs at $2.4 trillion and rising, there is unprecedented urgency to the national debate about reforming the health-care system. Previous efforts to fix the country's current model have foundered on its complexity, but this time what's widely referred to as "the Dartmouth research" may make a difference. Here are perspectives first from a current leader of that research, and then from a slate of alumni—clinicians in various specialties from all across the country.
Hardy Stock
By Jennifer Durgin
Aging well is often cast in physical terms—as an absence of disease or disability. But the psychological aspects of aging can be just as important, as two profiles reveal. That's a message that Dartmouth's one-year-old Centers for Health and Aging is helping to spread.
The 1982 Hitchcock annual report told a tale involving a toddler, a swimming pool, a near-drowning, and the specialists who restored the little boy to health. Now, more than 25 years later, one of his doctors reveals a crucial but unheralded role played by a crusty colleague.
COVER
Washington policymakers have for some time been beating a path to Dartmouth's door, in the hope that the health-care utilization research pioneered amid the green hills of New Hampshire can help to stanch the flow of red ink from the nation's health-care system. The cover illustration is by Bert Dodson. See the related feature.
OUR MISSION
Dartmouth Medicine seeks to convey the breadth and depth of the education, research, and clinical activities of DMS and DHMC; to serve as a publication of historical record; to stimulate thought and discussion on issues in medicine and medical education; and to reflect the range of opinions and activities among Dartmouth medical students, faculty, and alumni. Abbreviations used in these pages include DMS (Dartmouth Medical School), DHMC (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center), MHMH (Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital), and DC (Dartmouth College). The opinions of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of DMS or DHMC.
STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS
DEPARTMENTS
Editor's Note
"Commonalities"
By Dana Cook Grossman
Discoveries
- Nicaraguan findings may lead to hearing aid
- Protein shows promise in reversing plaque
- Drug info boxes contain "just the facts, ma'am"
- Ironing out a problem for CF patients
- Study identifies patterns in abuse
- A surprising finding about seizures
- Manipulating proteins facilitates division
- Research briefs
Vital Signs
- Public health pioneer Jim Yong Kim is named president of Dartmouth
- Facts & Figures
- DMS faculty member heads national panel on opioid prescribing
- A matchy-matchy day for the fourth-years
- Clinical Observation
- Investigator Insight
- Physicians sink their teeth into dental care
- DHMC develops a "green" yardstick for hospitals
- Finding "grace and guts" at the bedside
- A new organization is born in Kosovo
- Repercussions of the global financial collapse at DMS and DHMC
- New on the bookshelf
- Media Mentions: DMS and DHMC in the news
- Worthy of Note: Honors, awards, appointments, etc.
- Then & Now
- News Briefs
Student Notebook
"Opportunity knocking"
By Matthew Hanscom Davis
Point of View
"A mere mortal"
By Steven Schlozman, M.D.
Transforming Medicine Campaign
"Sowing seeds of discovery"
By Kate Villars
Faculty Focus
"Judy Stern, Ph.D.: The accidental career"
By Amos Esty
Alumni Album
"Samuel Katz, M.D., '50: Vaccine ambassador"
By Rosemary Lunardini
Art of Medicine
If you'd like to offer feedback about Dartmouth Medicine, we'd welcome getting your comments at DartMed@Dartmouth.edu.
Summer 2009