If you are like us, you are exasperated with the roller-coaster ride and the vitriol of the presidential race. Many of us feel the...
De-stress from presidential election – Commercial Appeal
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No reason to add pounds over holidays – Commercial Appeal
It’s that time of year. No, I am not talking about elections, the flu, or holiday shopping — but rather weight gain. The myth is that...
On normal behavior and Donald Trump – Commercial Appeal
As a doctor, I am often encountered with the dilemma of trying to tease out normal behavior from the abnormal — or “pathologic” as we call...
Top health care priority should be holding down costs – Commercial Appeal
For me, the saddest part of the 2016 presidential election is not that we have two of the most disliked presidential candidates in history...
Presidential candidates’ medical histories not worth hoopla – Commercial Appeal
When you are 70 years old, you are bound to have some medical problems, so I am not sure why the media and the public are making a hoopla...
Doctors must play a role in curbing opiod addiction – Commercial Appeal
Last week, thousands of my physician colleagues and I received a letter from the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. He asked us to...
Dr. Manoj Jain: Travel advisory illustrates danger of Zika virus – Commercial Appeal
For this week’s column, I had been writing about the health care reform plans of the presidential nominees until the Centers for...
Brain scan data can predict political affiliation – Commercial Appeal
Over the past two weeks, I, like millions of Americans, watched the Republican and Democratic national conventions. As politicians,...
Let’s start treating gun violence like the epidemic it is – Commercial Appeal
A recent Time magazine article suggesting that we should treat “gun violence as a disease” rather than just as a crime got me...
Yoga continues to surprise with potential health benefits – Commercial Appeal
I began one of the longest days of the year with a sun salutation — a mountain pose, the lunge, the downward dog, the plank pose, baby...
Research suggests Tylenol can dampen emotional as well as physical pain – commercial appeal
Last week, when I stubbed my toe on our family room coffee table, a throbbing pain ensued. Over the next two to three days, as the bruise...
Mississippi leads nation in measles vaccination rate – Commercial Appeal
Mississippi ranks 50th in the nation in infant mortality, 50th in physical activity, 50th in heart disease deaths and 49th in overall...
A peek behind the curtain into Lashondia Palmer’s journey from acute illness to health – Commercial Appeal
When I first saw Lashondia Palmer, 41, in Baptist Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit, she looked as if she were in a torture...
Measles outbreak shows consequences of vaccination myths – Commercial Appeal
Last week, Stephanie Morris, a nurse in the intensive care unit, stopped me. In the hospital, Stephanie cares for the sickest of sick...
Unprecedented measles outbreak prompts questions – Commercial AppeaL
Amid an unprecedented outbreak of six measles cases in Shelby County, parents are asking questions about potential exposure to the...
Beware sexual transmission of Zika virus – Commercial Appeal
Some years ago, when a biologist studying mosquito-borne viral illnesses returned from abroad to his home in Colorado, he became ill with...
Understanding root causes is first step in confronting violence – Commercial Appeal
At a time when our lives are filled with news of violence, it seems appropriate to talk about peace. With the attacks in Paris, San...
Quest for meaning makes satisfying midlife – Commercial Appeal
When he turned 45, Mitch Alsup bought a red Corvette. Mitch is a quick-talking guy with dirty blonde hair and a short, trim physique. He...
Let’s all do our part to reduce food waste – Commercial Appeal
I am about to place my plate in the sink, until I see a single pea left on my plate. I recall a recent article in National Geographic that...
Yes, we can teach greater compassion – Commercial Appeal
Last week, an old friend of mine, Arun Gandhi, came to Memphis to speak at Rhodes College on “Conscious Compassion and Commitment —...
What we need to know about the Zika virus – Commercial Appeal
Every few years it seems a new virus captures the public’s attention. Over a decade ago, it was SARS, which had people in Hong Kong...
Air quality in New Delhi sounds warning for Memphis’ future – Commercial Appeal
It’s Jan. 1, 2016, and I just landed in New Delhi, India, for a medical conference. The city of 16 million, like any other city, has...
Bringing metrics and accountability to government – Commercial Appeal
At peak time, 6 p.m., the average 911 call answer time is 150 seconds. In June, 10,000 youths participated in athletic activities. In...
Pharmaceutical market puts profits above all – Commercial Appeal
A grandmother develops a boil which turns out to be a difficult-to-treat staph infection (MRSA). She needs high-powered antibiotics. A...
Carter sets humble example with Habitat for Humanity work – Commercial Appeal
Last month, a house was being built in the Uptown neighborhood — not by construction workers, but by the former president of the United...
Research shows that processed and red meats increase risk of cancer – Commercial Appeal
I am standing in line at the lunch buffet at my hospital and I have an option: a red meat steak entree or an eggplant parmesan. If each...
Super sweet soda is way too accessible – Commercial Appeal
I am standing at the kitchen counter and conducting a simple demonstration. In a tall glass of carbonated water, I begin to add teaspoons...
Teenage years marked by changing brains, bodies – Commercial Appeal
Pencil marks dot up the white door frame of my 16-year-old son’s room. The highest is at 5-feet-8 inches, and it reads...
On International Peace Day, commit to nonviolence in your own life – Commercial Appeal
On International Peace Day, commit to nonviolence in your own life For years, I had driven by it, admiring the architecture, but I had...
The benefits of meditation – Commerical Appeal
This summer’s Disney-Pixar movie “Inside Out” makes us think about our thinking. But, I wonder, first of all, “can we even think about our...
Facing consequences can help change harmful behaviors – Commercial Appeal
Sitting across the desk at the car dealership, Steven Ethridge, a soft-spoken salesman, was copying down the VIN number of our newly...
Making sense of 36% Blue Cross premium increase – Commercial Appeal
This week, when I read the headlines “Blue Cross proposes premium increases,” I cringed. Health care premiums are a significant burden on...
National Nurses Week honors essential partners in patient care – Commercial Appeal
Some years ago, when my father underwent bypass surgery, he was anxious, depressed and in pain as he lay in the hospital bed tied to IV...
Gender pay gap persists especially in health care professions – Commercial Appeal
Last Tuesday evening after dinner, with a cup of tea in hand, I read a newspaper column titled, “Women still earn a lot less than men.”...
2015 Gandhi-King Conference to explore stubborn racial disparities – Commercial Appeal
When I walk into an exam room and my patient is black, do I treat him differently than if he were white? I may say “no”, but the data say...
Meditation a useful technique for achieving mindfulness – Commercial Appeal
We sit in a conference room on red swivel chairs, quiet, motionless, eyes closed. We turn off our senses just like we turn down the house...
What’s in an itch? – Commercial Appeal
What’s in an itch? Walking out of a patient’s room, I develop an itch. An itch around my neck, on my forehead, and in the middle of my...
Sometimes deep-seated beliefs impervious to contrary evidence – Commercial Appeal
Last week, when my beloved New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, barely any friends shared my joy. Even my wife, a New York Giants fan,...
Healthy Memphis: Huddle isn’t just for football – Commercial Appeal
Last week, we were awestruck watching the last three minutes of the NFL’s National Football Conference championship game between the...
Healthy Memphis: Taking stairs means giant step toward better living – Commercial Appeal
On the first of the year, while making my rounds at the hospital, I did something I hope to continue: I took the stairs. My action was...
Healthy Memphis: Finding hope and happiness this holiday season – Commercial Appeal
My wife loves to watch holiday movies. Each Christmas season she watches James Stewart’s 1946 movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” “Every year,...
Healthy Memphis: The scientifically sound benefits of kissing – Commercial Appeal
This year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. So one evening last week I told my wife about a news story I’d heard on...
Healthy Memphis: Local Rotary contributes to global TB battle – Commercial Appeal
As I write this, I am on a flight back from India after a weeklong medical mission trip for a Rotary Club Global Grant on the elimination...
Healthy Memphis: Donate to combat Ebola – Commercial Appeal
Last week, I casually mentioned to my wife, “I spoke with volunteers at Doctors Without Borders today, and they need help.” This was...
Panhandlers shouldn’t exploit illnesses – Commercial Appeal
t’s nearly 100 degrees in the mid-August Memphis sun. At the side of the exit ramp to Winchester Road from Bill Morris Parkway East, a...
Unpleasant, but necessary, 50th birthday present – Commercial Appeal
For my 50th birthday my doctors give me a present: a colonoscopy. The prep instructions are daunting. “In a large pitcher pour two 32 oz....
Pay for performance right direction for heath care – Commercial Appeal
It’s another busy day at the hospital and as I dictate yet another consult note, I find I am repeating myself: “Patient has a history of...
Education can Empower in Fighting Ebola – Commercial Appeal
If an ill patient, who unexpectedly has Ebola, landed in Memphis, it is likely that my partner or I would see him. We work...
Doctors struggling over role in treating childhood obesity – Commercial Appeal
Lying in a hospital bed, my seriously obese patient can barely see her swollen and odorous right foot over her abdominal fat. The foot is...
Sinusitis among most mistreated illnesses – Commercial Appeal
Over the past month my daughter, my aunt, my father-in-law and sister-in-law all have been taking antibiotics for a sinus or an upper...