new ways to think about cancer not taught in medical school?
Dear All,
So I’m almost done with my medicine core rotation and I should be studying for my shelf exam right now, but I just had to write this down. I saw this trailer www.crazysexycancer.com about a woman with a rare stage 4 cancer who decided to try a lot of complementary and alternative medicine techniques. Currently she seems to be doing well and I guess she was on oprah to share her documentary.
I don’t know if I will have time to write more on the subject, but if you or your family member has cancer, you may want to read these two pieces featured in the New Yorker to get a broader sense of what complementary and alternative medicine has to offer — it may make a dramatic difference:
1) Dr. Fair’s Tumor: http://www.jeromegroopman.com/articles/doctor-fairs-tumor.html
2) The Outlaw Doctor: http://www.michaelspecter.com/ny/2001/2001_02_05_gonzalez.html
About
Dear All, I’m currently a third-year medical student with interests in everything related to medicine. In 2006, I studied acupuncture at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine for three months. For the past two and half years, I’ve been working with a pediatric surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Boston on liver dysfunction, as well as on omega-3 fatty acids in children with short bowel syndrome.
I am fascinated by the potential of surgery, nutrition and complementary medicine. At the same time, I’m disturbed by the lack of evidence that surrounds some medical practices. I’m also deeply concerned about the conflicts of interest that are pervasive in the mainstream and complementary medical world. We often hear of how pharmaceutical companies have influence on doctors — this week’s New England Journal of Medicine paper written by Dr. Blumenthal’s team talks about these issues (April 26th, 2007). Less talked about, but equally important, is how herbal companies and natural medicine doctors are vulnerable to quality lapses, financial influence as well. For my posts, I will try to be aware about this and please let me know if you start to see me slipping in my awareness.
I’m going to try my best to talk about issues that are directly relevant to your health and my health — but avoid rehashing topics that you hear about all the time. Most likely, the posts will be on things that have frustrated my professors, or topics that really need to be told but for some reason haven’t gotten out to the public — such as preventable medical errors or important nutritional information that everyone should know about.
Lately, this past year, I’m in the hospital for most of my third-year, which makes it difficult to post new topics, but I’ve been trying to add some posts on my Youtube page. I apologize for taking a long time to get back to your comments, but I plan to answer all of your e-mails, it may take a while though and I am very sorry about that.
I hope you will stay with me throughout my four years in medical school and in residency. Please e-mail me at unitedstatesmedicalstudent@gmail.com.
(I also have Youtube videos if you find this is of help).
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=usmedstudent
Thank you for reading!
Jeff
P.S. I wanted to point out something important: I’m just a medical student, my posts are hopefully conversation starters, but only conversation starters — not medical advice. If my posts intrigue you, please read more about the topic and discuss about it with your doctor. I’d be happy to send you the information on the journal articles I talk about. Also, the opinions expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Harvard Medical School, its affiliated institutions, or Harvard University. Best wishes!
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