Tag Archives: Ellie Ginn

Bonus Episode! Palliative Care: A Perspective from A Land Where It Barely Exists, ft. Dr. MR Rajagopal

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Palliative care is not a thing in India, mostly.

In most of India, palliative care–a medical specialty focused on improving the quality of life of people with life-limiting or disabling diseases–is available to only 1% of people who need it.  But in Kerala, one organization is making lots of headway in promoting this vital specialty.  In this episode, Pallium India’s founder, chairman, and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. MR Rajagopal visited the University of Iowa College of Medicine to talk about their efforts to introduce to Indian providers a new way of thinking about pain and other symptoms by providing emotional, social and spiritual support.

As you might expect from such a practitioner, Dr. Rajagopal is an extraordinarily thoughtful man with a kind, quiet voice that belies what must be an extraordinary force of will needed to accomplish his goals.  Tony Rosenberg, Ellie Ginn, Rachel Schenkel, and Jayden Bowen discussed how he began his journey, what his fellow Indian providers made of these ideas, and what his hopes are for the future of palliative medicine around the world.

We Want to Hear From You

Do you or anyone in your family have experience with palliative care? Tell us about it at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  We’d love to hear from you!

Continue reading Bonus Episode! Palliative Care: A Perspective from A Land Where It Barely Exists, ft. Dr. MR Rajagopal

Power Poses, Mesh Body Suits, and the Return of Dr. Love

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Feel the power! (photo by Corey Christensen)
Feel the power! (photo by Corey Christensen)

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s well known TED talk discusses the utility of ‘power poses,’ and medical students are always looking for ways to feel more powerful.  So Dave challenges Ellie Ginn, Tony Rosenberg, Marc Toral, and Mark Moubarek to give them a try.  Zika remains a force for making people crazy, and Brazil has banned the use of a larvicide incorrectly linked with  Monsanto as a result of a report from a group of Argentinian physicians who advocate for the ban of insecticides.  Tony suggests a better option: mosquito-mesh body suits.  In fact, he’s full of ideas, including replacing the traditional family-medicine feces chart, used to help patients discuss their poop with their doctors, with plastinated specimens; and he’s considering launching a company that offers fecal transplants from specimens provided by celebrities and sports figures.

Continue reading Power Poses, Mesh Body Suits, and the Return of Dr. Love

Brazil’s Zika Crisis

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Dr. Selma Jeronimo
Dr. Selma Jeronimo

Zika has been in the news, if you haven’t noticed, as a neglected tropical disease which has been linked to a frightening surge in birth defects in Central and South America.  The response to Zika is going to depend upon the science–which is very much up in the air–along with  economic and cultural factors.  Chief among those are huge income disparities, population complexities, and limits on access to family planning options.  On today’s episode, Ellie Ginn, Marielle Meurice, Kevo Rivera, and Jessica Waters meet up with one of the researchers who is fighting this bug.  Dr. Selma Jeronimo isn’t a household name in the US, but she is becoming one in her home country of Brazil.  She is the director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Rio Grande do Norte, and a professor of biochemistry and medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal.  Her job is investigating Brazil’s endemic diseases.  Continue reading Brazil’s Zika Crisis