Media Coverage

The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.

  • Reuters

    PTSD raises heart and stroke risk in World Trade Center cleanup crews

    No one knows exactly how PTSD might work to increase the risk of heart disease, but Morabia suspects the psychological condition “may stimulate the production of inflammatory cells that then go into the blood vessels and create atherosclerosis.” One big advantage this study has over previous ones linking PTSD to heart disease is that it followed people over time to see who experienced heart attacks and strokes, said Dr. Mark Huffman of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Huffman, who wasn’t involved in the study, said future research should look into whether treatment of PTSD would lead to a reduction of cardiovascular events.

  • Modern Healthcare

    Dialysis centers are the health industry’s growth story

    “In the past, many cases of diabetes were not being adequately controlled,” says Joel Shalowitz, a retired professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and a consultant. “Now more people are getting dialysis treatment earlier. And the federal government has changed reimbursement to make dialysis less lucrative for hospitals. They don’t have the specialization and economies of scale that enable a company like DaVita to be profitable at this.”

  • Chicago Tonight – WTTW

    Study: Parental Incarceration Impacts Children’s Health into Adulthood

    Children whose parents are incarcerated are more likely to skip needed health care and engage in unhealthy behaviors, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. “When parents are incarcerated, children are serving a life sentence as well, and unfortunately, it shows up in their health behaviors and most likely in other aspects of their life as well,” said Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, lead author of the study and pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The idea for the study was inspired, in part, by a conversation Heard-Garris had with Dr. Tyler Winkelman, the second author on the study, about whether they should be asking their patients if they had a parent who was incarcerated. “Having a family disruption, whether it be incarceration or divorce, can impact children and their health down the road,” said Heard-Garris.

  • HealthDay

    When Parents Do Time, Kids Pay the Price

    “The United States has the highest incarceration rates in the world. With the climbing number of parents, especially mothers, who are incarcerated, our study calls attention to the invisible victims — their children,” said lead study author Dr. Nia Heard-Garris. She is a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. In the study, the investigators analyzed data from more than 13,000 young adults, aged 24 to 32, across the United States and found that 10 percent had a parent incarcerated during their childhood. On average, these people were 10 years old the first time their parent was imprisoned.

  • The Washington Post

    Time-zone changes can leave people worried about jet lag

    The adjustment inside our body happens more quickly, too. According to some estimates, the typical person’s internal clock shifts about 92 minutes later each day after a westward trip, but just 57 minutes earlier after going east. On the flip side, for the minority of people who are early birds with clocks that are shorter than 24 hours, adjusting to going east is easier, says Sabra Abbott, a neurologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

  • Chicago Tribune

    Two hit by lightning along lakefront as storms send holiday crowds running for cover

    Dr. Kent Bailey, emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, said anyone who is struck by lightning should seek help immediately and be evaluated, even if they appear OK. A lightning strike doesn’t typically create many exterior burns, but internally there can be significant burn damage to muscles, nerves and bones, Bailey said. “For anybody who is struck by lightning, an ambulance should be called,” he said. “They should always be evaluated. … The sooner you get on a monitor and evaluated, the better off you are.”

  • Chicago Tonight – WTTW

    New App From Northwestern Rates Nutritional Value of Packaged Foods

    Making healthy decisions at the grocery store just got easier, thanks to an app developed by Northwestern University researchers that not only rates the nutritional value of packaged foods but also suggests healthier alternatives. “I’m a cardiologist. I take care of patients who’ve beared the burden of poor nutrition over years,” said Dr. Mark Huffman, associate professor of preventative medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “So it’s pretty important to empower individuals and communities who know that they should be eating healthful food to improve their cardiovascular health.”

  • The Washington Post

    What all those words on the sunscreen bottle really mean

    Whether you have fair or dark skin, hit the beach every day or only on vacation, are 16 or 60, you need to use sunscreen if you’ll be in the sun for longer than a few minutes. But with bottles and tubes covered with claims, “it’s really hard to make sense of what all the terminology means,” says ,”Roopal V. Kundu, an associate professor of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who researches how people buy and use sunscreen. Here, then, is the help you need: seven common terms and what they actually mean — and don’t. First, however, know that although the federal government requires sunscreen claims to be “truthful and not misleading,” only three of the main claims that consumers see — “SPF,” “broad-spectrum” and “water-resistant” — are strictly regulated.

  • TODAY

    Toxic shock syndrome blamed for 16-year-old’s sudden death on school trip

    TSS now occurs in up to three per 100,000 menstruating women, the National Organization for Rare Disorders estimated. Menstrual TSS most commonly occurs in girls and women 15 to 25 years old who are using tampons. Dr. Lauren Streicher, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has only seen one case in her almost 30 years of practice. “It’s extraordinarily, extraordinarily rare,” Streicher told TODAY. “I certainly would not tell my daughters or my patients that they should be concerned about using tampons.”

  • National Public Radio (WBEZ-Chicago)

    Science and Creativity: Your Brain on Laughter Part III

    When is humor appropriate in the medical field? Bioethicist Katie Watson, an Assistant Professor in the Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, has thought a lot about this issue. She moonlights as faculty at the Second City Training Center in Chicago, the teaching side of the famous improv comedy club.