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.
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Chicago Tribune
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Purchase of rifle allegedly used in Highland Park massacre highlights limits of Illinois gun laws
A day after a gunman fired 70 rounds into a crowd at the Highland Park Independence Day parade, concerns and questions began to emerge about the availability of high-capacity firepower in Illinois, including whether existing rules and laws around background checks are enough to protect the public. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine professor Lori Ann Post, who has studied decades of mass-shooting events, said the story playing out in Highland Park fits an all-too-familiar pattern of failing to identify and act to prevent those who should not be carrying firearms from doing so. “We look backwards and it makes sense that he did this,” Post said. “But what we have to do is identify this ongoing, escalating socially deviant behavior. We are absolutely failing.” Illinois’ red flag law, which has existed since 2019, is designed so that people can ask a civil court to intervene and remove firearms from someone who appears to be a danger to themselves or others, experts say.
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WTTW
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How Abortion Bans Could Impact Infertility Treatments
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has had an immediate impact on women with unwanted pregnancies. But people who desperately want to have children are also being impacted. Patients undergoing in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, and their doctors, are worried that overturning Roe could impact them as well. “In states where bills are being introduced defining a fetus as a person, or defining life as beginning at fertilization, this could dramatically change the way in vitro fertilization is practiced,” says Dr. Kara Goldman, medical director of fertility preservation at Northwestern Medicine and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Physicians like myself who practice reproductive medicine are afraid for our patients. What does this mean for a patient’s frozen embryos?” Further, Goldman shares, “When a patient has completed their family, embryos are either donated to research or destroyed. If embryo destruction is outlawed, this will have tremendous ramifications for not only the tens of thousands of embryos – and the families who have created those embryos through careful decision-making between the physician and patient – but importantly will have ramifications for the future practice of IVF and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who rely on this technology to build their families,” says Goldman.
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WTTW
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After Highland Park Mass Shooting, ‘People are Feeling Lots of Different Things.’ Help Is Available, Clinicians Say
Highland Park’s Fourth of July Parade turned into a tragedy Monday as a gunman opened fire on the celebrations, leaving seven dead and at least 30 injured. That sudden shift from a celebratory mood to one of imminent danger can make it difficult for people to process their emotions in the aftermath. Area clinicians say feelings of guilt and traumatic flashbacks are normal responses but those impacted should not hesitate to reach out for help. Common symptoms people may be experiencing include irritability, anxiety, depression, being agitated or hypervigilant about their surroundings or safety. These feelings are normal, says Sheehan Fisher, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, and they shouldn’t be ignored. “When it comes to so many other parts of health, people are not shy about going to a doctor, but when it comes to mental health people view it as something they should be strong enough to manage it on their own,” Fisher said. Fisher advises people connect with community members, family and friends.
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CNN
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My transplant opened my eyes to the need for organ donors
In 2021, nearly 170 people were registered as donors in the United States. That number, coupled with the fact that a single organ donor can save up to eight lives, seems to offer hope for transplant candidates. Inequities in general health and access to healthcare, issues linked to socioeconomic status and a history of discrimination also affect who gets an organ and even who ends up needing one in the first place. There’s also anoth4er culprit, according to Dr. Juan Carlos Caicedo, founder and director of the Hispanic Transplant Program at Northwestern University: Most US transplant centers have not implemented a multicultural or multilingual approach to care. “Only 10% of those programs have a website translating different languages besides English,” he said. Caicedo’s research indicates that centers incorporating languages and culturally sensitive care are successful in getting more Hispanic patients to be living donors. The point of the transplant system is to keep more people alive and healthy – which includes Black women such as myself as well as low-wage earners adn those who don’t speak English as a native language.
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Fox 32 Chicago
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Fertility doctor voices concern for IVF patients after overturning of Roe v. Wade
Dr. Kara Goldman from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine talks about how in vitro fertilization patients could be impacted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Goldman shares that it is already such a tough position for patients to be in, and ultimately means decisions are left up to the states. She further shared that there are so many nuanced decisions that have to be made during IVF. Tough decisions need to be made between patient and physician to do it safety, and it’s important for physicians to have autonomous decision making when having these discussions with patients. We all grew up in to have privacy the decisions that a woman should be able to make for her own body , not this is overturning a sense of security, autonomy and agency over our own bodies. We are making decisions that are based on medical science and evidence and nothing should come between the relationship between physician and patient. “Thankfully, we’re safe in Illinois and the embryos through our clinic are stored in Minnesota which is also a safe state. For right now IVF is safe, it is legal, but we do need to fight for these rights – nothing is guaranteed,” said Goldman.
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Huffington Post
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What is Compassion Fatigue? Here Are The Signs You’re Experiencing It.
With COVID, mass shootings, monkey pox, the fall of abortion rights, racially fueled hate crimes and the exploding mental health crisis it can really feel like we’re stuck in a black hole of bad news. There is only so much trauma a person can take before it starts to chip away at their mental and physical health. When you’re exposed to constant stressors, as we’ve all been over the past few years, it’s natural to experience compassion fatigue, a type of empathy burnout that can occur after being excessively exposed to negative events. Compassion fatigue looks a bit different from person to person but often leaves people feeling exhausted, detached, emotionally disconnected and helpless. “Usually we’re gradually shifting into this state of becoming less and less capable of coping with the stress of new events, and therefore, when we get big news – like what happened with the most recent ruling on abortion – we might not really have the emotional reserve to cope with such big news,” said Sheehan D. Fisher, associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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US News & World Report
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Nerve-Cooling Implant Could Ease Pain Without Opioids
Hinting at a future alternative to opioid painkillers, scientists have developed a tiny implant designed to ease post-surgery pain and then dissolve once the job is done. So far, the research has been limited to lab animals, and it will be several years before the technology could be ready for human testing. But the hope is to eventually have an alternative to managing postoperative pain that relies on engineering, rather than drugs, said researcher John Rogers, professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The implant is made of soft, water-soluble materials that form a cuff that can wrap around a peripheral nerve – the kind that send pain signals from the body to the spine and brain. The device delivers targeted cooling to the nerve, inhibiting those pain signals from reaching the brain. And once it’s no longer needed, the implant dissolves into the body’s fluids. According to Rogers, the implant could potentially provide pain relief after many types of surgery – reducing or even negating the need for painkillers like opioids.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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With abortion laws shifting, in vitro fertilization providers wonder if they’re next
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, it didn’t affect only people who might want to terminate a pregnancy. It also has those who are trying to have a child through in vitro fertilizations, or IVF, fearing that states might regulate their efforts and their eggs. “If embryo destruction is outlawed, this will have tremendous ramifications for not only the tens of thousands of embryos — and the families who have created those embryos through careful decision-making between the physician and patient — but importantly will have ramifications for the future practice of IVF and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who rely on this technology to build their families,” said Dr. Kara Goldman, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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WGN
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Device treats pain so opioids don’t have to
There’s a dire need to find alternatives to opioids – the highly effective but highly addictive medications. At a lab at Northwestern University it’s all about tiny devices that make a big impact. From sensors that measure vital signs for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit to devices that track recovery in stroke patients, professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of MedicineJohn Rogers’ latest project is pain. “Managing and treating pain is an important part of patient care,” Rogers said. “Drug-based approaches such as those that rely on opioids are spectacularly effective, but they have side effects including extreme levels of addiction. “It’s an implantable device. It’s a soft rubbery device that gently envelops a targeted nerve,” he said. “It could be a nerve bundle it could be an individual nerve fiber.” Encased in flexible polymer, the device is designed to be implanted at the time of a surgery. It stays in the body for days to weeks then dissolves.
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US News & World Report
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AHA News: Sleep Joins Revamped List of Heart Health Essentials
Proper sleep is essential, and a widely used scoring system for heart and brain health is being redefined to reflect that. Since 2010, the American Heart Association has said seven modifiable components – maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, being physically active, eating a health diet and controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar – were key to ideal cardiovascular health. The update is about much more than adding sleep, said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We’re hoping that this will, in fact, be a moment of empowerment, a moment of optimism for people to think positively about their health. And this is a good way for them to measure it today, monitor it over time and focus on ways to maintain and improve it.
