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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NBC 5 Chicago
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Northwestern Medicine doctor opens Latina breast cancer clinic
n the sprawling campus of Northwestern Medicine on the fourth floor of Prentice Women’s Hospital, a brand new Hispanic breast cancer clinic has opened, thanks to Claudia Tellez, MD. The Northwestern Medical Oncologist and medical director of Hispanic Breast Cancer Clinic calls this her labor of love. It blossomed after 25 years of being a doctor and advocate, but not seeing many Hispanic patients receiving top treatment. “Hispanics represent about one-third of the population in the city of Chicago, but we see less than 10% of Hispanics here at the clinic, so there’s a big opportunity. Dr. Tellez explains that breast cancer is the most common and deadly cancer for Hispanic women, with a large number of women impacted with cancer not coming to major medical centers. “Latina women are actually being diagnosed at at younger ages with more advanced breast cancer, that’s because many are not presenting for screening. So they’re presenting with more advanced cancers and they’re presenting with more subtypes of cancer that are more aggressive,” Tellez said. From the moment they walk into the clinic, they’re met with bilingual signs, which Tellez says is vital to helping educate patients about their condition. It also connects patients with important clinical trials, because “less than 7% of Hispanic patients are participating in clinical trials and it should be equivalent to population.” Dr. Tellez explains that therefore, a third of patients should be participating.
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WebMD
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How to Manage Depression Triggers
Stress can take a toll on anyone. But if you have depression, you might not bounce back from stress easily. The death of a loved one, a job loss, or a divorce could trigger symptoms such as guilt and hopelessness. But there are stpes you can take to get better. You might have a lot tied up in your work. For starters, a job loss can take you away from an entire network of people. Try to gain some control of the situation, says Tim Pearman, PhD, a professor of medical social sciences and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Pearman suggests you update your resume but stay flexible. “There may be a whole bunch of job opportunities available to you that you might not even think about outside of your field,” he says. “Maybe it’s time to break the mold of how you self-identify in terms of your career path and consider other options.” Casting a wider net in your job search may help you feel more in control and less hamstrung by the recent job loss. In terms of losing a loved one pay attention to your symptoms. If you can’t focus on your work or get out of bed, or you’ve been depressed for more than a few months, “at that point, it’s probably time to seek professional help,” Pearman says.
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New York Times
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How Much Coffee Is Too Much Coffee?
Coffee can be many things: a morning ritual, a cultural tradition, a productivity hack and even a health drink. Studies suggest, for instance, that coffee drinkers live longer and have lower risks of Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular conditions and some cancers. But between your breakfast brew, lunchtime latte and afternoon espresso, is it possible to have too much? And if so, how can you tell? Coffee contains thousands of chemical compounds, many of which may influence health, said Marilyn Cornelis, PhD, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. But coffee is also the largest source of caffeine for people in the United States, and that’s where most of the risks associated with coffee consumption come from, she said. But “most people are kind of well tuned with their response to caffeine,” Dr. Cornelis said, and when they begin to experience even mild symptoms of having too much, they cut back. That said, if you’re prone to abnormal heart rhythms, or if you notice palpitations after having caffeine, you may be more sensitive to its effects and should not consume more than you’re used to, or ingest large doses from concentrated sources.
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Yahoo! News
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Do at-home flu tests really work? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of influenza season.
Many Americans have become accustomed to swabbing their noses when taking COVID-19 tests both at home and in doctors’ offices. Now, test makers are banking on influenza as a new frontier in at-home testing. At-home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests that were popular during the height of the pandemic had a reputation for being less accurate. The FDA says that at-home COVID antigen tests are less precise than molecular tests (i.e., the PCR tests that needed to be done in a hospital or clinic), and false negatives may be more likely to happen, especially if the test is taken shortly after infection, leading the FDA to recommending doing a repeat test after a negative result. Looking ahead, Ramon Lorenzo Redondo, PhD, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that having “pipelines” in place for the development of new at-home test systems could be beneficial if a new virus — or another pandemic — emerges. “With this plus many other tools that we are developing, I think we could at least handle it better if [there is] another pandemic,” Redondo says. “Imagine a new virus appears that creates another problem, then you have all these pipelines and tools that now can be developed sooner. So I think, in general, this is good to have and to improve handling of epidemics or pandemics.”
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WebMD
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Pneumonia, Not Just Inflammation, May Cause Severe COVID
As we continue to live with COVID-19, patients and doctors will learn more about the reasons infections can range from asymptomatic to very serious. Many researchers and doctors believe inflammation is the cause of severe COVID. This is due to the virus causing a “cytokine storm” that can adversely affect the organs in a patient’s body, including the heart and lungs. Research from Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin, is pointing to bacterial pneumonia as the cause of many sever COVID deaths. “Critically ill patients who recovered from pneumonia were more likely to live,” said Benjamin D. Singer, MD, senior author of the study, professor of pulmonary medicine, and a Northwestern Medicine pulmonary and critical care doctor in Chicago. A very important aspect of the Northwestern study is that it highlights the importance of screening susceptible COVID patients for pneumonia as soon as possible. The good news: Patients who test positive can immediately talk to their doctors about their risk factors and get the treatment they need to prevent serious illness.
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New York Times
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What to Do About Painful Sex After Menopause
In a 2022 study that asked a few dozen postmenopausal women who experienced pain during penetrative sex to describe their experiences of intercourse, the most common response was “burning.” Other terms were “raw,” “dry,” “sharp,” “ripping,” “sandpaper” and “knives.” What they were describing is known as dyspareunia, which is one of the more overlooked and under-treated symptoms of menopause. Dyspareunia can occur at any life stage but it spikes after the menopausal transition, though signs can emerge during perimenopause too, said Lauren Streicher, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University and author of “Slip Sliding Away: Turning Back the Clock On Your Vagina.” Estimates about the prevalence of dyspareunia range between 13 and 84 percent of postmenopausal women — a highly inexact figure in large part because many women and doctors don’t broach the subject. As a result, women often don’t receive the care they need for dyspareunia despite the fact that it is easily treatable, Dr. Streicher said. If left untreated, the condition can worsen to a point that it leads to a loss of self-esteem, reduced quality of life, depression and a significant shift in the relationship dynamic with a partner.
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NPR
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Still there: Alzheimer’s has ravaged his mother’s memory, but music brings her back
A man’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, however he is helping her remember through music. “Alzheimer’s disease has crushed Marti’s memory. At this stage, she cannot form a word. But somehow the pathway to musical melodies remains clear,” Adam says. “And it is along this pathway that she and I are able to communicate.” According to a study from Northwestern University, many Alzheimer’s patients can still recall melodies from their past because the cerebellum, where musical memories are processed, is affected later in the disease. This allows patients like Marti to recognize and enjoy the music they’ve always loved, even after they can no longer speak. A series of new treatment options in 2023 has shown promise for the millions of Americans with Alzheimer’s. This July, the Food and Drug Administration gave full approval for Leqembi, the first drug shown to slow the disease. And a new experimental drug called donanemab, which was found to slow Alzheimer’s progression by about 35%, has been submitted to the FDA for approval. A decision is expected by the end of 2023. However, both of these new drugs can only slow the disease, not stop or reverse it.
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New York Times
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New Covid Vaccine Rollout Is Slowed by Insurance and Supply Snags
More than a week after new Covid vacines were approved and recommended for all Americans aged 6 months and older, some are having trouble getting the shots. Insurance companies are denying coverage, with some blaming the difficulties on billing codes. Pharmacies are canceling some appointments because the drugs haven’t arrived. Several of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains acknowledged a challenging rollout. CVS, Walgreens and Safeway pharmacies have had to cancel and reschedule some appointments because of delayed shipments of the vaccines, the companies said. Other providers delayed making the shots available. Rite Aid said new vaccines would be in stores by this weekend; Kaiser Permanente said it would largely not administer Covid shots until next week. “We’ve gone from the federal government steering and driving vaccine supply and coverage to it being pushed out through regular market channels like it’s just another health care product,” said Lindsay Allen, PhD, a health economist at Northwestern Medicine.
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Yahoo! News
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Can you ‘reverse’ a medical abortion? Here’s what experts say.
Medication abortions accounts for more than half of all abortions performed in the U.S. It involves taking two prescription medications: mifepristone, followed by misoprostal. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which supports a healthy pregnancy, and misoprostol causes uterine cramping and shedding of the endometrium. A “reversal” involves giving doses of progesterone after mifepristone is taken — but before misoprostol is taken — to try to prevent pregnancy loss. (Supplemental progesterone is used to try to lower the risk of miscarriage in certain pregnancies, Lauren Streicher, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shares. But this reversal treatment isn’t supported by science. The idea of an abortion reversal comes from a 2012 case series on six women who took mifepristone and were then given different doses of progesterone. Four of those women continued with their pregnancies, but ACOG points out that it’s difficult to know if the progesterone caused the pregnancies to continue or if other factors were at play. The study also did not have a control group (i.e., patients who did not take progesterone after mifepristone) and is therefore considered weak evidence, ACOG says. Taking mifepristone alone also isn’t a guarantee that an abortion will work, Streicher says: “The reason you use mifepristone and misoprostol is that if you use mifepristone alone, it doesn’t always work.”
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Yahoo! News
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Children have died from accidental fentanyl exposures. Here’s what parents need to know.
Fentanyl has made headlines for years, with the narcotic being blamed for the deaths of Prince, Tom Petty and Mac Miller. But more recent reports have linked the drug to children and teens – and some have died from accidental fentanyl exposure. It doesn’t take much fentanyl to do harm. “Fentanyl is very potent — it’s 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine,” Kristine Cieslak, MD, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Lurie Children’s at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, tells Yahoo Life. “As little as 2 milligrams can be lethal in adults and even smaller amounts can cause death in children.” Pills that have been laced with fentanyl may look like candy and be swallowed by children if they’re found at a park or in a home. The medication can also cause drowsiness, nausea, confusion, unconsciousness and stroke, Cieslak says. “Fentanyl moves fast, which is why it’s important to call 911 immediately if you suspect your child has been exposed, Cieslak says. “First responders carry Narcan and can administer this lifesaving medication,” she explains. “Narcan reverses an opioid overdose by blocking the effects of opiates on the brain and restoring breathing. Seconds or minutes count and can be the difference between life or death, so parents should not attempt to drive their child to the emergency department.”
