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.

  • Chicago Tribune

    Should obese women try to control weight during pregnancy? Yes, but here’s the catch

    Researchers are concluding that to lower their risk of complications, women may have to change their behaviors before or immediately after they conceive. “We think that by the time these women are already in the second trimester, it may already be late to change important outcomes,” said Alan Peaceman, lead author and chief of maternal fetal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

  • Crain’s Chicago Business

    The cancer patient had exhausted his options. Enter immunotherapy.

    Dr. Young Kwang Chae, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University and one of DART’s principal investigators, says that DART researchers are analyzing the first round of results and have no plans to close enrollment. Patients with rare cancer make up roughly 20 percent of diagnoses, Chae says, but they often have no standard of care and little hope for survival. “That’s really depressing,” he says. “As a collection, they’re not rare.”

  • Chicago Tribune

    Experts at Aurora forum say we need to end ‘stigma’ concerning talking about suicide

    Laura Murray of Northwestern Medicine, who said she works as a case therapist, participated in the Aurora forum “to educate the public about ways to help.” “We tell people they can call 911 or go to the emergency room where an evaluation can be done as well as schedule outpatient therapy,” she said. “As a case worker – I see this issue every day and we need to be more open to prevention – there is no single cause to suicide, but in most cases, the victim believes their stressors have exceeded their coping procedures.”

  • Chicago Tribune

    Eat this, not that: New FoodSwitch app helps you shop for healthier options

    Northwestern Medicine has joined the mix with FoodSwitch, which dubs itself “a nutritionist whispering in your ear.” As you grocery shop, the app allows you to scan an item’s bar code, pull up nutrition facts such as saturated fat, sugar, sodium and energy, and get its health rating based on a five-star scale. Finally, FoodSwitch will suggest healthier alternatives from its database of more than 268,000 products.The app, which launched in June, is a collaboration of The George Institute for Global Health in Australia, data from Chicago-based Label Insight, and academic support from Northwestern. “We needed a system to monitor what’s in the food supply in order to improve the helpfulness of what we eat every day,” said Dr. Mark Huffman, associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine.

  • Chicago Tribune

    Step-by-step safety plans, follow-ups can help prevent repeat suicide attempts

    At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, patients have access to mental health experts, including a separate psychiatry emergency department, said Dr. Pedro Dago, medical director of the department. Most patients in the midst of a suicide crisis are admitted for inpatient care, Dago said, but those who are safe to leave from the emergency department are provided with safety plans, crisis numbers, and a follow-up, outpatient appointment within days.

  • TIME

    The Placebo Effect Is Real, and Scientists May Be Able To Predict Who Responds

    “The standard line has been that placebo response is real, but it is not predictable,” says study co-author A. Vania Apkarian, a professor of physiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “That’s the classic viewpoint in the literature: that you cannot predict who will respond or how much they will respond. In fact, we can predict both of them.”

  • Chicago Tonight – WTTW

    Caregivers, Researchers Recount Toll of Alzheimer’s, But Remain Optimistic

    Despite decades of research and lack of a treatment to cure or slow the progression of the disease, researchers, caregivers and advocates are optimistic about the future. “I see a treatment, it’s going to happen. Scientists are very close,” said William Klein, a professor at Northwestern University. “I believe we’re on a positive path,” said Harry John, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association. “We’ve got a lot to do but we’re on a positive path.”

  • HealthDay

    Do You Know Your ‘Body Time’?

    Two blood samples taken about 12 hours apart could provide a solid estimate of your internal clock, said lead researcher Rosemary Braun. “By looking at a set of 40 different genes that are expressed in blood, we can pinpoint a person’s internal clock to within an hour and a half,” said Braun. She’s an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago.

  • WebMD

    Blood Sugar Spike in Pregnancy Bad for Mom & Baby

    Babies might also be affected: Children born to these women were more prone to obesity, the study found. “For mothers, high blood sugar is an important risk factor for later development of abnormal blood sugar levels, including type 2 diabetes,” said researcher Dr. Boyd Metzger. He’s professor emeritus of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

  • ABC News

    Scientists say they’ve developed blood test that can detect internal body clock

    “Before we didn’t have a clinically feasible way of assessing the clock in healthy people and people with disease. Now we can see if a disrupted clock correlates with various diseases and, more importantly, if it can predict who is going to get sick,” said the study’s coauthor Ravi Allada, a professor of neurobiology at Northwestern University, in a statement…“Knowing what time it is in your body is crucial to getting the most effective benefits. The best time for you to take the blood pressure drug or the chemotherapy or radiation may be different from somebody else,” Dr. Phyllis Zee, coauthor of the study and chief of sleep medicine in neurology at Northwestern, said in a statement.