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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ABC News
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Patients are stockpiling birth control over fears Trump could limit access to contraception
Women are stocking up on birth control and asking for long-term contraception methods following President Donald Trump being elected to a second term last week, doctors say. Searches for “birth control” and “Plan B” doubled between Nov. 2 and the two days after the election, with a notable spike the day after the election, Google Search data shows. Brittany Cline, MD, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago, said she has seen an increase in the number of appointments being made for contraceptive or birth control counseling as well as appointments for long-acting contraceptives being either inserted or replaced or exchanged. “We have, in clinic, seen many patients coming in for their [intrauterine device] replacements, even this week,” she told ABC News. “On Monday, I used all of our intrauterine devices that the clinic had, and I think that this is going to continue over the next few months and even years down the line, as people try to take some control over their bodies.” Cline said she also received a message from a patient this week requesting four years of her birth control prescription be sent to a pharmacy. ‘That’s something that I have not, you know, seen before. Usually, we supply, you know, 12 months, one year at a time,” she said. “We do know that as many medications, there is a shelf life, and so it would not be safe for me to prescribe four years’ worth of contraception to a patient because of the shelf life.”
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Yahoo! News
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Researchers develop new material that paves path forward for medical device innovation: ‘This is a wholly new concept’
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new kind of material that could revolutionize multiple industries by the time it moves into production. Materials scientists have created “tiny, flexible nano-sized ribbons that can be charged just like a battery to store energy or record digital information.” The material is composed of sustainable materials and is biocompatible. As the material is in development, it could be used in low-power, energy-efficient microscopic memory chips and sensors, or it could be woven into clothing. “This is a wholly new concept in materials science and soft materials research,” said Northwestern’s Samuel I. Stupp, who headed the project. “We imagine a future where you could wear a shirt with air conditioning built into it or rely on soft bioactive implants that feel like tissues and are activated wirelessly to improve heart or brain function.” PVDF can generate electrical signals when pressed or squeezed, and its polar structure can flip via external voltage. While typical ferroelectric materials require a substantial amount of power to flip their polar structure, this new creation takes substantially less. “The energy required to flip their poles is the lowest ever reported for multiaxial soft ferroelectrics,” Stupp said. “You can imagine how much energy this will save in increasingly energy-hungry times.”
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The Washington Post
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Hospitals adjust as rates of maternal high blood pressure spike
Health researchers are noticing a growing problem in American pregnancies: more cases of blood pressure so high it can be deadly for the parent and baby. U.S. rates of newly developed and chronic maternal high blood pressure skyrocketed from 2007 through 2019, and researchers say they haven’t slowed down. Hospitals are working to adjust their standards of care to match best practices. One reason for the big increase in cases is that more doctors are looking out for the condition. But that’s not enough to explain the increase in the nation’s overall maternal death rate. Lifestyle and genetic factors play a role, but physician and health researcher Natalie Cameron, MD, MPH, with Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said people who don’t have risk factors going into pregnancy are also getting sick more often. More research is needed to understand why. “Pregnancy is a natural stress test. It’s unmasking this risk that was there all the time,” Cameron said. “And there’s a lot we don’t know.” Last year, the federal government boosted funding for training to expand implementation of best practices. But it takes time for hospitals to incorporate those kinds of changes, researchers said. Consistent monitoring for high blood pressure is key to keeping people safe.
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Chicago Tribune
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‘I wasn’t afraid to die. I was a soldier’: Veteran asks heart surgeon to save sentimental tattoo during transplant
“I wasn’t afraid to die. I was a soldier,” said Louis Smith, a Chicagoland native who, at the age of 17, followed in his footsteps and joined the U.S. Army. However, Smith was concerned about what life would be like if major cardiac surgery messed up a sentimental chest tattoo. Smith was hospitalized around Thanksgiving last year due to a hereditary condition that caused a buildup of abnormal proteins in his heart and eventually transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to get ready for the procedure. So while waiting on a transplant list, Smith asked his surgeon to make an effort to save the tattoo while saving his life. “We can’t forget that our patients are people and there’s parts of them that are important to them outside of what we often see, which is just the heart condition,” said Sarah Chuzi, MD, MS, one of Smith’s cardiologists and an assistant professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “A heart transplant is a very big deal, but obviously this tattoo is really important to him, and I like the fact that he advocated for himself … I think that kind of speaks to the spirit of veterans.” With his new heart and lease on life, Smith has spoken to other veterans about taking their health seriously and seeking help when it’s needed. Smith said some veterans, like himself, are often not great at listening to and working with medical professionals because in the military they were trained to put a Band-Aid on their problems and get back in the field.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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More women seek testosterone therapy, prompted by influencers, doctors say
In the U.S., prescriptions for testosterone increased nearly 50% between 2013 and 2023, according to recent data from the health technology company IQVIA. Doctors say interest in the hormone isn’t being driven only by men, but also by women in their 40s and 50s. This is due to social media influencers believing women have a testosterone problem. In both women and men, it’s normal for testosterone levels to drop with age — starting at about age 30 in men and around 40 in women. The decline doesn’t mean that it necessarily needs to be replaced, either for health or longevity. Levels for what is considered normal can vary depending on the lab, and just because levels are low, that does not necessarily mean testosterone should be started. Doctors use a combination of symptoms and blood work in deciding whom to treat. Traci Kurtzer, a menopause specialist at the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause in Chicago, agreed the push for testosterone started happening in recent years. Her patients inquire about testosterone therapy for multiple problems — to improve mood, energy, sex drive, brain fog and muscle mass. She tells patients that testosterone therapy is currently only recommended for a low sex drive, although future research may find other benefits.“If that’s the case, that’ll be wonderful, but at this point in time we don’t have the data to support that,” Kurtzer said.
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US News & World Report
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Diabetes & Kidney Trouble Can Bring Heart Disease Decades Earlier
People with both type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease face a heart health double-whammy, a new study says. Men with both diabetes and kidney disease will develop heart health problems 28 years earlier than those without either condition, researchers reported today at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago. Women with diabetes and kidney disease will develop heart problems 26 years earlier, results show. “Our findings help to interpret the combination of risk factors that will lead to a high predicted cardiovascular disease risk and at what age they have an impact on risk,” lead study author Vaishnavi Krishnan, a researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago and a medical student at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a news release. “For example, if someone has borderline-elevated levels of blood pressure, glucose and/or impaired kidney function, but they don’t yet have hypertension or diabetes or chronic kidney disease, their risk may not be recognized,” Krishan said. “This is an early step in the process of understanding how a risk model works,” researcher Sadiya Khan, MD, MSc said in a news release. Khan is a professor of cardiovascular epidemiology and an associate professor of cardiology, medical social sciences and preventive medicine at Northwestern School of Medicine.
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Yahoo! News
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This 1 Fitness Test Can Determine Your Fall Risk
Getting older can be tough for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the increased risk of falling and hurting yourself. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 14 million older adults fall every year, and falls are the top cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in this age group. It’s hard to know if you’re at risk of suffering from a fall. However, a recent study led by researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that one fitness test can help determine your fall risk: the ability to stand on one leg. Researchers looked at various balance studies and discovered that testing the balance on the nondominant leg was the best way to measure age-related neuromuscular decline, according to Jeevan Abraham, a sports medicine physician at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago who was not affiliated with the study. One way to help with improving balance is to avoid sitting for long periods of time. So instead of sitting at your computer for hours on end, get up from time to time, even if it’s just to get a glass of water or walk over to pet your dog. “And then try to instill daily habits such as using stairs when possible [and a] daily walking routine because these little things really do add up,” Abraham said. “Neglecting those things is what I think leads to certain people losing their abilities of balance and strength.” Additionally, every decade starting at 30, folks lose 8% of their muscle mass, Abraham said. This makes it crucial to build your strength as you age, too, something he explained can be done through resistance training.
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New York Times
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8 Factors That Can Raise Your Heart Disease Risk
Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women in America — and it has been for more than 100 years, despite major gains in public health. For years, doctors have known that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, in recent years, experts have started thinking more broadly about what drives cardiovascular disease risk. With smoking on the decline, and with better cholesterol and blood pressure treatments now available, death rates from heart attack and stroke have fallen in the last half-century, said Sadiya Khan, MD, MSc, a preventive cardiologist at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. But several factors now threaten to slow — or even undo — that progress, including the rise of metabolic conditions like obesity and diabetes and increasing rates of heart failure. The big risk factors remain the same: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, age, smoking and sex, as men are generally considered to be at greater risk. Black Americans are at a greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than white Americans. On average, they develop high blood pressure and diabetes four to six years earlier than their white peers, Dr. Khan said, and they also have higher rates of advanced kidney disease.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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Expert offers tips on combating post-election stress
Though the 2024 presidential election may be over, many woke up Wednesday with continued stress that is likely felt by many no matter who they cast their ballots for. This year’s election left voters of both major political parties feeling stressed out, with the American Psychological Association reporting that nearly 70% of Americans said it was a significant source of stress in their lives. “It’s good to take a break from media and social media, because there’s going to be a lot of content that is just going to stir people up. A lot of people engage in this doom-scrolling where they’re just spending hours and hours, and it’s really kind of counterproductive,” Michael Ziffra, MD associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said. “I think a good rule of thumb is to always try to not talk about politics if possible. I know it’s not always easy, but often that’s the best approach, you know, and so you and your family may want to have some sort of agreement beforehand, like, hey, let’s not talk about politics,” he said. Ziffra added that exercise, walks outside, conversations with supportive friends and sleep were key to managing post-election stress. He also recommends staving off excessive caffeine and alcohol intake, and taking a break from social media.
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Fox News
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Why the end of daylight saving time can negatively affect your health
Although the day the clocks “fall back” gives you an extra hour of sleep before your alarm goes off, the end of daylight saving time in November has multiple health implications. Many people have a difficult time adjusting since their internal clock has been altered. “Just that one hour can change the amount of sleep you get, the quality of sleep that you get,” said Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, a sleep researcher at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, per The Associated Press. Many people, especially those with preexisting conditions, can experience darker moods following the clock change and through the fall and winter months. There are a few different theories for why this happens. One is the body’s circadian rhythm, its internal clock, is disrupted when the days are shorter with less access to the sun, which can cause a mood swing. Turning the clocks back an hour marks a time when the dark winter is coming. The lack of serotonin the body receives during this time of year can also contribute to a worsening mood. One thing you can do is keep your same bedtime. Don’t use the hour of extra sleep as an excuse to stay up late the prior day. No matter the time of year, but especially in the colder months, it’s wise to establish a good sleep routine.
