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.
-
ABC 7 Chicago
–
COVID update: Illinois reports 1,878 new cases, 14 new deaths
The Illinois Department of Public Health says “daily deaths reported on weekends and at the beginning of the week may be low” and “those deaths will be captured in subsequent days.” Local doctors are weighing in after President Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is over. They agree we’re past the emergency phase, but they have a warning about this fall and winter. Infectious disease doctors were quick to clarify President Biden’s remarks during a “60 Minutes” interview where Biden said while COVID remains a problem, “the pandemic is over.” According to Dr. Robert Murphy, professor of infectious disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, “I think this was a poorly off the cuff remark that has been taken out of context.” Doctors say while the “emergency” phase of the pandemic may be over due to vaccines and treatments, cases around the world remain high enough where the virus continues to meet the definition of a pandemic. “We are going in the right direction, but this is not the time to give up,” Murphy said. “You give up now and then we are going backward.” Doctors remind people last summer when cases were down, some were declaring victory until the delta and omicron waves hit, making last winter the worst of the pandemic.
-
WebMD
–
Eviction Rise is Threat to Health
Eviction is a housing and financial crisis – and a health crisis in the making. Rents are rising and inflation has increased the price of everything. Meanwhile, the pandemic-related moratorium on evictions the CDC imposed was struck down in August 2021, and statewide bans on evictions have ended. Stable housing is crucial for good health. Research shows that eviction is associated with a wide range of bad health outcomes, loss of access to medical care and vicious cycle of poor health. Housing is one of five social determinants of health, the economic and social conditions that affect the health of individuals and populations. Scientists have started to quantify the direct effects of eviction of people’s health. “It’s so complex, and I don’t think the exact pathway is mapped out yet because it is so hard to do these studies,” Karen Sheehan, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics, medical education and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says. “But we do see lots of associations between eviction and forecloses and poor health in pretty much every domain.” One of the main drivers of poor health effects is stress. “If you don’t have stable housing, it contributes to stress, and that has ramifications in so many different health areas.” Eviction can and often does drive people into overcrowded or unsafe housing conditions. Another study found that housing instability could increase the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. And the crowded living conditions many people end up in after an eviction, either at a shelter or with family or friends, can raise the risk for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, monkeypox, and flu, Schwartz said.
-
Chicago Tribune
–
Researcher says improved public transportation routes, mobile clinics could increase health care accesss
A mother/daughter duo must take public transportation to medical appointments and it is extremely unpredictable. Lindsay Allen, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, researches access to healthcare for Medicaid recipients, who are typically marginalized members of society. Within that research, Allen said she focuses on how patients decide where to seek care for nonemergency care and substance use disorder care. Research has found a lack of transportation results in delayed or missed healthcare appointments, poorer health outcomes and increase in healthcare expenses, Allen said. “Just because it exists doesn’t mean it’s actually useful,” Allen said. “Not having access to transportation does worsen people’s health and increase healthcare cost.” A lack of transportation also results in people calling for an ambulance and going to the emergency room for non-emergency care. Wealthy people who have health insurance and a car have the best access to healthcare because they have a large option of healthcare providers to choose from and they can drive to their appointments, Allen said. “The thing that people are not considering is that it’s not just about the getting to the appointment. It’s everything that you have to give up in order to spend an hour and a half one way to get to that clinic,” Allen said. Three hours of travel means additional money spend on child or elder care, three hours of time off from work and three hours exposed to potential safety risks, like routes through dangerous neighborhoods.
-
TODAY
–
Drinking 2 or more sugary drinks a day may raise the risks of dying from cancer, study finds
Consuming two or more servings of sugary drinks a day may raise the risk of dying from an obesity-related cancer, a new study finds. An analysis of data from nearly 1 million Americans who were followed for almost 30 years reveals that people who consumed sugary beverages had a 5% increase in the risk of dying from an obesity-related cancer when compared to people who consumed no sugary drinks. The diet of Americans has changed a lot since the beginning of CPS-II (Cancer Prevention Study II), said Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine and chief of the nutrition division at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “I think frankly, the most important thing identified here, which has been pointed out before, is the adverse relationship between any type of cancer and the development of obesity,” Van Horn said. “Keep in mind, the vast majority of us are overweight or obese.”
-
WebMD
–
Celebrity Actors Film Their Colonoscopies to Bring Awareness
Gastroenterologists are applauding Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney for using their celebrity to show how colonscopy can be both easy and lifesaving. An important take-home message is that colonoscopy is really the best test for screening. The premise of screening is to detect any potential issues before they cause cancer. Rajesh N. Keswani, MD, agrees about the importance of the campaign. “Overall, the message was incredibly effective. Everyone involved from the celebrities to the clinicians did a great job ensuring that all the important points were touched upon.” Further, “Beyond saying that colonoscopy is easy, they prove it by showing the patients laughing and eating after the procedure,” says Keswani, associate professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. There is a large amount of data showing that similar campaigns can improve colon cancer screening rates, most notably when Katie Couric, who lost her husband, televised her colonoscopy to effectively promote colon cancer screening.
-
Fox 32 Chicago
–
New eczema treatment approved for younger patients
We’ve all had annoying mosquito bites that can drive us crazy, but imagine having to deal with that itchy sensation all the time. That is what it’s like for millions of Americans who deal with eczema. There are medications to treat it, but until recently, children from six months to age five who weren’t responding to those medications, didn’t have many other options – until now. The new medicine is called Dupixent. For children whose eczema is not being controlled, it’s being called a game changer. “These kids are just miserable. They’re itching all the time,” said Dr. Amy Paller, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “These kids are just miserable. They’re itching all the time,” said Dr. Paller. “It affects mood, it affects your ability to be awake and function well in school. It also affects your relationships because this is a highly visible skin problem, so everyone can see it right in front of them.” Dr. Paller says one of the other huge benefits of Dupixent is that it has an incredible safety profile.
-
TODAY
–
Will King Charles rule for a long time? what we know about his health
With the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, all eyes are on King Charles III, who becomes monarch at age 73 – an age when most people are already years into their retirement. Questions have risen about King Charles III’s swollen hands. There’s no official word of his diagnosis, if any, but in general, doctors said this symptom can be due to a variety of issues. Heart, liver and kidney are common causes of swelling, but it usually involves the whole body, said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “The feet and ankles are usually affected first and swelling generally has to be pretty advanced to involve the hands,” Linder told TODAY. Fluid retention can also cause swelling in the hands and ankles, which can be more marked in older adults who’ve been inactive or sitting, he added.
-
TODAY
–
Walking this number of steps every day can reduce dementia risk by 50%
Walking 10,000 steps a day can cut the risk of dementia in half, and for those who can’t walk so far, just 4,000 daily steps can reduce dementia risk by a quarter, a new study finds. In recent years, there has been “an important trend to focus on modifiable risk factors for dementia that we can adjust in our own lives that may be important for living long and well,” said Emily Rogalski, PhD, associate director of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We’ve also seen how exercise interventions and lifestyle changes can modify the risk for dementia,” said Rogalski. “I think this research offers an important opportunity to explore how the number of steps and their intensity may play a role in the risk for dementia and in the health of our brains.” The new study drills further down to look at the optimal number of steps and the intensity of those steps, Rogalski said. It’s unlikely that walking will turn out to be the only exercise that impacts the risk of dementia, she added. “With interventions like exercise and cognitive stimulation, it’s unlikely that there will be a one size fits all strategy,” Rogalski said. What’s important on an individual level is melding the science with what fits for an individual, she added.
-
Crain’s Chicago Business
–
Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Leads to Sad Babies, Study
Pregnant people who had bigger fluctuations in stress from one moment to the next – also called lability – had infants with more fear, sadness and distress at three months old than mothers with less stress variability, according to a Northwestern University study. Prior research has found that mothers’ distress during pregnancy has been related to infant temperament and behavior, but this is one of the first studies to measure mothers’ experience of stress in real time on many occasions, which enables a closer look at whether changes in mothers’ stress across pregnancy matter for infant development, Northwestern said in a statement. “Research often examines stress as a static, unchanging construct – one that is either high or low, present or absent – but most of us have a lot of ebbs and flows in our stress depending on what is going on around us,” lead study author Leigha MacNeill, researcher professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the Northwestern Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences said in the statement.
-
Associated Press
–
Candy, Cash, Gifts: How Rewards Help Recovery From Addiction
For an increasing number of Americans, addiction treatment involves not only hard work, but also earning rewards – sometimes totaling $500 – for negative drug tests or showing up for counseling or group meetings. There’s brain science behind the method, which is known as contingency management. And barriers to wider adoption of reward programs, such as government concerns about fraud, are starting to crumble. Medication can help people quit abusing opioids, but stimulant addiction has no effective medicine. Rewards programs – especially when the dollar value increases with consistent performance – are widely recognized as the most effective treatment for people addicted to stimulants. The method is grounded in brain science. Psychologists have known for years that people who prefer small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones are vulnerable to addiction. “Biologically, the use of substances lights up the same part of the brain that is lit up when a person wins the lottery, falls in love or experiences something really positive and exciting,” said psychologist Sara Becker of Northwestern University. The same pathway is lit up if someone wins a reward. “That’s part of what’s powerful about these programs,” Becker said.
