In this talk about his newly published book, Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine, Dr. Paul Offit looks into the minds of those who choose faith over medicine. State laws allow parents to deny their children medical care for religious reasons, and children are dying as a result. Offit uses complex characters and vivid storytelling to describe families who refuse blood transfusions and vaccines, substitute prayer for physician visits, and engage in rituals that spread...

Biology and electronics are converging to create a new generation of therapies with so much potential that some wonder if they will eventually replace pharmaceuticals altogether. Bioelectronic medicine could offer a pathway to treat diabetes, hypertension, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and perhaps even cancer and the common cold. Building on new knowledge of how nerve cells and immune cells communicate, some especially exciting experiments stimulate the vagus nerve in order to tame the...

Paradigm-shifting knowledge continues to reshape our approach to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. We are going deeper into cancer genomics and the heterogeneity of malignancy, developing new immunotherapies that build on the body’s natural defenses, and designing targeted drugs that block cancer pathways. In forward-facing clinics and hospitals, design that abets healing is gaining new attention. Bringing the best science into under-resourced communities remains an enormous...

Sometimes the mind seems to have been left behind. Despite tremendous progress in other branches of medicine, mental health services fail millions who need them, the pharmaceutical armamentarium is inadequate, stigma remains a tremendous impediment to care, and the power of early intervention has not been adequately harnessed. Although researchers and practitioners recognize the influence of social context on mental health, it is too often ignored, especially in resource-poor settings. Teen...

Addiction has been scientifically established as a disease, not an absence of willpower. Neuroscientists are studying how drugs of abuse alter the brain, animal models are guiding us to new knowledge at the molecular level, and genetic tests are helping to distinguish many forms of addiction. With such research comes hope for better prevention strategies, more effective pharmaceutical regimens, reduced stigma, and new guidelines for achieving lasting recovery. Ironically, some of the future...

Precision medicine is the opposite of one-size-fits-all therapy. An emerging approach to preventing or treating diseases, it factors in individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle in order to custom-tailor treatment. Although it is still far from becoming a routine part of clinical medicine, the Precision Medicine Initiative unveiled by President Obama in January 2015 is designed to accelerate progress, initially in cancer and eventually in countless other diseases. “Much of...

When young people thrive, they can bring talent and energy to a world in great need. But adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress linked to early trauma, poverty, and family upheaval can affect well-being across a lifetime. A responsive health system that deals vigorously with a child’s injuries or illness has the power to alter developmental pathways and grow a thriving adult. But even more than healing children after they are damaged, we should intervene early to prevent harm, educate...

Science tells us that medical screening sometimes saves lives — but can also lead to overdiagnosis, overtreatment and medical harm. Screening can produce false positives, finding disease that isn’t there; false negatives, missing signs of very real disease; or ambiguous information that confounds patient and doctor alike. Pap smears, mammograms, and PSA tests are among the screenings routinely administered in the US and in Europe in ways that contradict national recommendations. Full-body...

New food-related disease outbreaks seem to hit the news every week, but it’s hard to know whether that reflects an overzealous press or an under-performing government lacking funds for adequate inspections. Food safety is further complicated by an increasingly globalized food supply; for example, as much as 90 percent of the fish consumed in the US is imported. Activists want the USDA to monitor slaughterhouses more vigilantly, but the big meat processors say industry can police itself. How...

Nanotechnology — based on microscopic particles with distinctive properties related to their chemical structure, mobility, and capacity to absorb energy — is one of the hottest new areas of medicine. The possible applications are seemingly endless, from detecting cancer, inhibiting metastases, and modifying bone implants to improving non-invasive imaging, delivering drugs, and aiding in surgery. The ability of nanoparticles to penetrate deep within the brain suggests they may become a...

Closing session at Spotlight Health.

Featured scholars: ElsaMarie D'Silva, Brian Murphy Eustis, Abraham Leno, and Estefania Palomino. // A generational shift is often accompanied by big changes. The vigor, optimism, and fresh perspectives of the young invariably introduce new ideas and new ways of thinking. At home with technology, confident in the future, and better-connected with peers and partners around the globe, young leaders are emerging who expect to be heard and are determined to have an impact. Not that the...

Vaccines represent one of the great medical breakthroughs of our times, leading to the global eradication of smallpox and the prospect of a polio-free world. Five hundred million children have been reached with vaccines in the past 15 years, and seven million lives have been saved, according to the global Vaccine Alliance. But vaccination teams have also been killed in Pakistan and a powerful anti-vaccination movement has taken hold in the US and other wealthy countries, where fears persist...

In violence-wracked Sudan, the world’s first 3D-printing prosthetic lab is manufacturing artificial limbs quickly and cheaply for injured children. In India, the amputees themselves provide expert input as a high-performance prosthetic knee joint, one that is also affordable and durable, comes to market. Equally groundbreaking are the suspended animation experiments taking place in a Seattle lab. There, researchers dialed down an animal’s need for oxygen, halting all observable life...

The status of healthcare in the US today is one of extremes — tremendous biomedical discovery along with major advances in disease prevention and treatment — and yet, America struggles with how to pay the runaway costs for even the most basic interventions. Thought leaders from Colorado’s top medical centers discuss how today’s science is pushing the boundaries of medicine and patient care — and how academic medical centers are leading the way in redefining how medicine is practiced,...