The field of medicine is littered with eponyms that celebrate physicians who first described syndromes, signs, surgical procedures and anatomic structures. Though we use these eponyms every day, we rarely take the time to consider the lives of the people behind the names. Recently, while evaluating a five-year-old named Ben, I was forced to stop Read more
Genetics
In my work as a bioethicist, I have very rarely taken an “absolutist” position regarding the use of a biomedical technology. But when I read an article titled “Chinese Scientists Edit Genes of Human Embryos, Raising Concerns,” my reaction was that this should not be done. I am not alone. The technique mentioned enables genes Read more
Is immortality possible? If it is, is it desirable? Those are some of the provocative questions Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Nir Barzilai, M.D., recently explored before a live audience. Dr. Barzilai, professor of medicine and of genetics, director of Einstein’s Institute for Aging Research and an attending physician at Montefore Medical Center, spoke at a screening of the documentary Read more
CORRECTION: In a blog post on February 10, 2015, reporting on developments in the UK regarding the transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease, I mistakenly wrote that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had approved use of a technique to avoid transmission from an affected woman to her offspring. The HFEA does not have the Read more
Editors’ Note: An Einstein-led study with an average follow-up of nearly four years found that 26 percent of initially healthy people over age 60 met criteria for a predementia condition known as Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome (MCR). The research was published last week in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. MCR Read more
Einstein’s Nir Barzilai, M.D., an internationally recognized researcher on aging and one of this blog’s contributors, captivated a crowd of nearly 1,000 people at a September 27 TEDx event in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood. His topic: “Grit”—what it is and how to get more of it. Dr. Barzilai knows a great deal about resilience from Read more
