Healthcare
The Fight for Healthcare Equity after COVID-19
Dr. Cecelia Calhoun ’21, a Yale physician with a focus on sickle cell disease, and Yale SOM’s Dr. Howard Forman discuss the gargantuan but critical challenge of addressing the impact of systemic racism on the health of Black Americans.
Study Finds Hospital Desegregation Didn’t Improve Mortality Rate for Black Infants
Efforts in the late 1960s to desegregate hospitals in the American South did not significantly contribute to improvements in the Black infant mortality rate, finds a new study co-authored by Dean Kerwin Charles.
![A black and white photo of a Black woman holding a newborn baby in a hospital ed]()
In Defense of (Mathematical) Models
Epidemiological models have played an influential role in governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yale SOM’s Edieal Pinker takes a look back at one of the most influential models and argues that such rigorous efforts at understanding the likely course of the disease, while imperfect, are critical to good decision making.
![A chart of ICU occupancy under various scenarios from Imperial College London]()
What’s the Path to Equity in Health?
We talked to Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale internist and an expert on the structural barriers to equitable treatment and health outcomes for people of color and other vulnerable populations.
![Doctors gathered around an x-ray on a computer screen]()
Adapting Primary Care to a Pandemic
Dr. Frank Ciminiello ’19 explains how his medical practice has reconfigured to safely meet patients’ needs.
![An illustration of a patient and a doctor in an exam room, both wearing masks]()
On COVID-19 Vaccines, Big Pharma Knows to Just Say ‘No’
In the face of pressure from President Donald Trump, nine major pharmaceutical companies have signed a pledge to complete testing before submitting vaccines for approval. Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Dr. Albert Ko write that the drugmakers’ caution may help provide badly needed confidence in the eventual vaccine.
![Moncef Slaoui, lead scientist on Operation Warp Speed, with President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at a press conference on vaccine development in May 2020. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images.]()
Choosing the Wrong Health Insurance Could Kill You
Yale SOM’s Jason Abaluck and his co-authors calculated that the Medicare Advantage plans appreciably influence the survival rates of their enrollees. Shutting down the plans with the highest mortality rates could save thousands of lives per year.
![An illustration of a man choosing between three doors leading into shark-infested waters]()
Repurposing with a Purpose
David Browning ’99 explains how a nonprofit doing coffee sustainability verification became a source of crucial public health data.
![An illustration of a public-health worker knocking on a door in the jungle]()
Three Questions about COVID-19 Infection and Immunity
We checked in with Yale SOM’s Dr. Howard Forman about herd immunity, vaccines, and that case of reinfection in Hong Kong.
![Travelers at San Francisco Airport on August 11, 2020. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.]()
Design, Test, Spread
Nicolas Encina ’10 and his colleagues at Ariadne Labs have been demonstrating the potential of a collaborative, multidisciplinary process for designing and scaling simple improvements to healthcare—and also its limits.
![A scrum board covered with sticky notes at Ariadne Labs.]()
Smartphone Data Shows How Shared Staff Spread COVID-19 through Nursing Homes
COVID-19 infections have spread rapidly through nursing homes. A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Judith A. Chevalier finds one likely explanation: staff members who work at multiple nursing homes.
![A staff member outside Fair Havens Center nursing home in Miami Springs, Florida, in May 2020. Fifty-four residents of the nursing home have died from COVID-19. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images.]()
