I’ve been thinking about the role of the Pew Research Center* in the world, particularly in regard to how we communicate and disseminate our work. Here is my idea: We are both a mirror and a window. We hold up a mirror to society, reflecting back the current state of all sorts of things, like marriage, […]
peer-to-peer health care
What if health care dreams started coming true?
Some new “What if health care…?” dreams are circulating and since they are specifically related to my research, I have to call them out. First, check out this article by Eugene Borukhovich about the power of DIY health care tools and self-tracking — and how we need to move toward DIT (do it together): A new […]
The boy with a thorn in his joints (and the mom who turned over every rock)
When I was writing the Pew Research report, “Peer-to-peer Healthcare,” I switched back and forth between numbers and stories, national survey data and notes from my fieldwork among people living with rare conditions. I learned to scan my spreadsheet of rare-disease respondents for women’s names since they seemed to stop at nothing to protect their […]
As the new year incites a rush to become a “new, better and healthier you”…
“…we often do so learning from our peers. When it comes to illness-warranted behavior changes, as like seeks like, it’s often easier to make changes learned from fellow patients with whom you share the experience of a disease.” – Riva Greenberg, The Power of Patient-Expert Books (an article worth your time, particularly if your life […]
Sincerity in the storm (welcome to our world)
Hurricane Sandy “slapped the snark out of Twitter” for media reporter David Carr. In his column today, Carr discusses a newfound sense of community, which will sound familiar to anyone who uses social media to navigate an acute or chronic health condition: – Twitter turns serious during a crisis – Certain users and hashtags can […]
YouTube = Health Education Channel
Two videos recently impressed me with their use of illustration and narration to educate an audience about health. First, the most recent video by Mike Evans, MD, who curates My Favourite Medicine: Second, one by the 6-year-old son of Joyce Lee, MD, MPH: Joyce wrote a thoughtful post about why she helped her son create […]
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