October 18th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Humor
Tags: National Press Club, News, Newspaper, Otters, Peer Review, Schlub, Science Reporting, Spoof, The Onion
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I have been a fan of The Onion for many years. Its authors have mastered the art of news satire, and although they’re often irreverent, they’re equal opportunity lampooners. I always wondered what The Onion’s writers were like in person, and yesterday my wish to know them better came true at the National Press Club.
The writers are “20-30 somethings” with a wicked sense of humor and a healthy dose of self-confidence. They describe themselves as “schlubs” who have many “schlubby” friends. Most got their start working as reporters for small, midwestern newspapers. They dress casually and claim to be paid very little.
Of course, I bounced up to the panel as soon as the event was over and congratulated them on their science reporting and asked them to reveal to me who wrote the spoof article on medical peer review. It’s one of my favorite Onion articles of all-time, as it follows the science paper of a 5th grader (he wrote it about otters) as it undergoes peer scrutiny, shredding and denial for publication. You can read the article here.
Sadly, the panel members denied any memory of the otter article. I countered with my appreciation for their video news “Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children’s Healthcare” and they nodded politely. One writer asked me if I thought their scientific spoof articles were on-target, or if they betrayed their major lack of understanding of science in the first place.
“Well, as you writers well know,” I said, “‘science is hard.’ But you seem to be getting the right messages across. The medical community needs more reports like ‘Fifth Grade Science Paper Doesn’t Stand Up To Peer Review.’ There’s not much to laugh about in healthcare these days.”
I snapped a few photos of the mysterious authors for my fellow Onion fans. Do you have a favorite Onion article or headline?
P.S. When asked why the paper was called The Onion, one of the panelists said that the first team of writers were so poor they ate onion sandwiches to survive (eww), so they named the paper after their food of choice. The company currently employs about 30 people (20 for video production and 10 newspaper writers). Fortunately those present at the event did not seem to have onion breath.
Onion Breath Test
October 15th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's Association, American Express, Award, Chris Matthews, Dr. Val Jones, Geriatrics, Neurology, Patty Smith
1 Comment »
Alzheimer's A. Gala '08
I am so incredibly excited about this great news: the Alzheimer’s Association won first place in the American Express Members Project contest. Cardmembers voted for their favorite cause, and the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease project won the majority. The research grant is valued at $1.5 million.
I first became aware of this worthy cause when I attended the Alzheimer’s Association gala with Chris Matthews (thats us in the photo to the left) and had the chance to interview Patty Smith, a young victim (diagnosed at age 51) of this disease. She gave a moving speech about living with Alzheimer’s.
Here is an excerpt of my blog post about Patty:
What struck me most about Patty was her courage and determination. Although her symptoms were troublesome to her (she had some difficulty concentrating, remembering details of her past, and couldn’t offer robust answers to questions) she was prepared to be vulnerable in a very public way. I was moved by Patty’s bravery, and her willingness to sacrifice personal comfort for public education. Of all the important donors and benefactors at the event, Patty was (in my opinion) the one who sacrificed the most- because she was the one who was willing to expose her frailty to us all.
I know that the award will be put to good use and I certainly hope that we will soon discover a cure for this devastating neurological disease.
***
What’s the Chris Matthews connection? His mom died of Alzheimer’s disease and he moderated the event.
October 14th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
Tags: AIDS, Barack Obama, cbs evening news, Forgotten Epidemic, HIV, Infectious Disease, John McCain, katie couric, Politics, Sanjay Gupta, Where Do They Stand
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Photo Credit: CBS News
I have a friend who works with Katie Couric and he sent me this announcement today. You may be interested in tuning in tonight to hear more specifics about McCain and Obama’s views on HIV/AIDS in America. As for me, I’ll be attending a lecture about our two party system at the National Archives. Thank goodness for TiVo.
Tonight on the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,” Medical Contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on where each presidential candidate stands on AIDS in America. There is a new infection every 9.5 minutes and an AIDS related death every 33 minutes with 1.2 million Americans who carry the virus. Yet HIV / AIDS is America’s “forgotten epidemic,” as the nation spends almost $10 billion annually to fight AIDS abroad, but less than 10 percent of that here at home. Dr. Gupta will explore how Senators McCain and Obama intend to stop the epidemic and how they plan to care for those living with this deadly disease. For all the candidates answers, tune in tonight at 6:30 p.m. EST.
This is part of an ongoing weekly series of in-depth reports called “Where They Stand” CBS News will continue to examine how each candidate proposes to solve America’s most pressing problems, from the economy to foreign policy to immigration to health care to education to energy to the environment to the country’s infrastructure to homeland security, among others.
October 9th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
Tags: Archived, Personal
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Dr Val
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Thanks for visiting my new website, everyone! I’m really glad you’re here… Please take the time to vote in my polls so I can learn a little bit more about who you are. To be honest, I’ve never really known WHO my audience was at my former blog at Revolution Health. I just kept chirping away, with the occasional comment/feedback. Now that I have my own site I’ll be interested in getting to know you better, just as some of you have gotten to know me over the past few years.
So what is this website about, anyway? Well, it’s my hope that the site will provide you with a few things:
1. Straight talk about a wide variety of health topics
2. Entertaining and educational interviews with experts, celebrities, and patients
3. Laughter therapy via cartoons and humorous writing
4. A trusted source of health information for yourself and your family
5. Access to the very best health bloggers via a weekly digest called Grand Rounds
I am committed to integrity, transparency, and scientific accuracy. I will give 10% of any advertising revenues directly to charity, and I will always let you know exactly how the site is monetized and disclose any potential personal conflicts of interest or biases.
My ultimate goal is to help people “get better health.” Whether that means modifying our behaviors, taking better care of our chronic illnesses, or living life to the fullest despite a limitation or disability. This is a website for men and women, for healthcare professionals and patients, for moms and dads, for baby boomers and generation X-ers. Everyone is welcome, and I hope you’ll come back regularly for a dose of positive reinforcement as we all work together on getting better health.
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Many thanks to those of you who hosted me while I was “homeless.”
September 23rd, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
Tags: Grand Rounds
2 Comments »
Top medical bloggers KevinMD and Kim from Emergiblog feature my Grand Rounds 5th anniversary edition. Please check out the edition by clicking on either Kevin or Kim’s link:
KevinMD’s Version
Kim’s Version
Enjoy!
This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
