Current Events

2008 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowships Awarded

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded 25 individiuals with their 2008 “Genius” grants.  Among these 25 individuals, two deal specifically with the field of medicine.

Peter Provonost uses evidence-based medicine to standardize quality of care.  To address the problem of catheter infections, “Pronovost culled lengthy guidelines into a simple checklist of five precautionary steps and tested its efficacy through a cohort study conducted in ICUs throughout the state of Michigan.”  I describe some of his efforts in more detail in a December 2007 post.

Diane Meier is a geriatrician who “found that a high percentage of seriously ill patients in hospitals were experiencing limited communication between patients and clinicians, poor management of pain, and insufficient support and social services for family caregivers.  Meier established the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai, a model program that assists patients and families in navigating the complexities of illness and devises strategies for managing pain and other symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.”