Let’s face it. A lot of what you (as a parent) worry about these days is stuff that didn’t even enter your parents minds to worry about for you!
AND a lot of what appears on the internet (your largest source of information these days) is superficial, one-size-fits-all, just-get-an-article-written, worthless fluff—if not downright fabrication or scam.
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Cicely Saunders, or as she would eventually be known: Dame Cicely, is a reaffirming and refreshingly different person entirely than the previous woman physician we listed in our quest through the top 50 most influential physicians of all time.
Both were born to privilege. Both had difficult, parentless upbringings. Both succeeded greatly against odds and difficulties. Both had altruistic desires; but, Dr. Saunder’s difficulties made her a person of great compassion and selflessness.
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Obesity is now more common in the world than being underweight! How crazy is that?
Global obesity numbers shot up over 600 percent between 1975 and 2014 and don’t look like they’re slowing down any time soon—is that crazy or not?
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The 3500 species of mosquitos in the world are responsible for multiple debilitating diseases to human kind. Whole continents like Africa suffer not only in their health but in their economies as well due to this tiny animal. Seventy of these species have the capacity to transmit malaria but only four of them carry out almost 90% of Africa’s problems.
Fredros Okumu, director of science at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), tells us, in this TED talk, of the work going on in order to make a world with “Zero problem” with Malaria; and how whole villages are banding together to eradicate the disease.
He calls himself a “mosquito catcher for a living” something he and his partners do by using themselves as bait and describes what he has learned about the habits of the things. Unconventional methods to “tame” the most dangerous animal on earth.
Fredros Okumu is director of science at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). Since 2008, Okumu has been studying human-mosquito interactions and developing new techniques to complement existing malaria interventions and accelerate efforts towards elimination. His other interests include quantitative ecology of residual malaria vectors, mathematical simulations to predict effectiveness of interventions, improved housing for marginalized communities and prevention of child malnutrition.
Parkinson’s Disease is a terribly UNDER-funded disease as far as research goes. One in a hundred people around the world over 60 have Parkinson’s disease; that was 9 million people in 2015—the last time they did a world census.
In 2015 one in eight people were over 60, by 2030 one in six will be. By 2030 there will be more people over 60 in the world than there will be children 0-9. In addition, for some as yet unknown reason the rate of Parkinson’s disease is increasing every year. This problem will only get worse, we’ve got to make some progress on this thing now.
Get Involved/Learn More: Team Fox (Michael J).
The James Parkinson Tulip by J.W.S. Van der Wereld
In 1980, J.W.S. Van der Wereld, a Dutch horticulturalist with Parkinson’s disease (PD), developed a red and white tulip to honor Dr. James Parkinson. At the 9th World Parkinson’s Disease Day Conference in Luxembourg on April 11, 2005, the new red and white tulip was launched as the official symbol of PD.
The tulip is described in detail as the exterior being a glowing cardinal red, small feathered white edge, the outer base whitish; the inside, a currant-red to turkey-red, broad feathered white edge, anthers pale yellow”.
Not only did the tulip receive the Award of Merit that year from the Royal Horticultural Society in England, but it also was the recipient of the Trial Garden Award from the Royal General Bulb Growers of Holland.
Medicine has a lot of “fathers” of various things; and many of the “50 most influential physicians of all time” we’ve been talking about have been considered “fathers” of one thing or another.
Dr. David L. Sackett is no exception—A “father” of evidenced based medicine, number 30 on our list.
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