2005 | 2004 | 2003

Bernadine Healy M.D., is a health editor for U.S.News & World Report and writes the On Health column for the magazine. A Harvard- and Hopkins-trained physician, Healy is a past Director of the National Institutes of Health, where she started the Women's Health Initiative. She is currently a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a leader in patient care research and education.

2004 Columns

A road map for Alzheimer's: Alzheimer's is not just memory loss. It damages the body, mind, and spirit. (12/20/04)

What is a 'safe' drug?: Medicines are scalpels perturbing each person's mysterious chemistry. (12/13/04)

Chills of vaccine rationing: We as a society are obliged to take a hard look at these vaccine vulnerabilities. (10/18/04)

The shame of a nation: The celebrants would have been justified if they had held a mass sit-in under the Capitol dome. (10/4/04)

Lessons from a first patient: "Republicans aren't the only people who want four more years here." (9/20/04)

Rebuilding the pyramid: America snacks and seconds and eats too much of everything. (9/6/04)

2004: A medical odyssey: Will doctors be leaders in this digital revolution, as advocates and protectors of patients? (8/2/04)

A patron saint: Illnesses that have benefited from public largess almost always had patron saints to stir public will. (6/21/04)

The other stem cells: Adult stem cells are quickly making regenerative medicine a dramatic reality. (6/14/04)

A nation's wake-up call: Our biological clocks are tyrants, compelling us to sleep away a third of our days. (5/17/04)

The temperamental mind: Though adult ADHD is a real illness aching for more attention, we must move cautiously in defining its scope. (4/26/04)

Yes, I am still here!: It is about living through a time of peril with loved ones–and prevailing. (4/5/04)

Meet the cholesterol busters: "What is intriguing is that statins may be doing more than cutting bad cholesterol." (3/22/04)

So what to do now, ladies?: Though hormones clearly don't belong in postmenopausal toothpaste, they are sure to be in many women's medicine cabinets–but more safely now, and with well-defined purpose. (3/15/04)

Playing chicken with the flu: "We should make a national commitment to designing tommorow's flu vaccines with 21st century technololgy." (2/9/04)

Smarm and the country: "Prudes and prurients alike perk up at images of prowling prostitutes at truck stops." (2/2/04)

What 'girls' should know: "The morning-after pill is an old medical secret for today's women in today's world." (1/19/04)