2006 | 2005 | 2004

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.

2005 Columns

Why our kids are fat: If we parents can teach our youngest to wear safety belts, we can work on their taste in food. (12/26/05)

Young brains, beware: Alzheimer's is more apt to strike those who don't continually prod their intellects to learn and expand. (12/5/05)

When the beat goes bad: Atrial fibrillation: A major cause of stroke, heart failure, and death (11/28/05)

Unprepared for bird flu: We need a frank and open discussion if we intend to care for the sick in a time of pandemic. (10/24/05)

Prescription for Katrinas: Healthcare workers labored amid Third World conditions--disease, desolation, and lawlessness. (9/26/05)

Pledging for Accutane: Women will resist entering a national database of unintended pregnancies and abortions. (9/5/05)

Echinacea's war: A fair recounting of history should leave us a tad more humble and a lot more open. (8/8/05)

Truly intensive care: The hospital has become a powerful living organism that renders intensive care. (7/18/05)

The tyranny of experts: Regimens for standard medical care are not rigid directives chiseled in stone. (6/27/05)

Hold the champagne: The mighty and lifesaving stem cells may hold the keys to the dark world of cancer. (6/13/05)

Deadly perfectionism?: Cancer tests are keen enough to tell a physician disease may be lurking and to seek further evaluation. (5/30/05)

Mean-street medicine: Bartering in the shadows like peddlers of fake designer watches, these drug thugs have it easy. (5/16/05)

The pope's final amen: During his final days, weak and nearly mute, Pope John Paul II showed us all how to die. (4/18/05)

When life is on the line: With all the medical ambiguity, the law is unlikely to arrive at truth. (4/4/05)

To create, or not to create?: What has made the United States such fertile ground for expanding embryo research is not its liberal laws, but the lack of them. (3/21/05)

The wisdom of two men: My father preached math and science and a career that would use my noggin. (3/7/05)

The cancer conundrum: We've just learned that cancer has become the No. 1 killer of Americans under age 85. (2/14/05)

Teaming up: In the good old days, the solo doc's signature black bag was actually pretty empty. (1/31/05)

A medical-industrial complex: How about medical grand juries to oversee, analyze and approve the experts' health guidelines? (1/24/05)

Mother Nature's wrath: With our minds focused on war and political terrorism, Mother Nature proves to be the worst of all terrorists in her sudden assault on vulnerable innocents. (1/10/05)