When Sex and Science Collide
The exclusion of people of childbearing potential and female-specific outcomes from hematology research leaves clinicians in the lurch when making treatment recommendations.
Mary Ellen Schneider
I'm a writer and editor with more than 25 years of experience in health care journalism. I write about clinical advances, practice trends, and regulatory/policy developments, with a special focus on hematology and oncology.
Recent Articles
Beyond the Prescription
Patient support programs help patients navigate financial toxicity when medical expenses put treatment out of reach.
When Fact Meets Fallacy
As patients turn to social media and AI chatbots for health advice, hematologists are spending more time correcting misinformation and persuading skeptical patients to trust science.
Chronic Illness in America
More than 129 million Americans live with chronic illness, despite significant medical advances over the last few decades and trillions of federal dollars spent on health care in the United States.
Obesity hypoventilation syndrome often overlooked
As rates of obesity climb in the United States, primary care clinicians are likely to also see more patients with obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS), a severe obesity-induced respiratory condition.
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Opportunities Expanding for Researchers in LMICs to Publish Findings
Most of the world’s population lives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but the research conducted there is underrepresented in major medical journals, and researchers face a variety of barriers to publishing their study findings.
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Thrown into Disarray
The accelerated approval of voxelotor was seen as a significant advance in expanding treatment options for patients with sickle cell disease. Just five years later, clinicians were shocked to hear that the drug was being withdrawn because of safety concerns.
As Mounting Evidence Suggests PFAS May Cause Cancer, Experts Call for More Action
A growing body of research suggests that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may have negative impacts on human health, including increasing the risk of cancer. In recent years, the US government has attempted to reduce public exposure to PFAS, but data suggest that nearly everyone in the United States has been exposed to these chemicals.
U.S. Single-Payer Health Care
Nearly 15 years ago, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), opening access to health insurance for millions of Americans. While the law effectively reduced the number of those uninsured, affordability remains a challenge. There is widespread agreement that policy reforms are needed to improve health care quality and affordability.
A Nickle Ain’t Worth a Dime Anymore
Shrinkflation applies to more than the size of candy bars or the amount of cereal in a box. It also affects medical research as federally funded investigators face rising costs but compete for flat or declining grant dollars.
Mentoring in Classical Hematology
Mark Crowther, MD, and Brianna Bakow, MD, discuss their mentor-mentee relationship and why career mentoring is critical for the field of classical hematology.
Finding a prescription for housing instability
Homelessness and housing instability in the U.S. are increasingly being recognized as taking a toll on physical and mental health. ACP recently issued a new position paper calling on physicians and policymakers to address this crisis, working simultaneously on the medical needs of patients with unstable housing and the lack of affordable housing in America.
More than 650,000 individuals in the United States were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, with 39% staying in un
More than 650,000 individuals in the United States were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, with 39% staying in un
Trials and Tribulations: Running Clinical Trials in LMICs Can Be a Challenge
The need for greater diversity in clinical trials and a growing understanding that there are large untreated patient communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are driving interest in conducting trials in these traditionally overlooked locations.
Hitting the Right Notes: Meet the Adverse Events
What do you get when you take a classical pianist, a classic rock guitar player, a music teacher, and a financial planner, and add some hematology and oncology physicians? The answer is the Adverse Events, an eight-member cover band that will be playing classic rock and pop favorites from the 1970s through the 2000s at this year’s ASH-a-Palooza trainee event on Friday afternoon, December 8, in San Diego as part of the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
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When a Cure Isn’t an Option
Not that long ago, a diagnosis of incurable cancer was a death sentence. Treatment advances in the last two decades, though, have changed the outlook for many patients with hematologic cancers, extending life expectancies and turning some malignancies into conditions that can be managed like chronic illnesses.
New YouTube Policy Targets Cancer Misinformation
YouTube, like other social media platforms, has long been a source of misinformation about cancer, but the company is taking steps to combat this misinformation with a new policy.
Do No Harm: Is Health Care Polluting the Earth?
Whether it is a sickle cell crisis or a nephrotoxicity during cancer treatment, hematologists are learning to recognize and address the health impacts of climate change every day. However, sometimes overlooked is the negative impact the health care sector itself has on the environment.
Combating the crisis of loneliness
There's a newly declared epidemic that is harming health and contributing to mortality—loneliness and a lack of social connection—and primary care physicians are on the front lines.
Medicare Limits Cancer Patients’ Access to Home Infusions. A New Bill Could Change That.
Home infusion of cancer treatments has gained traction in some pockets of the United States over the last few years, but reimbursement and benefit design within fee-for-service Medicare are creating barriers to greater use, according to proponents of cancer care at home.
The United States of Medicine
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed telemedicine from a cumbersome service offered by a small number of physicians to an indispensable part of medical care. But as hematology practices and hospitals shift back to normal operations, many of the regulatory flexibilities that made telemedicine practical are in flux, creating confusion and uncertainty.
Policy Efforts Aim to Disrupt White Bagging Trends in Oncology
A growing number of state legislatures and boards of pharmacy are considering ways to limit white bagging, a controversial practice in which health plans require patient-specific drugs to be dispensed from the plan's preferred specialty pharmacy and shipped directly to the provider for administration.
Training Hematologists and Building Research Capacity in Tanzania
In 2013, there were just six hematologists working in the United Republic of Tanzania, one of the largest countries in East Africa and then home to more than 48 million people. These specialists were all located in the port city of Dar es Salaam, forcing patients to travel hours to receive care for conditions like sickle ce
The Road to Resettlement
U.S. troops completed a chaotic – and at times, deadly – evacuation of Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, ending America’s 20-year presence in the country and kicking off a massive effort to resettle Afghan nationals around the globe.
Since then, approximately 70,000 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Operation Allies Welcome. After two decades of war and economic hardship, these refugees are arriving with medical conditions that are rarely se
Since then, approximately 70,000 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Operation Allies Welcome. After two decades of war and economic hardship, these refugees are arriving with medical conditions that are rarely se
Trust Issues
At the beginning of 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified vaccine hesitancy as being one of 10 major threats to global health. At the time, the WHO noted that vaccine hesitancy, defined as “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines,” threatened to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and polio.1
The WHO’s warning came nearly a year before the first cases of COVID-19 were identified and two years before a vac
The WHO’s warning came nearly a year before the first cases of COVID-19 were identified and two years before a vac
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