Healthcare – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare & What That Means for Our Future

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

There is no doubt that generative AI is a disruptive technology that will continue to have impacts in the coming years if not decades. Representing one-fifth of the American economy, healthcare is one area where AI has perhaps the most promise to do good. Since much of healthcare runs on textual material, generative AI’s ability to process material and respond appropriately brings a huge “wow” factor. UCSF clinician and informaticist Robert Wachter brings those ideas…

Medicine & Health Care in Early Christianity

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Historian Gary Ferngren seeks to usurp overly simplistic historical interpretations of Christian attitudes towards healthcare. Many, like the famous church historian Adolf von Harnack, say that the first few centuries of the church were dominated by a healing faith that did not trust physicians. Others posit the early church as having a very antagonistic view to the medicine of the day because they viewed it as pagan. Through copious citations to the primary literature, he…

Healthcare Management-Business Software-Technology

Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech

By Scott J. Pearson | April 8, 2026April 8, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Today, biotech companies are synonymous with high-risk, high-reward research that advances the healthcare and wallets of countries with advanced economies. However, fifty years ago, this type of company did not exist. There were university research labs, and there were big corporations. No startup companies sought to translate the small experiments into lucrative business ventures. Out of Silicon Valley, California, Genentech was one of the first to do so. They translated work in recombinant DNA technology…

Healthcare Management-Business Software-Technology

From Breakthrough to Blockbuster: The Business of Biotechnology

By Scott J. Pearson | April 4, 2026April 4, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Biotechnology is a hot topic in today’s global economy. It promises to help humanity, so it often receives startup funding from governments. Success stories show the strong financial potential of the right investments. Big pharmaceutical companies (“big pharma”) can purchase entire companies for large amounts of profits. Yet the risks are great, with an estimated 90% of ventures ending in non-successful outcomes. There seems little that can be done to predict success from the outset.…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare Society

The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi & the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women’s Lives Forever

By Scott J. Pearson | March 2, 2026March 2, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

By the end of the Victorian age, men had dominated medical practice for centuries, but women were beginning to make inroads into the profession. A few, Mary Putnam Jacobi being the first, made inroads in European training centers and returned to the US to integrate women into American medicine. In this book, Lydia Reeder narrates their struggle and eventual victory that depathologized being a woman. By pursuing their personal questions, these women physician-scientists brought obstetrics…

Healthcare Society

Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction

By Scott J. Pearson | February 1, 2026February 1, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Global health is a field known, in the past, as international health and colonial health. It has recently sought to center itself around health equity – that every person deserves decent healthcare to have a decent life. Thus, it has tried to remove any shackles of Western imperialism from its conceptualization. Also recently, Paul Farmer and Partners in Health have brought attention to the field, especially in Haiti and Rwanda. A large braintrust centered around…

Healthcare Research-Education

The National Institutes of Health: 1991-2008

By Scott J. Pearson | December 14, 2025December 14, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

To those interested in healthcare research in America, understanding the National Institutes of Health (NIH) represents a formidable challenge. Few books address the topic well, and most investigators follow the NIH’s trends with deep interest. Even though this book represents history from decades ago – 15 years is a long time in American politics and in research – this book remains relevant to understand the historical trends still operative in this great institution. Reading this…

Healthcare Society

The Political Determinants of Health

By Scott J. Pearson | November 23, 2025November 23, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

In scientific circles, the “social determinants of health” is a common phrase used to describe how one’s zip code can have more impact on health outcomes than one’s personal health. This book plays off that title by describing how America’s political situation – whether one is part of a favored class or note – can influence health outcomes. It takes particular aim at health inequities in American history. Daniel Dawes describes attempts in American history…

Healthcare Research-Education

Institutional Review Board Member Handbook

By Scott J. Pearson | September 28, 2025September 28, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Institutional Review Boards, or IRBs, review human-subjects research to ensure that they ethically affirm the rights of the participants in their research. I have some projects about to undergo IRB review, and though I’ve had successful reviews in the past, I wanted to better understand the issues involved in IRB approval. This book offered a concise, evidence-based summary of those very issues. The book is written primarily for those who are about to serve on…