Healthcare Religion-Philosophy Society

Religion & the Health of the Public: Shifting the Paradigm

Religion and science are often portrayed as antagonistic fields. Most religious leaders do not pursue a science-heavy education, and most prominent scientists see too many ways that religion inhibits scientific exploration and healthcare. Public health and religion, however, have similar goals; they both seek to promote healthy living among their devotees. Why the fighting then? Generally, there exists walls of mutual ignorance and even stigma about the other side. The authors seek to address this…

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Healthcare Management-Business Software-Technology

Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech

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…

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Healthcare Management-Business Software-Technology

From Breakthrough to Blockbuster: The Business of Biotechnology

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.…

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Biography-Memoir Healthcare Society

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

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…

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Healthcare Society

Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction

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…

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Healthcare Research-Education

The National Institutes of Health: 1991-2008

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…

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Healthcare Society

The Political Determinants of Health

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…

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Healthcare Research-Education

Institutional Review Board Member Handbook

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…

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Healthcare

Contemporary Public Health: Principles, Practice & Policy

Many public-health books are either focused on one specific topic or introduce the entire field to a reader. The latter mainly appeal to those taking public health in academic settings. This book, however, consists of an anthology of various public health experts writing about America’s public healthcare system. It seeks to bring readers of introductions to a knowledge level more congruent with the contemporary landscape, as the title suggests. What is public health? Public health…

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Healthcare HIV/AIDS Religion-Philosophy

Women, HIV & the Church: In Search of Refuge

First, I want to acknowledge the nobility of this book’s purpose. HIV is a dehumanizing condition that only worsens with stigma. Today, both women and orphans are disproportionately affected, and both groups have traditionally been objects of the church’s compassion. However, such a compassionate orientation hasn’t been the case with HIV; instead, stigma reigns, especially in countries hardest hit by the epidemic. This book represents a direct call for the church to instead reclaim its…

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