Can a “calculator” really tell doctors who should be on Lipitor?

November 13, 2013- By Steven E. Greer, MD

The AHA released the long-awaited new guidelines that recommend which patients should be on a cholesterol-lowering statin, such as Lipitor or Crestor. The panel of experts incorporated evidence-based medicine into the guidelines, perhaps better than any other medical society guideline panel has done previously. However, the panel also used some very dubious statistical tools as well.

According to Read more »

Interview with the CEO of Neovasc, Alexei Marko

Changes in plastic surgery training programs

March 3, 2015- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

In Part 1 of our interview with the new Chairman of Plastic Surgery at NYU, Eduardo Rodriguez, MD, DDS, explains the changes in training programs now compared to 15-years ago.

How to establish a face transplant team

March 3, 2015- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

In Part 2 of our interview with Eduardo Rodriguez, MD, DDS, Chairman of Plastic Surgery at NYU, he discusses the new face transplant team that he has assembled, preparing for their first case.

The Deans of Johns Hopkins and Miami discuss ACO’s

By Steven Greer, MD

Dean Miller of Johns Hopkins and Dean Goldschmidt of Miami discuss accountable care organizations, or ACO’s. The new ACA healthcare law will mandate academic medical centers to form new groups of doctors and Read more »

A modern medical wonder finishes second in the U.S. Open golf tournament

June 15, 2014- By Steven E. Greer, MD

34-year-old Erik Compton finished tied for second in the United States Open golf tournament. That was a good accomplishment by any standard, but it was also a genuine feat of modern medicine and surgery because he is living on his third heart. Read more »

How did a small academic lab succeed where big medical device companies failed?

July 5, 2014- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published the early clinical data on the “bionic pancreas” being developed by engineers at Boston University and medical doctors at Massachusetts General hospital. We interviewed Ed Damiano, PhD, the lead biomedical engineer, and Steven Russell, MD PhD, the lead endocrinologist.

In Part 3, we asked them how their small lab funded only by the NIH succeeded at developing the bionic pancreas when large companies, such as Roche, Medtronic, Abbott, and JNJ all failed.

Increasing rates of double mastectomies in early stage breast cancer

Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

David P. Winchester MD, Medical Director of Cancer Programs for the American College of Surgeons, discusses recent data showing a more than a 100% increase in the rate that young women with early Read more »

Senator Angus King discusses his bill to make medical device pricing transparent to the public

July 9, 2014- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

Senator Angus King from Maine has proposed a a bill that would make the pricing of medical devices more transparent. Currently, hospitals are required to sign confidentiality agreements, and the market is entirely in the dark. If such a law were passed, it would turn the medical device industry on its head.

Catheter approaches for mitral replacement

March 23, 2014- interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

With catheter based methods for replacing the aorta valve not being adopted as expected, the medical device industry is now looking to the mitral valve for hope. Doctors in London and Canada performed Read more »