Why UChicago business students are learning about global health
Apr 9, 2021 Booth course and initiative foster interdisciplinary collaboration with UChicago Medicine
We often think of global health as something vast, but Prof. Olufunmilayo Olopade wants us to realize that impacting global health can be a local endeavor.
“We need to create new models for reaching the unreached: It doesn’t matter where they are,” she said.
This is one of the forces that guides Olopade’s work from her entrepreneurship, to the new class she launched with her husband, Prof. Christopher Sola Olopade. The two University of Chicago physicians realized that many health care scenarios can benefit from someone with business acumen, while most entrepreneurs lack connections to medical expertise.
Holy Cross will honor four individuals with honorary degrees this May.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Representative to the United Nations, and Dr. Michael Collins ’77, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, will receive honorary degrees at the College’s 175th Commencement on May 21. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will deliver the commencement address and Dr. Collins will offer a reflection for our graduates.
Separately, Reverend David Beckmann, one of the foremost U.S. advocates for people struggling with hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world, and Sister Donna Markham, president of Catholic Charities USA, will receive honorary degrees and speak during a special virtual Convocation event for our graduating Class of 2020 on May 22. Valedictorian Kerry Shortell will also be a featured speaker.
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The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released new guidelines recommending a short course of antibiotics for four common bacterial infections.
Annals of Internal Medicine, addresses antibiotic therapy for four of the most common bacterial infections seen in inpatient and outpatient settings: community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), acute bronchitis with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), urinary tract infection (UTI), and cellulitis. The recommendations are based on published clinical guidelines and peer-reviewed literature, including randomized clinical trials that have compared shorter antibiotic courses to longer ones.
ACP President Jacqueline Fincher, MD, MACP, says the new guidance reflects several years worth of data that suggest that shorter antibiotic courses for these infections are just as effective as longer courses, and the growing recognition that overly long prescriptions are among the factors driving unnecessary antibiotic use and
TRICARE, the health care program for uniformed service members, has decided to waive the cost-sharing requirement of up to three visits to a physical therapist for low back pain. They’ve said that the goal is to encourage more use of “high-value” treatments for low back pain.
TRICARE tells us in their summary of this demonstration what they mean by high vs low-value care: “Increasing the value of health care refers to improving patients’ quality of care and outcomes, improving patients’ access to care, and reducing overall costs of care. In contrast, low-value care refers to interventions that: are not proven to benefit patients; may harm patients; result in unnecessary costs; or waste health care resources.”