SUMC in the News (12/12/05)

Print media coverage

American Medical News, 12/19/05
Doctors seek new tools to aid in new depression treatment (subscription required )
Researchers are seeking new ways for physicians to monitor a patient's progress in the treatment of depression. Jun Ma, research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, is quoted in this article.

San Francisco Chronicle, 12/12/05
Stanford Hospital workers plan strike
A group of Stanford employees, including some from Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, are holding a 1-day strike today. Sarah Staley, hospital spokesperson, is quoted here and in an article prepared by the San Jose Mercury News.

Washington Post, 12/11/05
Fewer breast cancer patients to get chemo (registration required)
New clinical guidelines will result in far fewer breast cancer patients getting chemotherapy in the future. Robert Carlson, professor of medicine, is quoted here. The Associated Press piece also appears in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. Carlson is also quoted in a HealthDay story on the breast cancer drug, Herceptin, which appears in the Arizona Republic, Atlanta Daily World, Birmingham News (Birmingham, Ala.), Bradford County Telegraph (Bradford County, Fla.), Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.), Clarksdale Press Register (Clarksdale, Miss.), Grenada Daily Star (Grenada, Miss.), Loris Scene (Loris, S.C.) and Philadelphia Northeast News Gleaner.

Los Angeles Times, 12/11/05
Liver unit suffered in silence (registration required)
Carlos Esquivel, the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor in Pediatric Transplantation, provides comment in this article about the issues surrounding the closing of the liver transplant program at UCI Medical Center.

New York Times, 12/10/05
California's stem cell program is hobbled but staying the course (registration required)
This article discusses the state of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and quotes Paul Berg, the Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research, Emeritus. It also mentions that two government biologists recruited by Stanford's stem cell institute have decided to instead work in Singapore, where they will face fewer restrictions on their work. The story also appears in the Hendersonville Times News (Hendersonville, N.C.), Lakeland Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.), St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.).

HealthDay, 12/10/05
Vioxx drama echoes earlier concerns about missing data
The New England Journal of Medicine believes Merck-funded researchers understated the health risks of the painkiller Vioxx by withholding adverse data from a 2000 report on the drug. Stanford is referenced in this article.

San Francisco Chronicle, 12/10/05
17-year-old's surgery a complete success
A 17-year-old girl who underwent gastric bypass surgery at Packard last week is recovering successfully. Robert Dicks, hospital spokesperson, is quoted here.

San Francisco Business Times, 12/09/05
Expert is leading discussion on ethical, moral issues of stem cells (registration required)
Christopher Scott, with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, has launched the new Program in Stem Cells and Society, where he'll teach courses on the science of stem cells and present the ethical and political issues to the students. Paul Berg is also mentioned in the article.