Making Your Premed Rounds

Future Scope

Staying up to date on big changes in medicine is just another part of your premed rounds. It is easy to get sucked into the premedical track and forget that medicine is a large and dynamic field. The journey to enter the medical field takes nearly a generation.

It is very likely things will change from when you first began your premedical career. You cannot trace every development, but there are three big topics that are sure to be central to major changes in the future of medicine.  These "Big 3" include Healthcare Reform, the Human Genome Project, and Stem Cell Research.  

An "article of the week" related to one of these topics is listed below.  These articles will come from popular news sources, so they will be user-friendly even without detailed medical knowledge.  

Click one of the links below for more information on the topic: 

Healthcare Reform

The Human Genome Project and Individualized Medicine 

Stem Cell Research 

Article of the Week (5-29-09): Health Care Spending Disparities Stir a Fight

"President Obama recently summoned aides to the Oval Office to discuss a magazine article investigating why the border town of McAllen, Tex., was the country’s most expensive place for health care. The article became required reading in the White House, with Mr. Obama even citing it at a meeting last week with two dozen Democratic senators."-NY Times (Click here for full article)

Article of the Week (6-5-09): Obama Open to a Mandate on Health Insurance 

"President Obama said Wednesday that he was receptive to Congressional proposals that would require Americans to have health insurance and oblige employers to share in the cost. But he said there should be exemptions for people who cannot afford insurance and for small businesses in general."-NY Times (Click here for full article)

Article of the Week (5-29-09): Making treatment more effective

"The Obama administration plans to spend $1.1 billion over the next few years on studies to compare the effectiveness of competing treatments for common conditions. Potential opponents -- which include medical products companies, some doctors and their political allies -- are gearing up for a fight."-NY Times (Click here for Full Article)