January 6, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 12Comment

Sheri Sangji, 23, earned a bachelors degree in chemistry from Pomona College in 2008, and dreamed of being an attorney. While awaiting word on her admission to law school, Sangji took a job in October 2008 as a research assistant in the laboratory of UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran. Three months later, Sangji was dead. […]

January 5, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 3Comment

A federal advisory committee is urging HHS Secretary Sebelius and Labor Secretary Solis to proceed expeditiously with new worker safety regulations. In letters sent recently to these Cabinet-level officials, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, (NACOSH) the committee used phrases such as “deeply distressed,” and “concerned and disappointed,” to characterize the Obama […]

January 4, 2012 The Pump Handle 3Comment

by Kim Krisberg Many of us probably look into cyberspace and are overwhelmed with its unwieldy amounts of never-ending information. John Brownstein, on the other hand, sees points on a map. Brownstein is the co-founder of HealthMap, a team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at Children’s Hospital Boston who use online sources to track […]

January 3, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 6Comment

When an organization fails to get the little things right, I have difficulty believing they are competent to get the big things right either. That’s the way I feel about the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was created by the […]

January 3, 2012 The Pump Handle

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on May 26, 2011. By Celeste Monforton The White House’s regulatory czar Cass Sunstein announced today agency roadmaps for a 21-century regulatory system, and the results of the Obama Administration’s “unprecedented government-wide review” of existing regulations. I don’t […]

January 2, 2012 The Pump Handle

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on January 27, 2011. By Liz Borkowski Atul Gawande’s latest New Yorker article, “The Hot Spotters,” is a must-read for anyone concerned about the out-of-control growth of US healthcare costs (and that description should apply to everyone in […]