Mark Attiah
Recent articles
Mark Attiah | Don’t drink the Haterade
Since the Centers for Disease Control are clearly neglecting their duties regarding the pandemic of haters, it falls to me to put out this public service announcement.
Mark Attiah | Living gifts to medical education
Standardized patients afford a very valuable benefit to the overly anxious medical student — a margin of error.
Mark Attiah | Bring the ‘House’ down
Medical dramas misrepresent the reality of life in a hospital. No matter how smart he is, in real life, House probably would have been fired from his job very, very quickly.
Mark Attiah | For the love of the game
Those in positions of power and influence should treat their medical decisions just as they treat their words in the public sphere: very, very carefully. People are watching.
Mark Attiah | The fruits of forbidden knowledge
Are there really some things that ethics dictate we’ll just never know? Who decides what is on- and off-limits?
Truth Be Told | Happiness — a primary goal
White coats come in different shades, and no one should dissuade future doctors from choosing career paths that make them happy.
Truth Be Told | Paradise misguided
Lawmakers are trying to reduce costs by penalizing people who engage in behaviors that raise health risks. But are such behaviors taxable?
Truth Be Told | Habits of highly effective sleepers
Research done here at Penn points out that sleep is complicated and that we need to sleep smarter, not harder.
Truth Be Told | Cut your hair, lengthen your lifespan
Penn's Cut Hypertension program is more than your run-of-the-mill public health PSA.
Truth Be Told | Reinforcing the great pyramid
The USDA guidelines should be a call for organizations that provide food for large groups of people to take into account not only what foods are served, but how they are offered.
Truth Be Told | Covering Giffords through rose-colored lenses
The media is turning Giffords' tragedy into a narrative of triumph, but being too optimistic about a grave and uncertain brain injury might be bad.
Truth Be Told | Peddling hope in a placebo
Given that there is a wealth of evidence that thinking happy thoughts actually is therapeutic, I’d say this Peter Pan placebo effect isn’t that far-fetched.
Truth Be Told | Prejudice doesn’t discriminate
The amount of attention given to an incident involving the black Harvard and Yale university graduate students and alumni at Cure Lounge highlights just how little attention racial profiling really gets.
Truth Be Told | Michelle Obama rally missed the mark
After seeing the election results, as much as Michelle Obama’s presence at Penn may have helped the Democratic ticket, it may have stung just a little too.
Truth Be Told | When research becomes political
If you ever needed more proof that lives are decided by popular opinion then look no further than the current state of federally funded embryonic stem cell research in this country.
Truth Be Told | More than just statistics and symptoms
It’s important for the medical community to remember that the whole of the patient is greater than the sum of his or her symptoms.
Truth Be Told | Lessons learned from dead bodies
Now that I've dissected my first cadaver, I realize that anatomy is a crash course in treading a fine line between embracing and restraining your own humanity.
Truth Be Told | A melting pot of medical students
Though it would be nice to be known as the “most diverse medical school class in the nation’s history,” my class shouldn't be a flash in the pan phenomenon.
