A new international consortium based in Paris, and funded largely by the 28-member European Union, intends to speed the diagnosis of rare diseases, while also accelerating the development of treatments for the 95% of such illnesses that currently don’t have one. The European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP…

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane,” Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1966. I have COVID-19. As of this writing, I am one of 326 million people who have contracted this disease worldwide. As a pulmonary sarcoidosis fighter who…

As I stared into my closet this morning, a bright green shirt called out to me. It is St. Patrick’s week, after all, and I knew it would make the two Irish nursing assistants at the infusion center smile. When I pulled it out of the closet, the design seemed…

Right around this time last year, I was cobbling together homemade chicken soup to get rid of a cold. My victory was short-lived, because a second wave struck a week later.  That’s long been my M.O. — battling an endless series of colds, viruses, and sinus infections.

It usually takes me six months or longer to land an appointment with my neurologist. In October, I met virtually with him just a week after calling to schedule one. It was the same with other specialists: little to no wait time. But while this change benefits me, it may…

This month marks two and a half years that I’ve lived in New York City after moving here from Maryland. Although we’ve been living amid the COVID-19 pandemic for much of that time, I can certainly see why there are so many songs about this city. It is a…

I had my flu shot at the beginning instead of the tail end of flu season this year. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine for the seasonal viruses currently making the rounds. I fought off the first bug with vitamin C, tea, honey, and over-the-counter cold medicine. Thoughts of virtual medicine from…

My timing has been abysmal lately. Take for instance my purchase of an all-wheel-drive car so that I could get to work in the snow. The snow never materialized (Philadelphia had a measly 0.3-inch season total), the job disappeared (thank you, COVID-19), and the car payments remain. Then…

I miss the days when a sneeze was nothing to worry about. Especially after I encountered a stranger who was not wearing a mask and spraying the air. I veered to get out of his path, and he moved — intent, it seemed, to stay in mine. I walked faster,…

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, or so they say. That metaphor doesn’t work quite as well for me, though, because I don’t like lemonade. Still, I agree with the sentiment and try to make the best of things whenever I can. But sometimes you just can’t stomach…