Today's date: June 20, 2013
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Disparities in mental health care continue to pose barriers in diagnosis and treatment
Depression and other mental health disorders continue to be a critical issue in the African-American population, said Carolyn Barley Britton, MD, MS, NMA president. Read More...
Economic recovery package already affecting health care
Those who attended the 2009 Edward C. Mazique Symposium heard Saturday three unique perspectives on stimulus funds during, "Improving the Nation's Health: Has the Economic Recovery Legislation Brought the States Any Closer to Comprehensive Reform?" Read More...
Symposium covers diabetes from basics to latest research
The management and treatment of type 2 diabetes, from the basics through the latest guidelines and therapies, were covered Saturday in a 5.5-hour "Diabetes Management Symposium and Certification Workshop" featuring 15 speakers. Read More...
Today’s physicians must be cross-culturally trained
Few can argue against the evidence of the existence of disparities in health care quality between minority groups and whites in the United States. The causes are many, but one cause at the heart of those disparities is a lack of formal cross-cultural training in most American medical schools — an issue that is now a priority for the National Medical Association. Read More...
Primary care key to reducing health disparities
Despite medical advances and the efforts of many parties, disparities in some areas of health care have actually increased in recent years, leading George Rust, M.D., MPH, to conclude that the best option to close gaps in health care is to focus on improving the primary care system. Read More...
NMA members recognized at Opening Ceremony
The NMA opened the 2009 Convention & Scientific Assembly Saturday night by honoring members and supporters with several awards. Read More...
Correct diagnoses key to treating scalp conditions
Several resident fellows in Saturday's John A. Kenney Jr., M.D., Residents Symposium in Dermatology discussed scalp conditions more likely to affect African-Americans, as well as new therapies that could provide successful treatment. Read More...
Angela Bassett’s starring role in life is ‘inspiration’
Everybody has a story. Academy Award-winning actress Angela Bassett shared her life story Sunday at the NMA luncheon for the Council on the Concerns of Women Physicians. Read More...
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Day 2
Initiative links U.S., African physicians
When members of the health community from the Republic of Ghana contacted the National Medical Association and requested it send U.S. medical specialists to their country to teach Ghanaian physicians specific medical skills, NMA responded in a big way. Read More...
Administration seeks feedback on health reform
The Obama Administration is calling on members of the NMA for feedback on health care reform, a Washington official said Monday at a White House briefing on the Presidential Health Care Reform Agenda during the Roselyn Payne Epps, M.D., Symposium on Health Care Reform. Read More...
Dr. Britton pleased with progress made during term
In her inaugural address one year ago, NMA President Carolyn Barley Britton, M.D., defined goals for her term in office, but one stood out — strike while the time is right for reform of the health care system. Read More...
JNMA looks at early days to gain strength for the future
In 1909, Jim Crow laws were common, African-American physicians were not and the Journal of the National Medical Association (JNMA) was started by the NMA with two editors determined to change all of that. Read More...
Guidelines are effective tools in pneumonia treatment
Pneumonia is diagnosed in 4 million people a year, with 600,000 hospitalizations annually costing $4 billion per year, and it is the eighth-greatest cause of death in the United States, but those numbers could be reduced if treatment guidelines were followed. Read More...
Speaker calls for more colorectal cancer screening
The nation is facing a colorectal cancer epidemic, said Debra Ford, M.D., especially in the African-American population. Read More...
Project IMPACT pushes minority participation in clinical trials
Both NMA's Project I.M.P.A.C.T. (Increase Minority Participation and Awareness of Clinical Trials) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) continue to press their efforts to increase minority participation in clinical trials. Those efforts seem to be slowly making a difference, but more progress is needed according to several speakers during Saturday's William McBride, M.D., Symposium. Read More...
Physicians need to be businessmen when contracting
Aligning the needs of a medical practice and the health service industry is critical when it comes to physician contracting with health plans. Read More...
Updates in diagnosis, treatment of IBD addressed
About one-fourth of all of the 1 million inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cases in the United States occur in children, mostly in their teens, so the diagnosis and treatment of IBD is an important medical issue. Read More...
Emergency medicine confronts issues important to its future
As an increasing number of Americans use hospital emergency departments when they need medical treatment, emergency medicine physicians have played a great role in health care, but the specialty faces many challenges in the near future. Read More...
Keloids a common problem that is still difficult to treat
The treatment of keloids, a common but problematic dermatologic issue that most often affects people of color, was addressed Monday during the A. Paul Kelly, M.D. Research in Dermatology Medical Symposium, "General Dermatology." Read More...
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Day 3
Dr. Edwards becomes NMA President
Willarda V. Edwards, M.D., MBA, became the new National Medical Association President Tuesday night as she was sworn in by Cedric Bright, M.D., speaker of the NMA House of Delegates. Dr. Edwards officially became president during the Installation Ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Following the ceremony was the elegant President's Ball. See the article at the bottom of the page for Dr. Edwards' goals for her term in office. Read More...
Poverty fuels disparities, experts say
Two prominent national experts on health care disparities in the U.S. addressed "Cancer in Minorities and the Underserved" during Tuesday's Joint Session of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and National Medical Association (NMA) General Plenary Session. Read More...
Prevention remains best option for COPD treatment
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. and is linked to 1.5 million emergency rooms visits a year, and the numbers are rising. The best strategies to deal with this growing disease were covered in an emergency medicine session Tuesday. Read More...
Dr. Edwards sees opportunity in challenges
With health care reform a priority at the White House and in Congress, the next year promises to be memorable for the incoming National Medical Association (NMA) president, Willarda V. Edwards, M.D., MBA. Read More...
Campaign aims to keep HIV/AIDS in the spotlight
In today's instant society, the headlines seem to change constantly, forcing many important issues to the back pages. One such issue, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is fighting its way back to the front page. Read More...
HIV continues to climb among African-Americans
In the three decades since the discovery of HIV and the ensuing development of viral drugs to treat the disease, AIDS ceased to be the monster it was once thought to be in the minds of most Americans. But among African-Americans, AIDS remains a killer that continues to grow disproportionately to the size of the black population. Read More...
Disparity threatens minority access to stem cell advances
As stem cell and regenerative medicine advance, the minority population has been disproportionately excluded from its benefits, said Clive O. Callender, M.D., a surgeon at Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC. Read More...
Diagnosing thyroid cancer offers challenges
The challenge in detecting, diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer is that no special tests or immunohistochemical stains distinguish between malignant thyroid tissues. That is the message Patrick A. Adegboyega, M.D., shared with the audience Tuesday during his presentation, "Thyroid Gland Diseases, Histological Diagnosis," as part of the John C. Ashhurst, M.D., Surgical Pathology Symposium. Read More...
Trauma care advances emerge from combat zone
The U.S. military has rolled out remarkable trauma care systems and developed new trauma care practices in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which have resulted in trauma care quality improvement stateside. Presenting these latest developments was Lt. Col. Matthew J. Martin, MD, FACS, in "Advances in Trauma Care in the Combat Zone." Read More...
HPV testing effective in screening for cervical disease
Research has shown that the combination of a test for human papillomavirus (HPV) with a Pap smear for women age 30 and over —"co-testing" — can detect almost 100 percent of cervical high-grade lesions and cancer. At the same time, a vaccination for HPV does not prevent all cancer-causing types of HPV. Read More...
Minority physicians needed in allergy and immunology
Pediatrician and allergy and immunology researcher Hugh Sampson, M.D., works on the frontlines of a troubling area of his field — chronic asthma and food allergies. Those front lines are just down the street from his office at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Read More...
Oral cancer increasing in specific groups
While oral cancers have declined in incidence and mortality over the past two decades, they have increased in a few select states and among particular demographic groups. Read More...
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