STAT

Opinion: Medical schools shouldn’t divorce education from politics

Human beings are political animals. It's time that medical schools and medical students acknowledge that reality and do something about it.

Many medical schools don’t encourage political thought in their students, far less nurture it. That’s a shame because it squanders an opportunity to equip future thought leaders to deal with serious concerns facing the U.S. population, many of which have their tentacles in politics.

In a memoir about his 12-year stint in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Harvard’s John McDonough offers an accessible argument about why health care — and medicine by extension — is an inherently political issue. His argument is partly inspired

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from STAT

STAT2 min read
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About FDA Dithering On Pharma Patents, WHO Pandemic Talks, And More
When it comes to a crucial controversy over patents for drug-and-device combination products, the FDA has been MIA.
STAT1 min read
STAT+: Element Biosciences, An Illumina Rival, On Its Genomics Ambitions — And Why It Hasn’t Gone Public
Element Biosciences' modest growth comes at a time when some other players are struggling in a sequencer market dominated by Illumina.
STAT2 min read
STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re Reading About A Boy Dying In Pfizer Trial; AstraZeneca Yanking Covid Shot, And More
A young boy died in a clinical trial for an experimental Pfizer gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, about a year after receiving the therapy.

Related Books & Audiobooks