Media
Nerd Nite #47 - Schizophrenia, Explained
Though the term ‘schizophrenia’ is only around a hundred years old, the illness goes back thousands of years. Despite a wealth of research on the subject, there is still much about it that we don’t know. In this talk, I will discuss some of the contributions brain imaging research has made to attempts to understand the disorder.
Media
The Long and Winding Road to Knowing Thyself: Why Accurate Self-Knowledge is So Difficult to Achieve
“Know thyself!” exhorted the ancient Greeks, but it turns out that accurate self-understanding is difficult to gain, particularly when it comes to evaluating our knowledge and expertise.
David Dunning, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan and Faculty Affiliate of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute of Social Research, discusses recent research showing common biases people display when judging their skill and know-how, and the costs (and occasional benefits) of those biases. He describes best practices to potentially avoid them. It all boils down to following this old, wise admonishment: When arguing with a fool, just make sure that the other person is not likewise engaged.
Professor Dunning taught for several years at Cornell University, where he is Professor Emeritus. An author, co-author, or co-editor of nearly 150 journal articles, book chapters, commentaries, and reviews, he has served as president of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Society for the Study of Motivation. He received the 2016 Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Society for Self and Identity.
His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Templeton Foundation, as well as featured in more popular outlets as diverse as the New York Times, This American Life, and Doonesbury. This talk is part of the "Exploring the Mind" series and is cosponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.
Media
Bright Nights Community Forum: Adolescent Depression, Resiliency, and Coping Skills
Adolescence is a period of great change and great stress. Academics become more challenging, the number of competing responsibilities increase, and navigating the social world becomes more complex.
Major depression in adolescents is common, with 11% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 experiencing a major depressive episode each year (NSDUH, 2014). When depression is diagnosed and treated early, many people with depressive illnesses are able to achieve remission and maintain wellness. Even without a clinical diagnosis of depression, families and adolescents can benefit in creating a surplus of coping skills.
To learn more about depressive disorders in adolescents, including how families can help generate resiliency in their teen, the U-M Depression Center and the AADL presented this community forum on adolescent depression, resiliency, and coping skills.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, LMSW, Behavioral Health Consultant and member of the University of Michigan Depression Center presents on this topic. This is then followed by questions from the audience and a discussion with expert panelists, including Craig VanKempen, LMSW, MPH, Social Worker and Health Educator, Corner Health Center; Nicole Speck, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, Clinical Manager, Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools; and Amy McLoughlin, Guidance Counselor, Skyline High School.
This event was cosponsored by the U-M Depression Center as part of an ongoing Bright Nights series. For more information on the Depression Center, visit their website or contact Stephanie Salazar, 232-0330, or email Stephanie at sawaters@umich.edu
Media
Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal Discusses Her Book “An American Sickness: How American Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back”
Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, an award-winning New York Times reporter, reveals the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American healthcare system, and tells us exactly what we can do to solve its myriad of problems in her book, An American Sickness: How American Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back.
In her talk, she tells stories of the doctors and patients she encountered in researching An American Sickness, and offers suggestions to consumers on ways to fight back against the rising costs of healthcare.
Elisabeth L. Rosenthal is a New York Times senior writer who trained as a medical doctor, and the author of Paying Till it Hurts, the award-winning series on health care costs and pricing. During 20 years as a reporter and correspondent for the New York Times, she has covered a wide variety of subjects. Born in New York City, Rosenthal received a B.S. in biology from Stanford University, an M.A. in English literature from Cambridge University, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Media
Culinary Historian Andrew Coe Discusses His Book: "A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression"
The giddy optimism of post-World War I America came crashing down during the Depression, which radically altered eating habits, as author Andrew Coe describes in his new cultural history A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression. This book, coauthored with Jane Ziegelman, was awarded the 2017 James Beard Foundation Book Award for nonfiction.
Despite President Herbert Hoover’s 1931 claim that “nobody is actually starving,” Americans, in cities and rural areas alike, existed on subsistence diets and the effects of vitamin deficiencies were felt long into the war years.
A Square Meal is an in-depth exploration of the greatest food crisis the nation has ever faced-the Great Depression-and how it transformed America's culinary culture. Join us for a stimulating learning opportunity about this historic upheaval and the shifting role of governmental aid in response.
Andrew Coe is a writer and independent scholar specializing in culinary history. He and his wife, Jane Ziegelman, are co-authors of "A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression." His ground-breaking Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States was a finalist for a James Beard award and named one of the best food books of the year by the Financial Times. He has written books, articles, and blog posts on everything from the ancient history of foie gras to the secret criminal past of chocolate egg creams to where to buy the tastiest bread in New York City. He has appeared in documentaries such as the National Geographic Channel's "Eat: The Story of Food" and "The Search for General Tso." He and his wife live Brooklyn with their two children.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Andrew Zweifler
Andrew Zweifler was born in 1930 in Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from Haverford College and Jefferson Medical College. In the 1950s he and his wife Ruth spent two years in Ashiya, Japan while he was a physician in the Air Force. Zweifler is Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, former Director of the Hypertension Clinic at the University Hospital, and co-founder of Physicians for Prevention of Gun Violence.
Andrew Zweifler was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2017 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author David Oshinsky Discusses His New Book “Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital”
The U-M Center for the History of Medicine and AADL are pleased to host Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Oshinsky, Ph.D., as he discusses his new book, Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital, a riveting history of New York's iconic public hospital that charts the turbulent rise of American medicine.
Bellevue Hospital, on New York City's East Side, occupies a colorful and horrifying place in the public imagination: a den of mangled crime victims, vicious psychopaths, assorted derelicts, lunatics, and exotic-disease sufferers. In its two and a half centuries of service, there was hardly an epidemic or social catastrophe—or groundbreaking scientific advance—that did not touch Bellevue.
Oshinsky chronicles the history of America's oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution.
With its diverse, ailing, and unprotesting patient population, the hospital was a natural laboratory for the nation's first clinical research. It treated tens of thousands of Civil War soldiers, launched the first civilian ambulance corps and the first nursing school for women, pioneered medical photography and psychiatric treatment, and spurred New York City to establish the country's first official Board of Health.
The latter decades of the twentieth century brought rampant crime, drug addiction, and homelessness to the nation's struggling cities—problems that called a public hospital's very survival into question. It took the AIDS crisis to cement Bellevue's enduring place as New York's ultimate safety net, the iconic hospital of last resort. Lively, page-turning, and fascinating, Bellevue is essential American history.
David Oshinsky, Ph.D is a professor in the NYU Department of History and director of the Division of Medical Humanities at the NYU School of Medicine. In 2005, he won the Pulitzer Prize in History for Polio: An American Story. His articles and reviews appear regularly in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Media
Can Food Be Addictive? A Look At What We Eat And Why
Obesity rates have reached epidemic levels in the United States and across the globe. The availability of cheap, tasty, and heavily marketed foods is a major contributor to this public health crisis. Yet, we are only starting to understand how these foods "hook" us and what we can do to protect ourselves and our children from this toxic food environment.
In this talk, Professor Ashley Gearhardt, a leading researcher on food addiction, will discuss the impact of "junk" food on our brain and body across the lifespan. She'll also discuss empirically supported strategies to help you gain control over your own eating.
This program, part of the Fall "Exploring the Mind" series of talks, is cosponsored by The University of Michigan Department of Psychology.
Media
Improving Cognitive Functioning
Fluid intelligence is often defined as the ability to reason about and solve novel problems. What are some factors that influence this ability? Can it be enhanced?
In this talk, Dr. John Jonides, Edward E. Smith Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, reviews wide-ranging research that examines the effects of exercise, drugs, cognitive training, and brain stimulation as possible interventions to enhance cognitive abilities, including intelligence.
This program was part of the Fall "Exploring the Mind" series cosponsored by The University of Michigan Department of Psychology.
Media
Bright Nights Community Forum: An Opioid Crisis in Washtenaw County: What Can We Do?
The U.S. Surgeon General recently sent a call out to health practitioners and public health leaders to ask for help in addressing what he describes as “an urgent health crisis facing America”—the prescription opioid crisis.
Washtenaw County is not immune. As the rest of the country, our community is the midst of an opioid epidemic, with dramatic increases in the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths from prescription medications and heroin. In fact, between 2000 and 2014, the number of opioid related overdose deaths in Washtenaw County increased 1525%, from 4 deaths in 2000 to 65 deaths in 2014.
The Washtenaw Health Initiative (WHI) Opioid Project was formed as a community-based, volunteer organization to help address this problem in Washtenaw County. The success of this initiative depends on community knowledge, support, and involvement.
To learn more about the WHI Opioid Project, the University of Michigan Depression Center and the Ann Arbor District Library present this Bright Nights community forum. Dr. Stephen Strobbe, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Michigan School of Nursing, and Department of Psychiatry, will give a brief presentation, followed by a panel discussion, to raise and respond to the following questions:
· Is there really an opioid epidemic in Washtenaw County?
· What is the Washtenaw Health Initiative (WHI) Opioid Project?
· What can I do in my own home—and community—to help?
For more information on the U-M Depression Center, visit the Depression Center website at www.depressioncenter.org , or contact Stephanie Salazar, 232-0330, or sawaters@umich.edu.