Feinberg Perspectives

For over two decades, Todd Kuiken, MD, had been helping others regain mobility through his practice and research as a physiatrist. When he had a stroke, he found himself in need of rehabilitation and discovered a renewed pride in his work, including in his roles as director of the Center for Bionic Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and as a professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern. Now, Kuiken takes us back to the day of his stroke, when his perspective on medicine was shifted. A version of this essay was originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of Northwestern Medicine magazine.  

During his final year of his oncology fellowship at Northwestern, Suneel Kamath, MD, was finally getting used to telling people that he treats cancer for a living. He has perfected the art of letting people know that it is 'not as depressing as they think' and that there is much joy, even laughter, in his work as an oncologist. In this audio essay, he shares his experience with laughter and medicine. A version of this essay was first published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Teaching teens and adults across Chicago how to tie a tourniquet with a piece of clothing was not part of Mamta Swaroop’s job description as a trauma surgeon and Global Surgery Program Director at Northwestern. But she had seen too many people with gunshot wounds die, bleeding out before reaching the hospital. So in 2017 she decided it was time to empower Chicago communities by training bystanders to be immediate responders. In this audio essay, she shares her story. A version of this essay was originally published in the Bulletin of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, a Royal College of Surgeons journal.

In 2015, the same year the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing was founded at Northwestern. It’s the largest institute in the U.S. to focus on sexual and gender minority health research. Brian Mustanski, PhD, a psychologist and leader in LGBTQ health research, is the center director. In this audio essay, he recalls the importance of the events of 2015 and the new battles his community faces in 2019.   

A version of this essay was first published in the Spring 2019 issue of Northwestern Magazine. 

Samantha Schroth, a MD/PhD student at Feinberg, didn’t always plan on becoming a physician. After graduating from college in 2013, her sights were set on veterinary school. But when an accident that summer left Samantha with a serious spinal cord injury, she realized her true passion lay in human medicine — and she ultimately found her way to Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program.