Contributing Writer
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Birju is currently a Class of 2017 medical student at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. With a background in economics, he is particularly interested in the impact of internal organization in improving clinical outcomes and community health.
Health care providers and patients alike have been physically and emotionally frustrated when dealing with health care’s rising cost. Legislative restrictions based on cost often defy logic and common sense in a way that most people have never encountered. But, what is it specifically about the health care market that gives us these fundamentally perverse situations?
We have made it to an era when even fast food restaurants stock biodegradable straws. Corn-derived utensils have been released from the confines of the Whole Foods salad bar and have made their way into a wider range of restaurants and delis. There are pockets in this nation where composting is a city-maintained public service, where green bins enlist each and every home in the neighborhood to move one step closer to a greener lifestyle and to leave a lighter footprint on this earth. But the medical community — perhaps the one institution that has the most potential for enacting change — is lagging in the area of environmental consciousness.
Contributing Writer
Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Zoe Feld is a Class of 2018 medical student at Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. She holds a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior from Barnard College. Her hobbies include practicing yoga, traveling, and having candlelit conversations about the meaning of beauty and life amidst friends, sheepskin rugs, and music.
