January 25, 2026

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First Opinion editor

I've got my ice melt and I've got the bread and milk, so I'm pretty sure that the winter storm is going to end up a bust near me. If you're in the Philadelphia area, I'm sorry/you're welcome, depending on your point of view.

The "First Opinion Podcast" won't be back for several weeks, but STAT's Alissa Ambrose and I are already planning. Who would you like to hear on the show? Let me know.

Recommendation of the week: At the Atlantic, Dan Engber looked at the evidence behind the palate expander in pediatric orthodontics. Reading it brought up some trauma for me — I still wince at the memory of my mother turning the key once a week on my lower palate expander 35 years ago — but in a good way. I think.

JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images

I ask my patients what they're grateful for. Recently, three of them cried

A doctor's simple question sparked unexpected tears — revealing fears about preventable illness, shrinking safety nets, and what gratitude really means now.

By Joseph Tucker

I'm a doctor who knows better — but I switched to an inferior drug to save money

Patients end up forgoing care or shouldering the burden of their health costs under high-deductible health plans.

By Amy Caggiula

A Goldilocks approach to centralization of high-risk pathogen research

Consolidating all risky pathogen research into a handful of federal laboratories is not the path to achieving stronger oversight.

By David Gillum, Anemone Franz, An Tran, and Kathleen M. Vogel

Adobe

Did my prostate cancer screening do more harm than good?

Editor's 15-year journey with low-risk prostate cancer shows how PSA screening in U.S. fuels overdiagnosis and overtreatment compared with other countries.