This road – no one goes down it – autumn evenings. Basho  PDF for easier reading: The Narrow Road Through Cyber-Medicine Abstract: This essay describes a 25-year medical odyssey through the universe of cyberspace. It chronicles the author’s adventures with … Continue reading →

This is the syllabus for the 2015 Hot Spots 2.0 program.  Links to the talks are included for those presentations that the authors wish to share. Hot Spots West Vancouver Introductory Remarks It is fitting to begin with Osler, a … Continue reading →

“We want to have surgeries while we are young so we can have our new faces for a long time,” About Face by Patricia Marx New Yorker, March 23, 2015 This is a fascinating essay about Plastic Surgery in South … Continue reading →

“Know syphilis in all its manifestations and relations, and all other things clinical will be added unto you.” Sir William Osler Henry Foong, a dermatologist from Malaysia and a good friend, recently wrote me about a patient he’d seen with … Continue reading →

Hi, Dr. Elpern, I am contacting you in hopes that you may be able to assist me in attaining my goal of gaining acceptance to a Dermatology residency, and also to see if you had any advice on how to shine … Continue reading →

“Stations of the Heart: Parting with a son” by Robert Lischer is a moving and important book by the father of a 33 yo man with metastatic melanoma.  It chronicles the last three months of Adam Lischer’s life.  The book … Continue reading →

Zen Buddhism has a lot to teach us as physicians, as dermatologists. Consider these two quotes from respected roshi: The practice is the teacher. Your practice is your teacher. Maurine Stuart. Teaching is not difficult, Listening is not difficult either. … Continue reading →

Dermatologists perform office surgery almost daily. Our awareness of the growing interest in, and literature on, music as an adjunct in the perioperative period led us to survey the use of music during 100 consecutive office procedures in a dermatology … Continue reading →

Keywords: pharmceutical prices, drug prices, generics, savings A funny thing happened on the way to the pharmacy… I was robbed. It’s a strange reality in these United States, that the price of a pharmaceutical varies wildly from one drugstore to … Continue reading →

We may not see them, but we need them. An estimated one hundred trillion microorganisms inhabit the human body.  This includes bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa and mites.  There are gut, skin, respiratory, bone and even nervous system microbiomes – and … Continue reading →