Public Health/Personal Disease

In Public Health/Personal Disease, Dr. Simons-Morton takes the reader with her as she trains in medicine, public health, and prevention research. She then goes behind the scenes at the National Institutes of Health for an insider's look at evidence about diet, physical activity, obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. At the peak of her career, Dr. Simons-Morton develops Parkinson's Disease. Can she continue working to improve the nation's heath...
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In Public Health/Personal Disease, Dr. Simons-Morton takes the reader with her as she trains in medicine, public health, and prevention research. She then goes behind the scenes at the National Institutes of Health for an insider's look at evidence about diet, physical activity, obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. At the peak of her career, Dr. Simons-Morton develops Parkinson's Disease. Can she continue working to improve the nation's heath as work stress makes her own symptoms worse?

Sharing her experiences as a Parkinson's patient and as a researcher working on key issues for the nation's health, Dr. Simons-Morton illustrates how public and personal health issues complement each other. Topics include:

• What study methods are used in prevention research?
• How do we know physical activity is important for health?
• How did researchers create a diet as effective as medicine to lower blood pressure?
• What was the controversy about dietary sodium (salt) guidelines?
• When should you seek care for heart attack symptoms?
• How did researchers find that a promising new approach to treating diabetes is harmful?
• Why were new guidelines for blood pressure and cholesterol controversial?
• How can we improve translating the latest knowledge into practice?
• What are the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease? How is it treated? Will we be able to prevent it?