Insights

California says it will take millions of dollars to kick start and run a useful database to track prescription drugs. For now, the program appears like a knight hunched over his computer surrounded by stacks of documents, fighting a losing battle against the dragons of painkiller abuse.

Tom Wilemon avoided jargon like "social determinants," instead revealing the tragedy behind diabetes, a disease he describes as "so pervasive, so obvious, so accepted here in the South that people do not see it for the public health threat that it is."

Just three years after California Attorney General Jerry Brown – now the governor – announced a newly improved prescription drug tracking system while standing beside a dad who lost his children as a result of prescription drug abuse, that system is all but useless.

Oakland-based Health Career Connection helps prepare the next generation of talented, diverse health leaders and professionals by connecting them to internships, mentors and health professions schools.

There's still time to get your work recognized with numerous fellowship and award opportunities this year.

California's agricultural industry is tops in the nation and pesticides play a vital role in keeping it healthy. They also play a vital role in the lives of farm workers...a poisonous one.

After his two children were killed by a driver high on painkillers, Bob Pack worked with California's existing database of prescriptions to create what he called "a built-in red flag system" to help identify prescription drug abuse.

The Federation of Journalists in Spain reports 4,000 layoffs and 70 news organization closures in 2012 alone. Cutbacks have affected biomedical journalists. Read some international perspectives from Spain, Germany, the UK and the US.