In the News

Mental Health Software Treats Patients as Partners in Care – Valley News

Read article – Patricia Deegan, adjunct professor of community and family medicine, recently developed the CommonGround software program that West Central, a mental health clinic in Lebanon, began using earlier this year to give a voice to patients in determining their treatment during short, routine appointments. Deegan said that she became interested in Dartmouth because of the institution’s important role in the promotion of “shared decision making” between the doctor and the patient. Deegan is working with Greg McHugo, professor of psychiatry, and others on a new study that will compare how CommonGround and another, more top-down approach affect medication visits and improve patient involvement in decision-making.

TV Ads for Unhealthy Fast Food Are Targeting Our Children – Albany Daily Star Gazette

Read article – Discusses a study led by Jennifer Emond, assistant professor of pediatrics and of biomedical data science, scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, which links obesity in young people to familiarity with televised fast-food advertising.  According to Emond, “Seventy-nine percent of the child-directed ads from those two restaurants aired on just four children’s networks.”

New Company Offers Lists of Drug Risks and Successes, Just Like Nutrition Boxes on Food – Concord Monitor

Read article – Steve Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz, both professors of medicine and of community and family medicine, have started Informulary, a new company that aims to give patients better and more accessible information about prescription drugs in what they call DrugFactsBox, similar to lists of nutrition facts required on most processed foods.

Mental health: There’s an App for That – Nature

Read article – This feature story in April issue of Nature looks at the use of smartphone apps to diagnose and treat a variety of mental health issues. The story features apps created by Dror Ben-Zeev, asst. professor of Psychiatry at Geisel, and the Psychiatric Research Center at Dartmouth. “We can now reach people that up until recently were completely unreachable to us,” says Dror Ben-Zeev.

Preparing for the Next Zika – Nature Biotechnology

Read article – In this commentary, Kendall Hoyt, asst. professor of medicine at Geisel, and Richard Hatchett, acting director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in Washington, DC, suggest lessons from the U.S. biodefense program should inform international efforts to build a medical countermeasure enterprise for emerging infectious diseases.

FDA Warns of Arsenic In Infants’ Rice – Forbes

Read article – Diane Gilbert-Diamond, assistant professor of epidemiology and community and family medicine, is quoted about the Food and Drug Administration’s recent proposed limit on the amount of arsenic in infant rice cereal. “I think that the FDA’s proposal to limit arsenic in infant rice cereal is an important step to reducing arsenic exposure in infancy,” says Gilbert-Diamond.

Persistent Pot Smokers Pay Up in Multiple Ways – Lifezette

Read article – Alan Budney, professor of psychiatry, is quoted about a new study found that long term marijuana use can have significant impacts on financial standing. “Most people who have used or are currently using marijuana do not experience financial troubles. A subset of those who use do develop problems, just as with any substance that is misused or overused to the point of creating problems,” says Budney.

Cool, This Sleeping Pill Helps You Fall Asleep a Whole 6 Minutes Faster – New York Magazine

Read article – Highlights research conducted by Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin, both professors of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, which indicated that while the sleeping drug Belsomra purports to extend your snooze time, it just barely delivers. Individuals who were given a 15-milligram or 20-milligram dose of the drug nightly for three months fell asleep only six minutes quicker than those taking a placebo pill, and stayed asleep just 16 minutes longer.