Ready. Set. Launch…
It’s been a crazy ride ever since we started back in 2009 (well… not including me at that point). A group of helpless romantics of medical science, trying to do a few things differently, rather than...
View ArticleAusterity (what else?)
I admit I was quite impressed when a recent issue of BMJ (the British Medical Journal) was published with a cover featuring the word “Austerity” in six different languages (including the Greek...
View Article(Not) About Politics
I don’t write about politics in this blog. I may write about policy, or use political expressions for public health matters, but I don’t write about politics in the sense that our modern society...
View ArticleWalking the city
I’m walking the city. It’s been a few years now that my days in Athens had become almost unbearable. Trying to float in a city that is sinking. Still, every night’s stroll in the streets could make me...
View ArticleA story just for us
The physician’s role is to offer comfort and treatment to those who suffer from physical pain and face physical challenges. In the same way, the writer is devoted to offer solace and to sympathise with...
View ArticleA viral year
Just before the end of the year, any self-respecting blog is supposed to look back and do a recap. Not necessarily believing in that but falling victim of this tradition, I’d like to share the medical...
View ArticleIs our scientific language sexist? Exploring 2,000 years of biological...
At a fundamental level, all major scientific textbooks depict male and female reproductive organs as systems for the production of valuable substances; eggs and sperm. These issues have frequently been...
View ArticleSearching for DNA’s Dark Lady
Ever since the 1960s every discussion on James Watson and Rosalind Franklin seems to start from Watson’s 1968 book The Double Helix. As the first account – and first impression – of the story of DNA...
View ArticleThe journey that matters…
I would like to speak a bit about the world. This year, primarily on business but occasionally for pleasure too, I travelled to the East Coast of the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France,...
View ArticleOn reflection
I have written this post intermittently while recovering from my worst case of flu in years. A really nasty and arrogant bug that took a serious toll on my health for almost 2 weeks. First insomniac...
View ArticleA questionable future
Now that we are starting to slowly establish that Greece is going to become the poorest nation within one generation, it is also time to look to the future. Greece has recently focused entirely on the...
View ArticleSeparate no more
We often make a clear distinction between “mind” and “body”. But when it comes to mental and physical health, I no longer regard the two as separate. We know that poor physical health can lead to an...
View ArticleThe Plague of Thebes… 2,505 years on
Around 5 years ago, I started researching the science behind Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ monumental play and arguably one of the most well known literary stories globally. In his tragedy, Sophocles...
View ArticleIs it wrong to lie to a person with dementia?
(This post was first published on the Mental Health Foundation website: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/wrong-lie-person-dementia-truth). We need to give much more consideration to the values we...
View ArticleA season on the brink
It’s now been a full year since I joined the Mental Health Foundation. And it certainly was an interesting year. Leading the organisation’s public health innovation and development function has in...
View ArticleWalking the city
I’m walking the city. It’s been a few years now that my days in Athens had become almost unbearable. Trying to float in a city that is sinking. Still, every night’s stroll in the streets could make me...
View ArticleWhen are we going to ditch the M-word?
(This post was first published on the Mental Health Foundation website). We’ve come a long way in public mental health in recent years. Part of the ground that we have covered – towards making a...
View ArticleFrom science to fiction and back: reflecting on Andromeda strain scenarios
Science fiction has drawn heavily from advances (or anticipated advances), promises and pitfalls of science. Writers keep creating possible future worlds and, in describing their make-up, often cover...
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