March 2018

Is Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Or The Real Thing? By Leonard Zwelling http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1714229 In the March 15, 2018 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, an editorial describes the consequences of machine learning on the practice of medicine. On the surface, the use of big data to assist in medical decision-making doesn’t seem to […]

Bad Choices For Leaders: Tillerson and Bolton By Leonard Zwelling One of the best leaders for whom I have ever worked was Dr. Margaret Kripke. Margaret taught me that the best predictor of performance in a new appointee is past performance. If you did your last job well, you might be able to do your

I Am Not As Smart As I Like To Think I Am By Leonard Zwelling Have you ever felt stupid because of decisions that you have made—especially ones involving money? If not, you are a singular sensation. I have been trying, in vain so far, to publicize my last book and get the screen industry

The Real Healthcare Product By Leonard Zwelling What is it that we in medicine really sell? Now don’t be offended by the word sell. Doctors take money for doing stuff. They must be selling something. I know that they are professionals doing a service in what is supposed to be a fiduciary fashion with the

Why Should We Care About Stormy Daniels? By Leonard Zwelling Please let me be the first to say, that the answer to this question escaped me for weeks. It is well known that the President of the United States was and probably is a womanizer. That was clear in the Hollywood Access tape that emerged

The Theranos Fraud By Leonard Zwelling https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-charges-theranos-and-founder-elizabeth-holmes-with-fraud-1521045648 When I was a research cop, I was often accused of trusting no one. It was true. I didn’t, and with good reason. The conflicts of interest that I discovered upon taking office at Anderson were hair-raising and the violations of human subjects research protocols were common. I

What I Have Learned Talking To Lawyers By Leonard Zwelling First is that they don’t think like the rest of us. They were trained not to. They think like lawyers and that’s not what normal people think like. Of course, I think like a doctor, a scientist and an administrator, so who am I to

Disquiet And Quiet By Leonard Zwelling https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-screwball-tragedy-of-donald-trump-1520552914 Once again I turn to Peggy Noonan to dissect the mood of America. It is one of disquiet. As she points out, a first term list of accomplishment like a tax cut bill and a new member of the Supreme Court aligned with the sentiments of those who

The Price Of Drugs By Leonard Zwelling This article was published in the Science section of The New York Times on March 6. It describes several patients with serious, debilitating diseases requiring specialized drug treatments to survive and how those patients struggle to find the money to defray the costs of the drugs. This is

The Fifth Career: lenzwelling.com By Leonard Zwelling I’m on my fifth career. I was a real doctor once, a medical oncologist actually. Then I was a molecular pharmacologist doing basic research on the mechanism of action of antineoplastic drugs. Then I was research administrator. I got to be a vice president and had a big