One hundred years ago a series of seminal documents, starting with the Flexner Report of 1910, sparked an enormous burst of energy to harness the power of science to transform higher education in health. Professional education, however, has not been able to keep pace with the challenges of the 21st century. A new generation of reforms is needed to meet the demands of health systems in an interdependent world.

The report of the Commission on the Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century, a global independent initiative consisting of 20 leaders from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and institutional affiliations, articulates a fresh vision and recommends renewed actions. Building on a rich legacy of educational reforms during the past century, the Commission's findings and recommendations adopt a global and multi-professional perspective using a systems approach to analyze education and health, with a focus on institutional and instructional reforms.

The Swine Flu Affair contains a reconstruction of the events leading up to and surrounding the swine flu immunization program, which has been gathered by combining press accounts, hearings, official files, and interviews with participants. This study will be of value to all who are interested in the process by which large decisions are made.

America's ever-expanding waistline: We see it, hear about it, and worry about it But can anything be done about it?

People today work harder and take better care of their health than any previous generation. So how could two-thirds of us fail to measure up when it comes to eating right and exercising? HBO and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences have joined together to bring you the nation's foremost experts and definitive research on weight and weight loss. "The Weight of the Nation" explains how we got to this unhealthy place and how we can get to a healthy weight by overcoming the forces that drive us to eat too much and move too little.

"The Weight of the Nation" answers crucial questions about yo-yo dieting, how metabolism functions, why stress affects weight, and how to keep weight off forever. Based on the rich research behind HBO's documentary series, "The Weight of the Nation" is the only book that tells it like it is: losing weight is hard, keeping it off is even harder, and there's no quick fix. Weight loss takes a lot of work and a lifetime commitment, but thousands have done it and this book will show you how.

Understanding Risk addresses a central dilemma of risk decisionmaking in a democracy: detailed scientific and technical information is essential for making decisions, but the people who make and live with those decisions are not scientists. The key task of risk characterization is to provide needed and appropriate information to decisionmakers and the public. This important new volume illustrates that making risks understandable to the public involves much more than translating scientific knowledge. The volume also draws conclusions about what society should expect from risk characterization and offers clear guidelines and principles for informing the wide variety of risk decisions that face our increasingly technological society. Frames fundamental questions about what risk characterization means. Reviews traditional definitions and explores new conceptual and practical approaches. Explores how risk characterization should inform decisionmakers and the public. Looks at risk characterization in the context of the entire decisionmaking process. Understanding Risk discusses how risk characterization has fallen short in many recent controversial decisions. Throughout the text, examples and case studies?such as planning for the long-term ecological health of the Everglades or deciding on the operation of a waste incinerator?bring key concepts to life. Understanding Risk will be important to anyone involved in risk issues: federal, state, and local policymakers and regulators; risk managers; scientists; industrialists; researchers; and concerned individuals. Table of Contents FRONT MATTER SUMMARY 1 THE IDEA OF RISK CHARACTERIZATION 2 JUDGMENT IN THE RISK DECISION PROCESS 3 DELIBERATION 4 ANALYSIS 5 INTEGRATING ANALYSIS AND DELIBERATION 6 IMPLEMENTING THE NEW APPROACH 7 PRINCIPLES FOR RISK CHARACTERIZATION A SIX CASES IN RISK ANALYSES AND CHARACTERIZATION B COMMON APPROACHES TO DELIBERATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES GLOSSARY REFERENCES INDEX

Global health has seen an influx of investment and interest over the last two decades, fueling significant gains in areas such as infectious disease and maternal and child health. As new threats continue to emerge - pandemics, health impacts of climate change, the growing burdens of an aging population - it's clear that global health will require fresh thinking and continued investment in order to build on its early successes. Readings in Global Health is a collection of authoritative review articles on topics in global health excerpted from the New England Journal of Medicine. Authored and edited by leading voices in the field, this volume serves as an ideal introduction to both the state of global health and its road from here. With extensive illustration, referencing, and supplemental commentaries by editors David J. Hunter and Harvey V. Fineberg, it's an essential guide to the principles and practice of global health and works as a textbook for students taking global health courses as well.

Parents have come to depend on vaccines to protect their children from a variety of diseases. Some evidence suggests, however, that vaccination against pertussis (whooping cough) and rubella (German measles) is, in a small number of cases, associated with increased risk of serious illness. This book examines the controversy over the evidence and offers a comprehensively documented assessment of the risk of illness following immunization with vaccines against pertussis and rubella. Based on extensive review of the evidence from epidemiologic studies, case histories, studies in animals, and other sources of information, the book examines: The relation of pertussis vaccines to a number of serious adverse events, including encephalopathy and other central nervous system disorders, sudden infant death syndrome, autism, Guillain-Barre syndrome, learning disabilities, and Reye syndrome. The relation of rubella vaccines to arthritis, various neuropathies, and thrombocytopenic purpura. The volume, which includes a description of the committee's methods for evaluating evidence and directions for future research, will be important reading for public health officials, pediatricians, researchers, and concerned parents. Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Executive Summary 2 Histories of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines 3 Methodologic Considerations in Evaluating the Evidence 4 Evidence Concerning Pertussis Vaccines and Central Nervous System Disorders, Including Infantile Spasms, Hypsarrhythmia, Aseptic Meningitis, and Encephalopathy 5 Evidence Concerning Pertussis Vaccinces and Deaths Classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) 6 Evidence Concerning Pertussis Vaccines and Other Illnesses and Conditions 7 Evidence Concerning Rubella Vaccines and Arthritis, Radiculoneuritis, and Thrombocytopenic Purpura Afterword on Research Needs Bibliography Glossary of Terms Appendix A: Strategies for Gathering Information: Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines Appendix B: Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines: A Brief Chronology Appendix C: Animal Models for the Study of Whooping Cough and the Testing of Vaccine Materials Appendix D: Technical Details of Power Calculations and Meta-Analyses Appendix E: Possible Involvement of Aluminum Salts in Erythema Multiforme, Encephalopathy, or Other Adverse Events After Pertussis Immunization Appendix F: Committee and Staff Biographies Index