Medical Director

For decades, those with high cholesterol have been given a list of don'ts when it comes to their diet: Don't eat cholesterol-rich eggs; don't eat butter; don't eat red meat or regular ice cream. Well, now researchers have identified a list of do's for the diet that may work to lower cholesterol levels better than avoiding those don'ts. In a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that eating cholesterol-lowering foods like nuts, soy protein, and certain fiber-rich items result in bigger drops in "bad" LDL cholesterol than avoiding...

Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a multispecialty physicians group, and Normandy Real Estate Partners broke ground on a state-of-the-art medical building in the Concord Meadows Corporate Center. The two-story, 50,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open next spring, and will house Concord Hillside Medical Associates, which is affiliated with Harvard Vanguard. "The new office will help us better meet the needs of our patients and allows us the ability to expand our services to include on-site radiology, pharmacy, visual services, and more," said Dr. Ronald Kwon, Concord Hillside's medical...

No, according to new guidelines issued in June by the American College of Chest Physicians, though if you already take aspirin for general cardiovascular health, you should continue to do so while you travel. In everyday life, aspirin helps prevent clots in arteries by keeping platelets, the major element in plaque, from building up in ones arteries. But the type of clots triggered during long plane flights are different. They start in deep leg veins, says Dr. Michael Jaff, medical director of the vascular center at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan, a nonprofit that provides coverage for people on Medicaid and in state-subsidized health plans, has named Dr. Karen Boudreau as chief medical officer. She will start in the position on May 16, replacing Dr. Stanley Hochberg who left last year to become Boston Medical Center's vice president for quality and patient safety. Boudreau previously worked at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, where she was senior vice president and medical director for a program that included many major quality of...

MILWAUKEE - Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said the process of restructuring the team's medical department would start with finding an ideal model, then determining whether any of the current staff would fit. "I feel strongly that there will be people that were here in 2011 as part of our medical department that will still be here as part of the solution," he said. But that is not expected to include Dr. Tom Gill . As part of the restructuring, team sources said, the Red Sox will eliminate the position of medical director, which Gill has held since 2005.

By Jaclyn Reiss, Town Correspondent The Natick Visiting Nurses Association announced this week that Newton-based physician Joel Bauman has been appointed as medical director for the palliative ComfortCare program, which provides patients with at-home long-term pain management. Judith Boyko, CEO of the Natick VNA, said the program was started last fall without the intention of recruiting a medical director. However, as the program gained momentum, Boyko said they realized the need to move in that direction.

Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan, a nonprofit that provides coverage for people on Medicaid and in state-subsidized health plans, has named Dr. Karen Boudreau as chief medical officer. She will start in the position on May 16, replacing Dr. Stanley Hochberg who left last year to become Boston Medical Center's vice president for quality and patient safety. Boudreau previously worked at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, where she was senior vice president and medical director...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Dr. Anthony F. Daly, the longtime team physician for the Los Angeles Clippers, has died. He was 74. Dr. Daly died at his home Friday following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer, said Dr. Robert S. Bray Jr., the executive director and founder of DISC Spine and Sports Center, where Daly was the director of sports medicine. Dr. Daly served as the Clippers' team physician since the club moved to Los Angeles in 1984. "Dr. Daly and his visionary approach to athletics paved the way for the field of sports medicine," Bray said in a...

Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a multispecialty physicians group, and Normandy Real Estate Partners broke ground on a state-of-the-art medical building in the Concord Meadows Corporate Center. The two-story, 50,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open next spring, and will house Concord Hillside Medical Associates, which is affiliated with Harvard Vanguard. "The new office will help us better meet the needs of our patients and allows us the ability to expand our services to include on-site radiology, pharmacy, visual services, and more," said Dr. Ronald Kwon, Concord...

JACKSON, Miss. - An extremely rare infection has been passed from an organ donor to at least one recipient in what is thought to be the first human-to-human transfer of the amoeba, medical officials said yesterday. Four people in three states received organs from a patient who died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in November after suffering from neurological problems, said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention. Organs are routinely tested for HIV, hepatitis, and other more common infections, but...

The following was submitted by Cambridge Health Alliance: On Tuesday, March 27th, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a Harvard-affiliated healthcare system that serves Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's metro-north communities, received an Institutional Partner Award from the Medical Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (MACET). CHA was one of two institutions selected statewide to be honored. State Representative Alice Wolf and State Senator Sal DiDomenico presented the award at a World No TB Day 2012 ceremony and legislative...

A psychiatric patient stabbed a doctor and two nurses at a Danish hospital on Friday, then surrendered after a 10-hour standoff with police. It wasn't clear how the inpatient had obtained the knife. The 47-year-old patient at Odense University Hospital's psychiatric ward stabbed the doctor in the stomach and the two female nurses in the face, chest and abdomen, said the hospital's medical director, Anders Meinert Pedersen. The doctor and one of the nurses were in critical condition.

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk has started walking exercises on a treadmill as he continues his recovery from a stroke in January. Dr. Richard Harvey is the medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's Center for Stroke Rehabilitation. Harvey says the 52-year-old Republican is adapting well to the program. Kirk arrived at the center a week ago from the hospital where he had emergency surgery that included temporarily removing part of his skull to allow for swelling. Harvey said Friday that Kirk is performing an increasing number of routine tasks on his own in...

MILWAUKEE - Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said the process of restructuring the team's medical department would start with finding an ideal model, then determining whether any of the current staff would fit. "I feel strongly that there will be people that were here in 2011 as part of our medical department that will still be here as part of the solution," he said. But that is not expected to include Dr. Tom Gill . As part of the restructuring, team sources said, the Red Sox will eliminate the position of medical director, which Gill has held since 2005.

WHO Dr. Jennifer Brinckerhoff WHAT Brinckerhoff, medical director of Hebrew SeniorLife Medical Group at Orchard Cove in Canton, is one of the scheduled speakers at a two-part lecture series on retirement living, Thursday and Nov. 10. For more information: www.hslindependentliving.org. Q. As the geriatrician at a facility where the average resident is 89 years old, what do you see as the keys to successful aging? A. The people I find who do the best with aging are those who are able to focus on what they have left to give, not just their...

The problems at Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center began right at the front door. "When I started here the door was falling off the hinges," said Dr. Chidi Achebe, the center's charismatic director. "We had to put the door on the hinges and paint it. The whole place was a mess. " "Mess" is an understatement to describe a health center so troubled five years ago that it was nearly forced to close. Its facilities were completely inadequate. The staff was demoralized. Worst of all, its coffers had been raided - by a payroll consultant who earlier this year was...

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk has started walking exercises on a treadmill as he continues his recovery from a stroke in January. Dr. Richard Harvey is the medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's Center for Stroke Rehabilitation. Harvey says the 52-year-old Republican is adapting well to the program. Kirk arrived at the center a week ago from the hospital where he had emergency surgery that included temporarily removing part of his skull to allow for swelling. Harvey said Friday that Kirk is performing an increasing number of routine tasks on his own in...

The following was submitted by Cambridge Health Alliance: On Tuesday, March 27th, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a Harvard-affiliated healthcare system that serves Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's metro-north communities, received an Institutional Partner Award from the Medical Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (MACET). CHA was one of two institutions selected statewide to be honored. State Representative Alice Wolf and State Senator Sal DiDomenico presented the award at a World No TB Day 2012 ceremony and legislative...

The director of University of Vermont's student health center will refute allegations that the center improperly prescribed opiate painkillers to student patients. The Burlington Free Press ( http://bit.ly/plGS0k) says Dr. Jon Porter is to appear before the state Medical Practice Board on Monday in Burlington to contest allegations that the center, under his watch, improperly prescribed the painkillers. The newspaper says documents on file with the board contend that Porter failed to supervise a physician's assistant who refilled opiate prescriptions supposedly lost or...

FRANKLIN - It wasn't a dream vacation day, unless you prefer PowerPoint to a book and the beach. But for Dr. Lauren Smith, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's medical director, there was no question that giving up a few summer hours to talk concussions was worth it. "Because it's so important," said Smith, who is in charge of implementing the concussion law passed by the state legislature 13 months ago. The Maryland-born, Harvard-educated...