Written by Nathan Clendenin for UNC Health Care

Have you ever been stung by a bee?  Did it hurt?  I'd be willing to bet that avoiding stings is about the only thought you've had about bees, unless it was about honey!  If you're like Dr. Jonathan Kirsch, a hospitalist at UNC Health Care, you'd also be interested in bees pollinating the fruit trees in your yard!  If you talked to him about his bees, you'd likely become fascinated, as I did, at how bees work in their hive to produce honey, defend the hive, repair it, take care of the baby bees and everything else to ensure they can survive a cold winter. It's an amazing social organism to learn about, and an even more amazing one to see first hand.

While we didn't have a chance to talk about it in the video, Dr. Kirsch shared with me that bees have recently been dying off in large numbers.  This is a big deal because bees are the No. 1 pollinators of all the fruits and vegetables we consume in the United States.  Without them, our food wouldn't reproduce!  Nobody is exactly sure why this is happening, but in Europe they just recently banned a certain pesticide that is believe to be one of the causes.  If they see a change in bee population in the next two years while the ban is in effect, then they'll know it was causing it.  For more in-depth information about this, check out this article.

Check out this episode of real doctors, real people!

A team from the UNC Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program led by Tippu Khan, PharmD, BCOP and Nicole Frazier, RN, BSN participated in an epic journey which included leaping over fire, trekking through waste-high mud, tossing spears, dodging attacks and most of all braving near freezing temperatures in the driving rain.  What is all this about?  It's the Spartan Race, an event of pure primitive craziness that promises it's participants an experience they'll never forget.

Competing as a team of about 15 which included other colleagues and their spouses, Khan and Frazier led the charge on March 23, 2013, in Charlotte, N.C.  Despite the many physical obstacles, they also overcame mental barriers to finish the race together, as a team.  In true Spartan fashion, they helped each other along the way with a hand up, a steadying arm and most of all an encouraging voice.  Not only did they finish the race together, but they had enough energy to crack some smiles and even do a little dancing along the way!  The teamwork that carried them through this race, is the same teamwork that makes them an amazing asset to the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program. Many of their patients, fighting extremely difficult battles themselves, cheered the team on with encouragement and high fives leading up to the race.

For the team, this isn't a one and done situation.  As Frazier puts it, "Once you do one, it's kind of addicting."  They competed again this month in the Rugged Maniac 5k Obstacle Race in Asheboro, N.C. on April 20, and if history is an indication of the future, there will be more to come!

And now we're pleased to present you with real doctors, real people / RN: Real Nurses Spartan Edition!

Written by Nathan Clendenin for UNC Health Care

As Medical Director at The Carolina Clinic at UNC, James Kurz, MD spends a great deal of time coaching his busy patients in caring for their health amidst the long hours and high stress environments where they work.  The advice he gives comes not only from his expertise in medicine but from his real life personal experience as well.  In his role as a physician at two clinics (and he volunteers at a third)and a family man with four young children, Kurz lives a very full life.  He helps lead Boy Scouts Troop 951 and coaches his sons' baseball teams while also shuttling the kids from place to place while his wife, Lucy, is at work as a respiratory therapist with UNC Carolina Air Care.  Like all good things in life, being a physician and a family man doesn't come without hard work, and it's that extra effort that lets Kurz enjoy the fruits of his labor.

I hope you'll enjoy this month's installment and get ready for a special edition of real doctors, real people and RN: Real Nurses coming in April!

Written by Nathan Clendenin for UNC Health Care

Jason Goldsmith, a PhD medical student on his way to an MD, is quite a practical person. His love of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) came out of getting bullied as a kid and needing to defend himself.  Further, his doctoral focus in pharmacology came out of his personal experience suffering from ulcerative colitis, which is a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

Goldsmith is the owner and lead instructor at Tactical Kung Fu and MMA in Durham. His approach to both his martial arts students and his patients in the hospitals comes from his own experience as a lifelong student and a longtime patient. This experience gives him a compassion and an approach that you might not expect from a guy who enjoys the art of the fight.

Enjoy this month's installment of real doctors, real people!

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013

This month's focus is on the ever-popular mode of entertainment enjoyed throughout the centuries: the theater.

Keith Burridge, PhD, a Kenan Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology, is also a playwright.  His most recent play, The Art of Deception, is based on a true story of a Dutch painter, Han van Meegeren.  During World War II van Meegeren sold a forged painting of Vermeer's work to Adolf Hitler's second in command, Hermann Göring. After the war, van Meegeren was accused of being a German collaborator and faced hanging until he admitted the work was a fake.  There's more to the story but I'll let you hear it from the mouth of the playwright himself as you watch this month's real doctors, real people.

Archive footage from archive.org. Images of van Meegeren courtesy of www.meegeren.net.

Written by Nathan Clendenin for UNC Health Care

Cyclists, dancer, rock band, jazz musician, app developer, armor builder, Utimate Frisbee player, volunteer physician, mentor, horse lover and photographer are just a few of the ways to think of the real doctors, real people profiled in 2012. Though widely varying in activities, the UNC Health Care providers we met this year are unified in their desire for excellence and their passion for their patients.  Like many of us, they also wrestle with the difficulties of balancing their work life (with all of its various demands) with personal and family life.

As I reflect on the past year, and think about all the amazing people we've met and had the privilege to film, I feel blessed to be so well connected to the UNC Health Care family of physicians and others who make UNC the place it is today.

If you've got a spare few minutes, you might re-watch some of this year's profiles.  And stay tuned in late January to find out the results of the 2012 Mid-South Regional Emmy Awards, where UNC Health Care received three nominations (two for this series and one for RN: Real Nurses).

Now grab your favorite holiday drink or snack and enjoy watching a special year-in-review video featuring some of UNC's finest medical professionals!  Happy Holidays!

Written by Nathan Clendenin for UNC Health Care

Life for Josh Berkowitz, a third year resident in Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, is constantly at full speed.  If he's not with a patient at the hospital, in a clinic, or with his family being a husband and father -  then you'll find him on the field competing in Ultimate Frisbee.  The sport is as serious and competitive as you might find in any sport with long and intense practices, hours and hours of hard work put into personal training, and travel around the country or even overseas.

If you've never seen a game of Ultimate, then just imagine a cross between the intensity and constant play of a soccer game mixed with the end zones and passing of football.  A goal is scored when a team completes a pass to a player standing in the end zone they are attacking.  The players cannot run with the Frisbee and have 10 seconds to pass the Frisbee to another player.  There aren't many rules to the game and in fact it's interesting to note that the game is refereed entirely by the players themselves, even at the competition level.

If you've never played a game of Ultimate, then grab a disc and some friends and get going. It's a fun game that is as challenging as you want it to be!  Before that though, check out Berkowitz playing Ultimate with his team, Ring of Fire in this month's installment of real doctors, real people.

Being a physician is a difficult task, as most everyone would agree.  Being able to examine a patient and determine the cause of their symptoms is no small feat, which many refer to as more of an art than an exact science.  For a pediatrician, the difficulties of making an accurate diagnoses can be compounded because often, their little patients lack the ability to express themselves with words.

Jackie Patterson, a second year resident in Pediatrics, brings a special skill to the table when it comes to reading a patient, and that is non-verbal communication. Her life-long passion and dedication to dance has made her well versed in the art of reading someone’s body and gives her a special connection with her patients. She also makes a special impression on patients when she’s wearing her sparkling pink Tom’s shoes. She’s pretty well known around the hospital for them, not just by patients but staff as well!

Enjoy this month’s video on the art of non-verbal communication.