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As physician-scientists who conduct research on the impact of urban environments on health and safety, we are troubled by the casual disparagement of the Biden administration’s proposal to plant trees in communities that lack them. The overall mocking tone of some criticisms of “tree equity” would be easy to ignore if our surroundings, generally, and trees, specifically, did not have a profound influence on our physical, mental and social health. But they indisputably do. Equally indisputable is the fact that trees are not evenly distributed across communities. Formerly redlined Black neighborhoods have the least amount of green space today, while predominantly White neighborhoods have seen an increase in tree canopy cover. (Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako and Eugenia C. South, 12/9)

In the course of just a few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on abortion access. The first, SB 8, is a Texas law banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The second, Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is a Mississippi law banning abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy. Both cases could bring an end to the ability to access abortion as a federal right. While the constitutional fight continues in court, there is another opportunity in the coming days for the federal government to help maintain abortion access: by allowing people to get abortion pills as soon as they need them. (Ushma Upadhyay, 12/10)

Imagine being unable to obtain medication from your pharmacy that you desperately need and must take daily. Imagine if there was no insulin available for several days in a row, week after week; or no medication to treat your high blood pressure. Now imagine being unable to obtain your medication in time to stave off an extremely painful and dangerous withdrawal because you suffer from opioid use disorder. This is the situation facing our patients who rely on daily medication to keep them healthy. Known as MAT, for Medication-Assisted Treatment, the medication is a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone that blocks the effects of opioids and diminishes physical dependency on them. (Deborah Agus, 12/9)

After a decade of horrific abuse by her husband, Ms. A. felt she had no choice but to flee with her children to the United States, where she was greeted with a complex, multi-stage asylum process that required her to prove that her trauma amounted to persecution. In a system in which only a minority of applicants prevail, a forensic medical evaluation helped Ms. A. attain asylum. (Nermeen S. Arastu and Holly G. Atkinson, 12/10)

I accompanied my wife to a doctor’s appointment the other day. We were there for a little over an hour. When we got home my wife expressed how she didn’t feel like her concerns were dealt with during her visit. We were already scheduled for a follow up so I mentioned that she should write down all the questions she wanted to ask that weren’t answered during the appointment. While we do have insurance, each individual visit will accrue more cost just to figure out the one question we had going into the first appointment. For the price that we pay for healthcare no one should leave a doctor’s office and not feel like their issues were fully addressed. (Kenneth Mapp, 12/9)

While politicians have been battling transgender groups over restrooms and sports teams, a quieter, more scientific dispute has been taking place, and it may have taken a Dallas clinic down with it. Recently, officials at Children’s Medical Center Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center announced that the Genecis clinic would no longer accept new patients for puberty suppression or hormone therapy. Genecis, which stands for Gender Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support, provided mental health counseling and hormone therapy to patients experiencing gender dysphoria. That’s a condition, as described by Randi Kaufman, a 20-year veteran of the field, as a persistent conflict between biology and psychology. (12/10)

Our community advocates program utilizes students to help navigate key social determinants of health needs for patients in our facilities and clinics. With students from varying geographies, fields of studies and backgrounds, we have been able to do two key things: foster a workforce that understands and has the desire to impact care transformation among the underserved, and provide our patients with additional resources that really close a loop in a relaxed, empathetic way. (Niki Shah, 12/7)