Author Laura Christianson

Two years ago, I wanted to reduce the amount of material being thrown into disposal bins at the end of operative procedures at my institution’s hospital. After I spoke with all the parties involved—supply...

When a medical student has time to read, what does she read? Today’s Top Reads comes from Hippo Medical Correspondent Laura Christianson, with books featuring empathy, inspired wisdom, service work, and...

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law in March 2010, more than 15 million Americans who didn’t have health insurance before the law have signed on. Expanded coverage, however, does not...

As a medical student, I'm perpetually absorbing knowledge taught to me...What all of these teachings share is a certainty that there are problems, and that medical students can learn – through lectures and textbooks and research – how to fix them. I'm still not clear why we're making the attribution of one thing as a problem, and another as the solution.

“How do we get patients in need of care to the people who best know how to take care of them? The logistical operations required, especially in large urban settings, make the answer to this question complex.” In this curation, medical student Laura Christianson addresses hospital workflows and how treatment timelines can impact diagnoses.

Surgery is nothing like you see on TV—what is the modern-day Operating Room like and what innovations are impacting surgical techniques and perspectives? In this interview, Dr. Alexander Langerman of the University of Chicago Hospital elucidates what happens behind the curtain.

Treating the causes of disease requires understanding patients as part of complex systems. In this piece, medical student Laura Christianson explores alternative medicine’s reach—from infertility to cardiovascular disease.