The MetroWest Daily News discussed how a new outpatient procedure, Enteryx, could eliminate the need for heartburn medications. Doug Pleskow, M.D., gastroenterology, detailed recent successes.

The Boston Globe ran a piece on the over-the-counter heartburn drug Prilosec that included an interview with Helen Shields, M.D., gastroenterology. Shields discussed adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, “the big issue in reflux disease today.”

John Halamka, M.D., chief medical information officer, discussed the success of BIDMC’s information systems group in keeping the “Blaster” Internet worm at bay in a story carried by the IDG News Service.

Gregg Jacobs, Ph.D., neurology/sleep clinic, was interviewed by The Boston Herald for a story dealing with stress and sleep deprivation.

The Boston Globe detailed efforts by Joyce Sackey-Acheampong, M.D., general medicine, and her husband, to improve the care of HIV/AIDS patients in Ghana and parts of Africa. The couple, formerly from Ghana, founded the Foundation for African Relief.

Mary Anne Badaracco, M.D., psychiatry, discussed the increased use of EDs by mental health patients in an interview with The Boston Globe.

David Avigan, M.D., hematology/oncology was featured in a Boston Globe story about his patient, Sharon Steiff, and her search for a bone marrow donor.

The Lancet ran an article by Rafael Campo, M.D., general medicine, in which the physician and poet discussed his Cuban roots, his own poetry, interaction with patients, and the impact it all has had on him as a physician.

CareGroup Vice President and CFO John Szum discussed the group’s financial recovery in a Modern Healthcare story that addressed institutional health – and included Moody’s Investors Service improved outlook for the organization.

The Needham Times detailed continued efforts by that town’s Eat Well/Be Fit Committee to help residents slim down and become healthier. Lonny Townley, public affairs, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham, noted that Needhamites have become one of the healthier populations in Massachusetts.

The Boston Globe discussed how BIDMC was able to raise $11,865 for its social work department with an employee raffle for tickets to a recent Bruce Springsteen show at Fenway Park. Winners included Nick Papastamos/IS, Virginia Sheppard/Pre-Admission Testing, Christine Carr/General Medicine, Barbara Maciejewski/Case Management, Kimberly Phillips/Oncology, Chelsea MacFarlane/GI.

Joseph Kannam., M.D., cardiology, and Peter Ostrow, M.D., pulmonary, discussed the clinical integration of departments at BIDMC and BID-Needham, in a Needham Times story leading up to the one-year anniversary of the affiliation. President and CEO Paul Levy and BID-Needham Board Chair Christophe Hoffman discussed the progress on administrative fronts.

The merits of portion control and the problems associated with “supersizing” were addressed by George Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine, in an article in USA Today.

Terry Strom, M.D., immunology, discussed the unique nature of a triple swap of kidneys performed at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in an article carried by the Associated Press newswire.

Research from the lab of Kun Ping Lu, M.D., Ph.D., medicine, that discovered an enzyme that helps brain cells function normally and protects against Alzheimer’s, was highlighted on the Reuters newswire and on the BBC.

A study authored by Mark D. Aronson, M.D., general medicine, showing that prescribing antibiotics for a sore throat without testing for the strep bacteria is the least effective and mostly costly strategy for dealing with pharyngitis, was noted in The Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Tom Delbanco, M.D., general medicine, discussed his treatment of hypochondria in an article written for The New Yorker by Jerome Groopman, M.D., experimental medicine.

Advance for Nurses spent an evening at Boston’s Fenway Park observing the work of the emergency department team that staffed the first aid station, which that night included Julie Fahey, RN, Bob Rostedt, RN, Jason Tracy, M.D., and Richard Wolfe, M.D.

Margot Kruskall, M.D., pathology, discussed human chimerism, a rare condition where two separately fertilized eggs originally destined to become twins instead fuse in the uterus to form a single living infant. The interview was carried on WBUR-FM and on National Public Radio outlets across the nation.

Lissa Kapust, LICSW, behavioral neurology, discussed BIDMC’s DriveWise program, which helps elders and others with physical and psychological impairments determine if they are still capable of driving, in an interview on "CN8 Nitebeat" on Comcast cable television outlets across Massachusetts.