Sarah Pressman Lovinger, M.A., M.D., a Chicago native, has been writing and practicing medicine in community health centers for years. In addition to her work as the Fishbein Fellow at the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002-03, she has written about health and medicine for www.Medscape.com, www.TheScientist.com and www.Health-ITworld.com, and has written about the environment for www.afreshsqueeze.com (Chicago version), www.planetsave.com and www.ecopreneurist.com.
Believing that writing about health and the environment and caring for uninsured patients was still not doing enough to save the world, Sarah recently becoming the Executive Director of the Chicago chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. PSR won the Noble Peace Prize in 1985 for its nuclear disarmament work, and it is also dedicated to eradicating environmental toxins from the earth and stopping global warming. The Chicago Chapter of PSR regularly hosts speakers and plans events to keep Chicagoans informed about the public health aspects of global warming and nuclear threats.
Sarah, the founder of www.healthyplanethealthypeople.org, lives in Evanston with her husband and daughter.

Blog Entries by Sarah Lovinger

Hell, No -- Lieberman Has Got To Go!

1 Comments | Posted December 16, 2009 | 11:31 AM (EST)


Sen Joe Lieberman likes to take center stage whenever he can, it seems, and this time he is threatening to side with the Republicans, and filibuster the Senate's health care bill unless the Democrats drop expanded Medicare coverage and the public option from the proposed bill. Joe, I...

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Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Supports Human Health

4 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 02:33 PM (EST)


Today's announcement that President Obama won this year's Nobel Peace Prize not only strengthened the peace process, it also benefited human health worldwide.

Many of President Obama's efforts thus far to reduce and eventually eliminate the global stockpile of nuclear weapons could prove more beneficial than any other action...

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Iran's Nuclear Program Threatens Human Health

3 Comments | Posted September 27, 2009 | 11:32 AM (EST)


As news of Iran's nuclear program made headlines today and nuclear tensions increase, we must remind ourselves that nuclear war is not 'winnable,' and that only steps towards zero nuclear weapons will make America safe.

President Obama opened his talk at the G-20, according to the New York...

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White Supremacists Need Health Care, Too

5 Comments | Posted September 15, 2009 | 01:43 PM (EST)


In the 15 years I have been working as a doctor, I have probably not treated too many white supremacists. I have worked in community health centers in Boston and in the Chicago area, and most of my patients, who are mostly uninsured, are either African American or Latino/a. But...

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It's The Health Insurance Lobby, Stupid!

13 Comments | Posted August 27, 2009 | 05:24 PM (EST)


Would a mere $2,154,200 change how you voted on the health care reform bill? If that's not quite enough, would $3,973,485 or $8,994,077 be more to your liking? Ask Senators Kent Conrad, Max Baucus and John Kerry. These multi-million dollar sums represent total donations from the health insurance industry...

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One Doctor Goes To Great Lengths For Universal Health Insurance

24 Comments | Posted July 28, 2009 | 07:29 AM (EST)


Some people will do anything to advance the cause of universal health care in the United States. One dedicated doctor with blisters and sore muscles just completed a rather long walk for the cause--700 miles long.

Dr. Ogan Gurel set off from Chicago about one month ago, intent on walking...

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Health Care Rationing? The US Has Been Rationing Care for Years

13 Comments | Posted July 3, 2009 | 11:48 AM (EST)


Conservative pundits and politicians so quickly jump all over the Democrats' attempts to provide health care for all, bemoaning that any expansion of government programs will lead to health care rationing. Images of middle-aged men standing in line at the local hospital, clutching their chests and popping nitroglycerine pills while...

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Vaccines Save Lives: Here's Proof

25 Comments | Posted June 9, 2009 | 02:32 PM (EST)


Every medical student knows that a patient who has possibly contracted bacterial meningitis requires emergency spinal fluid testing and initiation of antibiotic treatment, and that one particular strain of bacterial meningitis, Neisseria meningitidis, can kill healthy humans within hours.

Six years ago, the Chicago Health Department embarked on an...

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Should a Former Playboy Model Trump an Experienced Health Care Expert? You Decide

1463 Comments | Posted May 22, 2009 | 07:08 PM (EST)


This weekend, Chicago-area parents wondering whether or not to vaccinate their babies, toddlers, school-age kids or teenagers face a tough decision when it comes to expert advice: should they listen to Jenny McCarthy or to their pediatrician? McCarthy is slated to give the key-note speech at the Autism One...

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The Chicago Flu Response: Preparedness Versus Overkill

3 Comments | Posted May 4, 2009 | 01:48 PM (EST)


What a difference a few days makes.

Last week, schools attended by children with probable H1N1 (swine) flu cases were shutting down in Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs. Hospital administrators were insisting on daily temperatures checks on all their employees, and sending home any employee who had an...

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