Leonard Zwelling

The Ropes of Kol Nidre By Leonard Zwelling             Kol Nidre is the holiest night of the Jewish calendar as it begins the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Like all Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur begins at sundown of the previous day. This Kol Nidre evening, I spent at the service held by the Orthodox Chabad […]

$85 a Head By Leonard Zwelling             On the road to retirement, one learns about many gifts the institution grants you on the way out the door.             First, I got an email asking me which tangible gift I would like: a captain’s chair, a rocking chair, a certificate or some crystal statuary or something.

Putin’s Play By Leonard Zwelling             You gotta hand it to the old KGB hand.  Sometimes it’s the bad guys who know when to rush to the rescue.             The American President has made a mess of foreign policy, albeit in a very complex part of the world, the Middle East. It is not uncommon

Stayin’ Alive By Leonard Zwelling             “You never know when you will have to run the marathon”.             This is one of the favorite sayings of my good friend Dr. Martin Raber, former Vice President and Physician-in-Chief of MD Anderson. We are the two ex-VPs you will see wandering around the Westwood Golf Course on

Self, Mommy By Leonard Zwelling             When my kids were little, they, like all children, were wholly dependent upon my wife and I for their every need. Then, at some point, they began to express a small degree of self-sufficiency. It could be in feeding themselves or walking alone or even the use of the

Boyz n the Hoodz By Leonard Zwelling             Grab your hard hat and follow me, kids, as we go to ChemistryLand.             This Magic Kingdom is not in Orlando or even LaLa Land. It’s right here on the South Campus on the third floor of the building containing the small office that I will be

Cancer Medicine 2013: Why I Am Getting Out Now             In 1971, when Dr. Kleinerman and I were first dating, she asked me what I was going to be.             “A medical oncologist”, I said.             She roared with laughter and said, “you’re no oncologist”.             As I have come to learn in the ensuing

Get It Back! By Leonard Zwelling             Readers of this blog know that my favorite television series is HBO’s The Newsroom. It is in its second season now and the plot this year revolves around a very big story that the CNN-like network got very wrong. The details of what they got wrong were laid

Institutional PTSD By Leonard Zwelling          The signs and symptoms are irrefutable.          The Mayo Clinic web site sums it up very well:             Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are generally grouped into three types: intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increased anxiety or emotional arousal (hyperarousal).          Can there be any doubt that the faculty

Decide By Leonard Zwelling             Leaders lead. Faced with a series of possible choices, often difficult, nuanced, and uncertain in predictable outcome, a leader must decide on a course of action. Even doing nothing is a choice.             For many months, the Assad government in Syria has been engaged in a civil war with rebels