Currently, there are over 110 student-run free medical clinics operated by over 49 U.S. medical schools. This story, which aired January 26, 2014 on WFYI's “Sound Medicine,” goes behind the scenes of a student-run medical clinic in Chicago and exposes the ethical challenges facing the facility and clinics all over the country.

The Challenges Faced by Student-Run Medical Clinics (aired 01/26/2014 on WFYI's “Sound Medicine")

Diabetes among African-Americans has reached epidemic proportions. The problem is especially pronounced in the inner-city where there are barriers to accessing healthy foods and participating in physical activity.  

In Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has teamed up with African-American churches to prevent diabetes among adult parishioners. I visited one church, Gospel Tabernacle, and filed this report.

(This story aired on WFYI's Sound Medicine on November 13, 2011.)

Going After Diabetes in African-American Churches (aired November 13, 2011 on WFYI's Sound Medicine)

Most of the 49 million Americans without health insurance have nowhere to turn for care. 

But for Baltimore's uninsured, there is a place that provides quality integrative health care without any co-pays, deductibles, or premiums. That place is Shepherd's Clinic, and it has provided an invaluable service to the community for the last 20 years. 

(This story aired on WFYI's Sound Medicine on January 29, 2012.)

A Unique Health Care Clinic for the Uninsured (aired January 29, 2012 on WFYI's Sound Medicine)

The ALIVE Study, or AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience, is celebrating 25 years of research into HIV and injection drug use. Run by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, it's the longest running study of its kind. A large part of the study's success can be attributed to a woman whose job it is to track down the most transient participants. I shadowed her as she looked for people who had missed their visits, and, along the way, learned about her amazing journey from heroin user to valued employee. 

For more information about the ALIVE Study: http://www.jhsph.edu/research/affiliated-programs/AIDS-linked-to-the-intravenous-experience/.

This story aired June 24, 2012 on WFYI's Sound Medicine: http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment/3294/What-is-the-secret-behind-the-ALIVE-program-s-success.

Staying ALIVE in Baltimore (aired June 24, 2012 on WFYI's Sound Medicine)

Five blocks south of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, in a sea of abandoned rowhomes, there stands a relatively new four-story brick building. In the world of AIDS research, it’s well known as the home of ALIVE, the longest running study of HIV and injection drug use. But to one woman who works there, the 25-year-old project means so much more. She might even say, redemption. 

I recently scoured the streets of Baltimore with Queen, a former heroin user who is now a “tracker” for the community-based ALIVE study. ALIVE, which stands for AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience, is run by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. One reason for ALIVE’s longevity and success? The short, streetwise, 59-year-old dreadlocked dynamo named Bertha Queen, known to pretty much everyone as “Bert.”

The original story and pictures (by Hanna Jamal) can be found on the Baltimore Brew's website: http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2012/07/10/brew-audio-the-queen-of-east-baltimore/.

The Queen of East Baltimore (for the Baltimore Brew)

I'm a Chicago-based third year medical student, single payer activist, and independent radio producer interested in urban issues, public health, science, and history. From 2006 to 2007, I interned for Radio Lab. From 2007 to 2008, I was an assistant producer on WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show. I started producing my own stories in 2011. You can contact me at scott at srgoldberg.net.

Scott Goldberg