Robin Warshaw

In quick succession, Jonise Louis received a breast cancer diagnosis, found out she was pregnant, and then learned her cancer was metastatic. She talked with me about finding the right medical care and emotional support, as well as advocating for greater cancer education and help in Haitian American communities. This article, written in 2023, is one of many I've written for Living Beyond Breast Cancer.

Racism, racial injustice, and racist treatment practices are woven into psychiatry’s history up to the present day. That’s why racism continues to deeply affect mental health for people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Two Columbia University physicians looked at why psychiatrists need to consider how structural racism and other racist experiences affect their patients' lives and depression.

Los Angeles has more than 58,000 homeless adults and children. This case study looks at a multi-pronged "housing first" program that combines efforts from public departments to help homeless residents gain stability, improve their living situations, and address health issues. One in a series of case studies I wrote for the Center for Health Care Strategies, a nonprofit policy center.

Receiving a breast cancer diagnosis at age 43 stirred reminders of shame and hateful taunts Shangrong Lee had experienced growing up. She talked with me about using running and online connections to strengthen herself and her mental health.

"We would like a white doctor, please," said the parent of a pediatric patient to an African American physician. Discrimination and overt bigotry from patients is not often discussed among doctors or in medical school, yet many physicians experience it. Winner of the ASJA Article Award 2018 in the trade publication category.

Ground-breaking work looking at the reality of rape between people who know each other. 3rd edition, updated, and e-book published in 2019. Kirkus Reviews called my original book, "Provocative and important," while the San Francisco Chronicle reviewer said, "Painstakingly researched...chilling."

Young women aren't supposed to experience bone loss, just as they aren't supposed to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet those conditions are related and they both happened to Kiana Wooten. Vital breast cancer treatments may thin and weaken bones — especially if the therapies reduce or block estrogen. My profile of Kiana and what she did about the effects of treatment on her bone health.

Lisa Singh, research professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, thrives on making sense of the data found in online messages. My article on Singh and her research, for McCourt's Policy Perspectives magazine, looks at how millions of tweets on COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter provide insight into misinformation, disease spread, social movement growth, and more.

There's more than one way to ease cancer pain. What works for one person may differ from what works for someone else, even with the same cancer diagnosis or type of pain. This article looks at current and near-future approaches to treat pain from cancer and side effects from therapies.

Women now equal men in medical school enrollment across the U.S. Yet that parity hasn't fixed what women in medicine still face: gender discrimination, sexual harassment, lower pay and fewer leadership positions. My cover story for the magazine of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University--the last U.S. medical school to admit women (in 1961).

Even if you have chronic medical conditions or are older than 65 (or 75 or 85), you can donate your organs after death and help some of the 113,000+ people on the U.S. transplant waiting list.

Rural Americans—who make up at least 15 to 20% of the U.S. population—face inequities that result in worse health care than that of urban and suburban residents.
These rural health disparities are deeply rooted in economic, social, racial, ethnic, geographic, and health workforce factors.