Do you work in a research lab? Do you think the sciences and the humanities have more in common than most people think? Then you should submit to the 2025 Art of Science contest here at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The competition is open to GW SMHS medical students, graduate students, and postdocs. Submissions should reflect original research here at SMHS, and each person can submit one image. If your work is selected as a winner, you can win a cash prize. Previous winners have also had their work displayed in Ross Hall and Himmelfarb Library.
Baker RE, Mahmud AS, Miller IF, et al. Infectious disease in an era of global change. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2022;20(4):193-205. doi:10.1038/s41579-021-00639-z
Barr, I.G., Subbarao, K. Implications of the apparent extinction of B/Yamagata-lineage human influenza viruses. npj Vaccines9, 219 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-024-01010-y
When it comes to research, countless platforms are available. However, not every resource is for the same purpose, and some databases are designed for specific tasks. Today, I wanted to take a closer look at a resource that people might know less about: Haz-Map.
Haz-Map focuses on occupational health, where professionals and consumers can look up potential impacts of workplace exposures. Using multiple types of scientific publications, such as textbooks, journal articles, and other databases, Haz-Map makes it easier to develop a differential for various types of exposures. One can search Haz-Map using their general search function, or by searching by agent, disease, job, and a variety of other categories.
However, Haz-Map doesn’t just include workplace hazards: it also includes chemical hazards and occupational diseases for a wide variety of hobbies, environments, and even some activities. Drinking water from a private well? Arsenic, lead, nitrates, and nitrites may pose a problem. Have a patient dealing with a skin rash who has recently gotten into taxidermy? Best to consider one of the many chemicals involved in taxidermy as a suspect.
When you look at a disease or agent in Haz-Map, it will provide an entry that includes a link to a pre-built PubMed search on the subject and occupational disease, symptoms, jobs it is related to, and other important information. Let’s take a look at the entry for plague:
Here we can see the name of the condition, some basic information regarding it, and the PubMed search link. If we scroll past the comments, we get even more information, including a reference image and the link to OSHA’s entry on the plague.
At the bottom of the page, we have the linked articles to this entry, which are symptoms, job tasks, and agents linked to the plague. This can help us browse more resources related to our reference needs without needing to run a new search.
So next time you’re looking for information related to exposures or occupational hazards, give Haz-Map a try!
As a child, I was always thrilled when my parents told me we’d be making a trip to our local library. From a young age, I was a massive bookworm, and going to the library meant adding even more texts to my already completed summer reading challenge. Holding a stack of books as high as I could carry (a restriction placed on me by my mother who knew I’d max out the allowed loans if allowed to use a bag), I’d stride up to the check out counter and wait impatiently for the librarian to finish stamping each book so we could go to the car and I could get started reading from my literary horde. More than one passerby remarked that I was going to grow up to be one of two professions: a librarian or a teacher.
As everyone can see now, I eventually settled into the role of a librarian. And while my position here allows me access to a variety of great books and online resources, I still made a point to get a public library card upon moving to the area.
September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. While you don’t need to sign up for a card to use Himmelfarb’s services (your GWid does that for you), I’d highly recommend that you consider picking up a DC Public Library card while you study here. Residents of the District itself are eligible for a card, as are residents of nearby counties in Maryland and Virginia.
But why sign up for a public library card? While Himmelfarb can offer plenty of material for your academic pursuits, the public library offers resources such as job coaching, crafting classes, and even streaming music. The DC Public Library system also offers events which can vary from classes to game and book clubs. You can also get online access to magazines and newspapers.
There are multiple different DC library locations, the closest being the West End Neighborhood Library. I recently took a trip there and found a nice open space with plenty of room to study, work, talk with friends, and even grab a coffee at an attached cafe. DVDs were available for checkout, a great alternative to signing up for four different streaming services to find one movie. A puzzle for the community to complete was situated by the entrance, similar to the puzzle we offer here at Himmelfarb. The new book shelf showed all the latest editions and best of all, informed me that a mystery novel I read last winter was in fact a series, with the latest installment sitting on the shelf.
How do you sign up for a DC Public Library card? You can fill out a form online or in person. After that, you have 90 days to bring a current picture ID and proof of current address to any library location to validate your card. Once you’ve gone through those steps, you’ll have a permanent card.
So next time you need a study break or just want to study somewhere new, take a quick walk over to the DC Public Library and sign up. Meanwhile, I’ll be here with my new mystery novel, enjoying another stellar find from our friendly public library.
With the start of the semester, we here at Himmelfarb wanted to provide everyone with some tips and tricks for studying.
Looking for more academic help? Many schools offer services to assist students. School of Medicine students should explore what's available from the Office of Student Support, and School of Nursing should check out the Student Success Resource Hub. Undergraduates students across schools should consider the array of services and resources available via the Office for Student Success.
Almost everyone in the world has experienced a headache. People get them for a lot of reasons: illness or a head injury are common causes (1). But for people with headache disorders and migraines, headaches are a chronic illness that interferes with day-to-day life.
There are quite a few types of headache disorders, but one of the most common is a migraine. But what is a migraine? Migraines are episodic headaches that present with other symptoms like nausea or sensitivity to light or sound. They can also present with or without an aura. Migraines also usually come in phases: the premonitory phase, the headache phase, and the postdrome phase (2).
But what causes migraines? We don’t exactly know the exact cause, but many migraine sufferers, myself included, tend to notice common patterns to their headaches, which are called triggers. For example, cigarette smoke is one of my worst migraine triggers, and if I can’t get away from the smoke fast, I know I’m due for a head full of pain. Migraine triggers are varied and include smells, different types of food, hormonal shifts, and even changes in barometric pressure (2).
Headache disorders like migraines can present huge problems to patients. In fact, migraines are a common cause of disability; the condition affects 15% of women and 6% of men each year (2). These disorders are also undertreated, which increases the burden on those living with these conditions (3).
I have plenty of personal experience with migraines; I’ve suffered from them since I was a kid. When a thunderstorm is coming in, a headache comes with it. Like many of my fellow migraine sufferers, I have learned to live with my attacks: I’m rarely without emergency pain medication, and I’ve worked to identify and avoid triggers as much as possible. Since it’s National Headache and Migraine Awareness month, I thought I’d share some of those tips with everyone.
Identify Triggers: It’s good to look for patterns when it comes to migraines. While there is a risk of inflating correlation with causation, if you notice you get a migraine every time you eat a certain food, it might be worthwhile to cut it out of your diet and see if the frequency of migraines continues.
Keep a log: Some sufferers recommend keeping a “headache journal” where one tracks their headaches, what happened before it, the level of pain of the attack, how long it lasted, and what helped make the pain better. You can do this with an old-fashioned pen and paper journal but there are also plenty of apps you can download that do the same thing.
Be prepared: You can’t control your headaches, but you can better prepare for them. Keep any medication you might need in an attack on you if possible. Have a plan to get home if they are debilitating enough to interfere with driving.
Talk to your doctor: Your doctor might be able to help you identify the cause of your headaches, and if not, prescribe preventive medication that might reduce the frequency of your attacks. They can also talk about potential lifestyle changes that might help.
Raffaelli B, Rubio-Beltrán E, Cho SJ, et al. Health equity, care access and quality in headache - part 2. J Headache Pain. 2023;24(1):167. Published 2023 Dec 13. doi:10.1186/s10194-023-01699-7
While the big Pride parade might be over here in DC, there are still nineteen more days of Pride month to go. With that in mind, I wanted to expand on a panel that was in our recent Pride month comic.
Image from NIH website
The AIDS memorial quilt, composed of 1,920 panels, was displayed on the National Mall on October 11th, 1987(1). The quilt began as a project by Cleve Jones in 1985 to remember those who had died of AIDS and includes 50,000 panels total. Panels were handmade by friends and families of those who died from the epidemic (1)(2), and some panels were designed by those who would go on to die of AIDS while they were sick with the disease, such as the panel made by Duane Kearns Puryear (3). Each panel is different, but most feature the name of the person being remembered and details about who they were.
Image taken from citation 3
Jones' original idea was writing names on placards. When he and his fellow activists taped the placards onto the San Francisco federal building, the display ended up looking like a patchwork quilt, which spawned the larger quilt project (2).
The project has inspired other work. Just this year, the American Civil Liberties union showcased quilts made by transgender people and their allies on the National Mall to celebrate trans joy ,and resilience (4) (5).
If you wish to view the original AIDS quilt, you can do so online at the National AIDS Memorial.
Lorde JWJ “J” W is a staff writer for the magazine T spent the summer researching the prismatic afterlives of A, Durham traveled to, N.C., Biographer TST with HN, Gumbs the poet AP. The Afterlives of Audre Lorde. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/magazine/audre-lorde-biography-legacy.html. August 22, 2024. Accessed June 4, 2025.
Wall CSJ, Patev AJ, Benotsch EG. Trans broken arm syndrome: A mixed-methods exploration of gender-related medical misattribution and invasive questioning. Soc Sci Med. 2023;320:115748. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115748
Gatos KC. A Literature Review of Cervical Cancer Screening in Transgender Men. Nursing for Women’s Health. 2018;22(1):52-62. doi:10.1016/j.nwh.2017.12.008
Russon J, Washington R, Machado A, Smithee L, Dellinger J. Suicide among LGBTQIA+ youth: A review of the treatment literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior. 2022;64:101578. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2021.101578
Congratulations to the Class of 2025! Thursday, May 14th, marked the beginning of Commencement here at George Washington University. Events will run through Sunday, as we celebrate the hard work and dedication of our students finishing their studies here. Check out the full schedule of events for full details of events.
Here at Himmelfarb, we would like to send our heartfelt congratulations to the students in the School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. We’ve been honored to work with you throughout your years here at George Washington, and we wish you the best as you transition into your future careers or educational pursuits.
For those graduating this weekend, check out our Alumni resources page. While you might no longer be a student here, there are plenty of resources still available to you as an alumnus. We will miss your presence in our classrooms and library, and hope you look upon your experience fondly as you step into the next chapter of your lives.
