Skip to main content

Articles By leonard h calabrese

virus,injection,COVID,vaccine

Best of 2021: My Personal Delta COVID-19 Breakthrough Infection

As many of you are aware, I have written and spoken on COVID-19 extensively over these past 20 months, and just last month wrote about the dangers of the delta variant. In July, things took an unexpected turn when I developed a breakthrough infection with the delta variant.

Read Article
virus,injection,COVID,vaccine

My Personal Delta COVID-19 Breakthrough Infection

As many of you are aware, I have written and spoken on COVID-19 extensively over these past 20 months, and just last month wrote about the dangers of the delta variant. In July, things took an unexpected turn when I developed a breakthrough infection with the delta variant.

Read Article
wellness.png

The Immunologic Basis of Wellness in the COVID-19 Era

We indeed are living in interesting times and we all are seeking not to contract COVID-19 - this is logical. While our goal is to avoid infection, I think we all must agree that our aspirations must encompass more than disease avoidance. What we should be seeking now, as well, is more than absence of disease but rather a state of optimal wellness.

Read Article
houseofgod.jpg

Best of 2019 - The House of God After 40 Years: A Rheumatologist's Reflection

The House of God is probably more known of than read, with over 3 million copies sold since its release when I was a Chief Medical Resident in the era of its writing. The book itself, according to the author Samuel Schem (aka Steven Bergman, MD, DPhil), a psychiatrist and currently Professor of Humanities at NYU, is a true account of his internship, albeit laden with some liberties of fiction - and it's been quoted for generations. The House of God is cruelly funny and portrays many uncomfortable and dehumanizing aspects of medicine, including substance abuse, bawdy sex (and lots of it), sleeplessness, depression, and suicide to name a few. Taken at face value, it would seem countercultural to our current aspirations of putting patients first, #MeToo and burnout concerns. Is this book merely a humorous anachronistic rant, or a serious work of reflection meritorious of being read and pondered upon?

Read Article
houseofgod.jpg

The House of God After 40 Years: A Rheumatologist's Reflection

The House of God is probably more known of than read, with over 3 million copies sold since its release when I was a Chief Medical Resident in the era of its writing. The book itself, according to the author Samuel Schem (aka Steven Bergman, MD, DPhil), a psychiatrist and currently Professor of Humanities at NYU, is a true account of his internship, albeit laden with some liberties of fiction - and it's been quoted for generations. The House of God is cruelly funny and portrays many uncomfortable and dehumanizing aspects of medicine, including substance abuse, bawdy sex (and lots of it), sleeplessness, depression, and suicide to name a few. Taken at face value, it would seem countercultural to our current aspirations of putting patients first, #MeToo and burnout concerns. Is this book merely a humorous anachronistic rant, or a serious work of reflection meritorious of being read and pondered upon?

Read Article

Primo Vino and Rheumatology: The End of an Era

Last month, a momentous occurrence took place in Cleveland: after 35 years, the enoteca and restaurant, Primo Vino, closed its doors to make way for an exciting development in Cleveland’s Little Italy. Allow me to make the rheumatology connection. 

Read Article
Screen%20Shot%202017-06-26%20at%203.44.39%20PM.png

Wine and Food and the Rheumatologist: Notes from EULAR 2017 in Madrid

Many restaurants brag about various things, including their Michelin stars, their wine list, and their reviews, but Botin merely tells you it is the oldest restaurant in the world!  That’s a pretty great start and no doubt serves to remind you there is a reason that this place, situated in the medieval Austrias area of Madrid and founded by the Frenchman Jean Botín in 1725, is still there.

Read Article

Wine and the Rheumatologist: A Perfect Meal

I had dinner about a month ago in Phoenix with Peter Lipsky, an icon in rheumatology and who requires no introduction to my readers, where we discussed a rambling number of topics both rheumatologic (hence, the experience does qualify for a blog!) and non-rheumatologic.

Read Article
wine.jpg

Food and Wine and the Rheumatologist: The Microbiome and Natural Wine

Is the microbiome influenced by wines "terroir" (“the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate”)? Len Calabrese believes so.

Read Article
wine.jpg

Wine (and Food) and the Rheumatologist Attends EULAR 2016

After several months’ hiatus, I am back and writing about my recent trip to London. My past blogs centered on wine from my rheumatology-related trips and experiences. Moving forward I'm adding a culinary dimension; hence, it will be Wine, Food and the Rheumatologist. My bone fides? Well, I like to eat, that is for sure - but more than that, I like to cook. 

Read Article
×