Jacqueline Phillips, MD

  Wow! Happy New Year, TVD friends! Well, there can be no question that we are all (very) ready to put 2020 behind us. In the spirit of this, we are exploring a new section here in these pages, to build upon the Hope and Grace section of our website, to honor the good and

  Holiday greetings, TVD friends! Although it is difficult to get into the holiday spirit this week, it is more important than ever. COVID is surging, people are anxious, sheltering-in-place has taken on a new sense of urgency… and your friends, family and loved ones need your support more than ever. Please reach out to

Reinfection reports are still rare but steadily growing around the world, and they’re likely underreported. There have been confirmed cases of reinfection in Hong Kong, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ecuador. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that “cases of reinfection with COVID-19 have been reported, but remain rare” in the United States.

  December greetings, TVD friends, “Happy Holidays” feels a little early, but true nonetheless! And I want to emphasize the “Happy” as the holidays can be difficult time. If there was a time to “reach out and (not physically!) touch someone”, this is it (sorry, showing my age, see this 1979 TV commercial). But seriously,

  Friends of TVD, I hope you all had a wonderful, delicious, and socially distanced, Thanksgiving. As I reflect on this year, and its myriad challenges, I am still struck that I have much to be THANKFUL for, including my relationship with all of you. In addition, I am thankful for all of the good

    Happy and Grateful Thanksgiving, TVD friends, Selected thoughts, and wishes. for a healthy and happy day of thanks. “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” — GK Chesterton “‘Enough’ is a feast.” — Buddhist Proverb “Gratitude turns what we have into

    Time to pass the gravy, stuffing, and perhaps some pumpkin pie. COVID-19 (pounds) here we come. But let me recommend that the people around your Thanksgiving table be only those currently inside your “quarantine bubble”. Much as it pains me to say, having family and friends come into your bubble from outside is

    Hopeful (yet careful) greetings, TVD friends, Hopeful! Most of you have read about the preliminary report from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, regarding their candidate COVID-19 vaccine. In a placebo-controlled trial involving 44,000 patients (so far) an interim analysis not only showed protection but at a level of 90%. This would be

    Peaceful electoral greetings, friends and patients of TVD! “As soon as a presidential winner is officially called (AP), we should take down any and all candidate signs from our yards and put out flags, large and small. The flag belongs to us all, not to one party. E pluribus unum. It is time

    Electoral greetings, friends, and patients of TVD! By the time you read next week’s newsletter, it will be November already, and what I might argue is the most consequential national election of our lifetimes will be just behind us. So my message for this week is simple, and important: #VOTE! Oh, the soapbox

Healthy greetings, friends and patients of TVD, Oh, the soap box beckons, but I must resist… but don’t you wish we had a national, cogent, and evidence-based plan for balancing the health and economic consequences of this pandemic? Until then, this is pretty good: Hands. Face. Space. From our friends at the Department of Health

Healthy greetings, friends and patients of TVD, Love living in “the valley”. See image above, of a billboard courtesy of Santa Clara County. 😀 Silicon Valley is the land of the entrepreneur, which leads me to give another shout out to Steve Kirsch and his COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund (CETF), which is administered by Rockefeller

Healthy greetings, friends and patients of TVD, As you know, I try to keep this newsletter “topical”, and what could be more in the news than 1) flu season and the recommendation for getting your flu shot, and 2) COVID-19 exposure and testing: timing, accuracy, best practices. Read on to learn more. But lest we

“Winter is Coming”… OK, so this reference is a bit out of date, but the meme makes up for it. AND, due to COVID-19, getting a flu shot this year is more important than ever. The CDC estimates that between 36,000 and 61,000 people in the U.S. died from the flu last year. To put