The Penn Stater Magazine

Dr. Jay Takes Off

March 11, 2009 at 4:15 pm Ryan Jones 2 comments

If you haven’t already seen it, our March/April issue features a profile of Jay Parkinson, a 2002 Hershey Medical School graduate who recently started an innovative medical practice in Brooklyn, N.Y. The piece (written by Brooklyn-based writer Michael Weinreb ’94) does a pretty good job explaining Parkinson’s innovative approach to health care—an approach that has earned him tons of attention (from the New York Times, Village Voice, and GOOD Magazine, among many others), lots of admirers, and more than a few skeptics.

I met Parkinson about 18 months ago doing some initial reporting on this story, and while I lack the expertise to evaluate the merit of all his ideas, I can absolutely vouch for his commitment to finding creative ways to improving American health care. Agree with his approach or not (he doesn’t take health insurance and rails against the insurance and pharmaceutical industries), one of the things you have to admire about Parkinson is his accessibility; it’s one of the cornerstones of his practice, Hello Health, where patients can IM, email, call, or text Parkinson or one of his colleagues at anytime and expect an almost immediate response.

It’s only fitting that such a plugged-in doc has his own, very active blog, on which he gives his take on health care issues, promotes cool Web 2.0 resources, and recommends movies and music he likes.

Our favorite recent post? This one, of course.

Ryan Jones, senior editor

Entry filed under: Famous Penn Staters, Hershey Medical Center, The Penn Stater magazine. Tags: GOOD Magazine, health care, Hello Health, Jay Parkinson, Michael Weinreb, New York Times, Village Voice, Web 2.0.