Michelle Cohen

Contributor
Dr. Michelle Cohen is a family physician in Brighton, Ont., and an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Queen’s University. She is a writer and researcher on gender equity, health policy and wellness pseudoscience. Her upcoming book, Her Body, Her Cure: On the Personal & Political in Wellness Culture, will be released in early 2027.
8 Contributions
by Michelle Cohen

Cancer pseudoscience and the cultural moment

The word “cancer” strikes a particular kind of fear in people’s hearts and creates a thriving market for cancer scams. If you search “cancer treatments” on Facebook (one of the first prompts that appear if you type “cancer” into the search bar), you’re immediately fed videos on alternative therapies and recommended groups discussing “natural” versus conventional cancer care.
by Michelle Cohen

How Hollywood’s obsession with the ‘Dry Look’ harms men and boys

Increasingly distorted male beauty standards have come to celebrate visible dehydration as a physical ideal, posing a significant physiological and psychological danger for men and boys.

by Michelle Cohen

‘That Women Will Have the Same Opportunities as Men’

What the life stories of pioneering female physicians teach us about Canadian medical culture today
by Anne Borden King Michelle Cohen

Increase in online ADHD diagnoses for kids poses ethical questions

During the pandemic, Ontario swapped out in-clinic ADHD assessment and prescriptions for a virtual care model. Should we continue allowing it for kids?
by Cyndi Gilbert Michelle Cohen

Naturopathic doctors: Underutilized partners in public health and primary care

Naturopathic doctors (NDs) have an important role to play in the health-care system. We need a pilot project to assess the viability of ND integration into team-based primary care models.
by Michelle Cohen

The wellness profiteers of virtual health care

The virtual care industry has boomed in part due to the decline of primary care. But with it has come a host of wellness scams blurring the lines between evidence-based and unproven health-care remedies.

by Michelle Cohen

‘Violating Nature’s Health Laws’: How an eccentric early 20th century influencer set the stage for the COVID infodemic

Recognizing historical influences is just the start of tackling the social underpinnings of the infodemic. We must shed the legacy of the idea that a sick person ‘deserved it as a penalty for violating Nature’s health laws.
by Michelle Cohen

Gender segregation, pay inequity. Understanding the ‘pink-collar’ tier in medicine

Understanding the history of health care’s gender segregation, the basis for today’s “pink collar” tier of female-dominated specialties, could help current efforts to improve pay equity in medicine.

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