Dr. Pauline Chen recently interviewed Dr. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of medical anthropology and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kleinman stated that: "Culture works at all levels. It affects health disparities, communication and interactions in the doctor-patient relationship, the illness experience and health care outcomes.”

Dr. Kleinman's quotation summarizes the vital message of Dr. Chen's column that doctors and hospitals need to take with them: It is important that we understand the different diseases that can affect Americans who come from different countries.

The case that Dr. Chen uses is that of a family of Chinese-Americans whose family tree is slowly waning, due to liver cancer caused by hepatitis B.  The family is slowly dying out in part because doctors failed to recognize the fact that the family's history of hepatitis B -- a common occurrence in Chinese --- was killing the family.

One way to help with your knowledge is to check out Allmed's Web site which offers an incredible breadth of in-depth knowledge about diseases and their treatments.

To read the full column, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/health/16chen.html?ref=views