Dr. Turek's Blog

Don’t Stop Asking Why

I’ve been called a “disruptor” before, but I’ve never considered myself a “visionary.” To my surprise, I was recently called just that, and by colleagues about whom I might use the same term. Quite flattering, really. Meeting of Minds We met just outside of Washington, at the invitation of the NIH and CDC, to discuss […]

Male “Prenatal” Vitamins: More Than Just a Pill

For how long have women been taking “prenatal” vitamins? Maybe a decade? Nope. A link between vitamin deficiency and pregnancy outcomes was postulated 70 years ago! And studies showing fewer neural tube defects in babies following maternal folic acid supplementation are now almost 40 years old. Indeed, prenatal vitamins have become a clutch player in the world of preventative medicine. […]

What Happens When Boys Become Men

Let’s talk for a moment about life cycles. Companies have them, markets have them, and products have them. The trajectories for many product life cycles generally progress through well-defined stages: Introduction, growth, maturity and decline. I dare say that as boys become men, their health care shows a remarkably similar curve. Men’s Health Lifecycle Don’t […]

What We Did When We Stood Up

We are flesh and blood like a million other animals. So what makes us human? The opposable thumb. Standing on two feet. Losing that tail. Inventing the wheel, and maybe even the iPhone. Speaking in tongues. Laughter. Altruism. And for men, add to this the varicocele. It’s Too Darn Hot That’s right, the var-i-ko-seal. A […]

FNA Mapping: A Tool for the Trade

Do you have a favorite tool? Maybe a great cooking pot or utensil that really works for you. Possibly a shiny, worn and weathered but perfectly performing baseball glove, or a dinged and pockmarked surfboard that handles virtually every swell. Whether you’re a carpenter and fan of curly maple, or a car hobbyist who likes […]

Walking For Hope and Adding Heartbearts to Life

Do you know what’s running through my mind when taking care of men every day? How about asset allocation, expense ratios, compound interest and amortization. Although not possessing a finance degree, I see myself as a financial planner of sorts… for heartbeats. Increasing the number of heartbeats that men have over a lifetime is my […]

Male Sperm Infertility San Francisco

Behind Every Egg is A Sperm

The early bird gets the worm (Courtesy Shutterstock) It’s a tenet of American culture that if you try hard, you’ll succeed. “Hard work pays off.” “The early bird gets the worm.” “No goal met without sweat.” But try telling this to sperm! Sperm Are People Too Evidence now suggests that simply looking good and moving with a swagger […]

Brosectomy®: A Special March Madness Bro Weekend

Here’s a notion from the natural world: there’s safety in numbers. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. But why is mass behavior safer? Apparently because having many eyes allows for earlier threat recognition and herds offer dilution of danger to individuals within it. Even in humans,

Artificial Sperm Reinvented

Do you really know that the world isn’t flat? C’mon, tell the truth. In fact, debate raged on whether the earth is flat or spherical from the 8th century BC well into the second millennium (1520) AD, well over 2000 years! Magellan and scientific proof ended up nailing the truth. In the mystical words of […]