2025 year in review: opinions that made an impact
4 minute read
in canada, men are twice as likely as women to die from preventable causes, amounting to more than 75,000 boys and men who die too young each year.
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every week throughout december, the healthing team will share some of our most memorable stories of 2025. in this edition, we take a look at opinions that made an impact.
challenging the status quo is how we collaborate and envision a better way forward. by voicing opinions, we can reach out to others to provide new points of reference and understanding. we’re thankful that our healthing platform is a place for people to be heard.
these opinions address issues of health equity for women, the future of care for kids with disabilities and their families, early detection for chronic disease and how emerging evidence shows the risks of relying on social media health experts. healthcare is in flux and we need to rally for awareness of issues that affect so many of us.
here are our picks for stories of the year that make a case for their opinion.
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opinion: women deserve accurate, informed care—not outdated models that miss the mark
we recently attended an academic conference on the study of sex differences in science, in the u.s.—and what we witnessed was deeply disturbing. for the first time, new restrictions in the u.s. actively prevented many american scientists from presenting their data, speaking openly about their research into sex differences in health, or even attending at all.
this silencing of science is not only unprecedented in recent history—it is dangerous. it threatens the integrity of research, compromises public health, and signals an alarming shift away from evidence-based inquiry in a field that directly impacts the lives of millions.
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opinion: where does childhood disability healthcare go from here?
as i close out more than a decade leading canada’s largest children’s rehabilitation hospital, i can’t stop thinking of something one parent told me: “the acute care hospital saved my child’s life, but holland bloorview gave their life back to them.”
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as the population climbs, more children and youth with disabilities and developmental differences will have complex needs for which focused rehabilitation brings the possibility of achieving their fullest potential. i’ve seen children’s hospitals and child health research transform the lives of the most vulnerable. children who even a decade ago didn’t live past their 18th birthdays can now expect to live well into adulthood.
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bottaro: stop using internet ‘doctors’ as healthcare providers
some healthcare professionals may use social media for good. according to research, many medical influencers provide science-backed details regarding new and upcoming treatments, spread awareness about chronic diseases, offer actionable tips about remedies that could help with minor ailments, provide mental health advice on how to combat the symptoms of anxiety or depression, or even debunk other health claims made in those not-so-reputable videos.
it’s a long list of the good that can be shared on social media regarding health. however, for every good doctor you can find on social media, there are 100 bad ones, spreading blatant lies about your health.
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hawthorne: my mom’s 50-year journey with type 1 diabetes and the urgent case for early screening
when i was little, i didn’t know that my mom was a master at taking care of her health, injecting herself with needles of insulin and always carrying apple juice in her purse (along with a baggie of oreo cookies) in case she had low blood sugar. she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 23 as an energetic go-getter and dedicated elementary school teacher. but coping with diabetes and the possibility of complications like blindness, kidney failure and heart disease, she never thought she’d live long enough to see her daughters grow up and have kids of their own (i’m one of three girls, poor dad)!
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her first doctor told her that if she didn’t take care of herself, she would not have kidneys in 20 years. “that was good because it really scared me,” she says.
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opinion: men’s health impacts us all and our policies and services should reflect that
when we talk about men’s health, we often frame it as a personal issue—confined to individual choices, behaviours, and impacts. but the truth is that gendered health outcomes don’t exist in isolation; rather, they are deeply interdependent. while women’s health has rightly gained long-overdue attention, men’s health continues to be overlooked—not only to the detriment of men themselves, but also to those closest to them.
this is especially evident in caregiving: a powerful but often invisible force that directly ties a man’s well-being to the emotional and physical tolls experienced by others. whether men are receiving or providing care, their health can both affect and be affected by those around them. understanding this interdependence is essential to building equitable and effective approaches to men’s health.
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