Features
Imprisoned by Pain Illustration

Imprisoned by Pain

Chronic pain can cause a relentless cascade of debilitating events: isolation, disability, chemical dependency, depression, even suicide. Patient Carol Armitage ran the gauntlet of treatments and procedures for her pain — and found relief in the end at the U-M.

BY JAMES TOBIN
A human egg surrounded by sperm

The First 21 Days

The union of sperm and egg begins a process which, in its earliest astonishing days, creates the blueprint for a unique human being and sets its biologic destiny — amidst mysteries scientists are working to answer and odds that are daunting at best.

BY SALLY POBOJEWSKI
James “Jimmy” Crudup

Genius in His Hands

Jimmy Crudup, a truck driver with a high school education, crossed paths with Michigan surgeon C. Gardner Child, sparking a fascinating chapter in the Medical School’s history and training scores of surgical residents in the process.

BY WHITLEY HILL