Jason Guardino, a gastroenterologist and an assistant physician in chief at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, gives his perspective on how our guts have become front and center in the understanding of our overall health.

In the Sacramento region, at least one major medical provider is already on the same page with the benefits of OpenNotes. Across the country, an estimated 13 million patients can now access their notes. This open-source movement, proponents say, represents a shift away from a paternalistic model of medical care and toward a model of fully-engaged and informed patients. And that, they argue, is better for everyone.

OpenNotes Executive Director Catherine DesRoches gives her perspective on the movement to get patients more access to their medical information. For more from DesRoches, check out “The Open Patient” in our May issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.

The Dr. Ernest and Arthella Hunter Foundation was started by Dr. Darryl Hunter. Ernest Hunter had been a career Army dentist for several decades and his son followed him into the military medical field, becoming a colonel in the Air Force Reserve and a radiation oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in the Sacramento area.

While reproductive technologies have given women and families more control and additional tools, having it all still seems a far leap. Treatments are expensive (most insurance plans won’t cover much), time-consuming and not always effective. Meanwhile, workplace politics have been slow to shift and accommodate a growing number of working moms.

Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a nationally-recognized fertility expert who runs a practice in San Ramon, gives her perspective on assisted reproductive technology. For more from Eyvazzadeh, check out “Birth Control” in our May issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.

The day that Jenny and Bob had their son Justin in 1994, they set foot in a new world. Jenny went into labor four weeks early, and her baby presented in the wrong direction — feet first. So he was delivered through emergency C-section. Once he was born, his heart rate dropped instead of rising, as it should have. For weeks it wasn’t clear whether he’d survive.

Susan DeMarois, the state policy director at the California State Policy Office of the Alzheimer’s Association, offers her perspective on the costs associated with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias. For more from DeMarois, check out “Fortress of Solvency” in our April issue.

The California Capital Women’s Business Center is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to small businesses throughout the state. In collaboration with the Women Veterans Alliance, the Women Veterans One-Stop Resource Center was created to specifically address the needs of women veterans, their spouses and families.

As we get older and become more at risk for Alzheimer’s, a certain type of diet can boost our cognitive potency. Decades ago, science proved food can impact our heart health. Why should the brain be different?