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Behavioral Health

Penn experts earn NIH Director’s awards

Penn experts earn NIH Director’s awards

Six researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine have been recognized for their creative research through the National Institutes of Health Director’s awards from the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program for their unconventional approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research.

Kevin Volpp: Nudging populations toward better health
Kevin Volpp.

Kevin Volpp is the Mark V. Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Wharton School, and director at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics.

(Image: Courtesy of the Wharton School)

Kevin Volpp: Nudging populations toward better health

Kevin Volpp, Mark V. Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Wharton School, discusses how behavioral health interventions can improve public health outcomes.

From the Regulatory Review

2 min. read

Measuring the impact of loneliness and social isolation on the brain
An Antarctic penguin watching a ship at sea.

A penguin watching a vessel at sea.

(Image: Michael Beaulieu—French Polar Institute) 

Measuring the impact of loneliness and social isolation on the brain

New research from Penn Medicine shows the negative, yet reversible, impact of spending time in isolated, confined, extreme environments—such as an Antarctic research station.

Eric Horvath

5 min. read

Laughing gas: An old drug’s new trick to fight depression
A laughing gas mask hovering over a patient’s perspective.

Image: vzmaze via Getty Images

Laughing gas: An old drug’s new trick to fight depression

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine have uncovered how nitrous oxide, an anesthetic used worldwide since the 19th century, could help lift mood fast in people with depression that resists other treatments.

From Penn Medicine News

1 min. read