Public Health

The economic impact of rural hospital closures

A study led by Paula Chatterjee and colleagues shows that rural hospital closures reflect existing economic downturns in communities and economies that were already declining before the hospital shut its doors.

From Penn LDI

How to navigate another summer of COVID-19

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine and Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing stress the continued importance of vaccination and testing.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano

Frontline voices from the pandemic’s early days

In his new book, “The Wuhan Lockdown,” Guobin Yang uses personal diaries from that city’s residents to recreate how it felt at the epicenter of what was then a scary and unknown new virus.

Michele W. Berger

With summer’s return, a guide to avoiding drowning

Zaffer Qasim of the Perelman School of Medicine analyzed the mortality data of drowning victims in the United States to prescribe treatment measures. Among other recommendations, he encourages everyone to get training in basic life support.

From Penn Medicine News



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions

Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing and Ashish Thakrar of the Perelman School of Medicine comment on the lack of specificity in Philadelphia’s plan to remove drug users from Kensington and on the current state of drug treatment in the city.

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FactCheck.org

Posts mislead about COVID-19 vaccine safety with out-of-context clip of FDA official

Jeffrey S. Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine says that many adverse medical events, even those clearly unrelated to vaccines, have been reported an order of magnitude more for COVID vaccines during the pandemic than any time before.

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WHYY (Philadelphia)

Philadelphians hope a cleaner city will reduce gun violence. Will Oh or Parker make it a reality?

A $3 million blight reduction project in Philadelphia is informed by Penn research showing that cleaning up trash and revitalizing vacant lots can reduce gun violence rates by as much as 29%.

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Business Insider

Universal basic income is working—even in red states

Researchers at Penn concluded that a basic income program in Stockton, California, could have profound positive impacts on local public health.

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CBS Philadelphia

NJ’s Camden County deploying virtual reality to teach students about naloxone

Penn partnered with New Jersey’s Camden County to create a virtual reality training video for administering the opioid-reversing drug Narcan.

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NPR

An overdose drug is finally over-the-counter. Is that enough to stop the death toll?

Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing says that over-the-counter Narcan is a baby step in the right direction, not a game changer.

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