Health Sciences

Brain stimulation restores memory during lapses

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown for the first time that electrical stimulation delivered when memory is predicted to fail can improve memory function in the human brain. That same stimulation generally becomes disruptive when electrical pulses arrive during periods of effective memory function.

Michele W. Berger

Penn Team Characterizes the Underlying Cause of a Form of Macular Degeneration

Named for Friedrich Best, who characterized the disease in 1905, Best disease, also known as vitelliform macular dystrophy, affects children and young adults and can cause severe declines in central vision as patients age. The disease is one in a group of conditions known as bestrophinopathies, all linked to mutations in the BEST1 gene.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Marcus Henderson and Ian McCurry of Penn to Connect Homeless With Health Care

A Google search back in 2013 started things off. Typing in “Philadelphia,” “homeless” and “church,” Ian McCurry, then a freshman in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, found a way to reach out to a vulnerable community that he could assist and support using his growing knowledge of health care.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


KFF Health News

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

According to Aditi Vasan of the Leonard Davis Institute and Perelman School of Medicine, evidence is mounting in favor of the model of training community health workers to help their neighbors connect to government and health care services.

FULL STORY →



The New York Times

When it’s time for an aging driver to hit the brakes

Lauren Massimo of the School of Nursing says that losing the ability to drive is a major and dehumanizing loss for older adults.

FULL STORY →



Everyday Health

What is food noise and how do you get rid of it?

According to Thomas Wadden of the Perelman School of Medicine, people taking GLP-1 drugs are finding that daily experiences that used to trigger a compulsion to eat or think about food no longer have that effect.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Gay News

UPenn hosts free online panel for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion

The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, led by José Bauermeister and Jessica Halem of the School of Nursing, will host a free online panel in April on the integration of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce.

FULL STORY →



The New Yorker

How to die in good health

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel says that incessantly preparing for old age mistakes a long life for a worthwhile one.

FULL STORY →