6/24

Dear Pandemic

A health care worker in personal protective gear swabs a person in a vehicle at a drive-up COVID testing site.
The Penn Arts & Sciences Professional Women’s Alliance hosts a webinar discussing the fight to combat misinformation during the pandemic. Alison Buttenheim, who leads a collective of interdisciplinary female scientists sharing real information on COVID-19, will speak about her work with the all-woman team from Dear Pandemic.

6:00 p.m.

Virtual

Boston Globe

Mass. joins several other states already deploying vaccine lotteries

David Asch of the Wharton School and Perelman School of Medicine said vaccine lotteries “appeal to the emotional side of our nature rather than the quantitative transactional side, and the former usually wins.”

FULL STORY →

Philadelphia Inquirer

The battle in Philly DA’s Office: Conviction Integrity Unit report shows rocky path to reform

David Rudovsky of the Law School said “there’s been a real sea change” with regard to transparency in Philadelphia’s district attorney’s office under Larry Krasner.

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The New York Times

COVID news: Vermont leads U.S. in vaccinations

Steven Joffe of the Perelman School of Medicine said former FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn will have to walk an ethical fine line in his new role as chief medical officer at a venture capital firm, as federal rules limit his engagement with the FDA going forward.

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Reuters

Analysis: U.S. FDA faces mounting criticism over Alzheimer’s drug approval

Jason Karlawish of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the FDA’s decision to approve a new Alzheimer’s drug in spite of objections by some experts. "This decision has shaken the foundations of the scientific process and methods," said Karlawish.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Hindu Americans can lead in embracing the Equality Act

Murali Balaji of the Annenberg School for Communication called for Hindu Americans to support the Equality Act, which would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expand protections for religious minorities. “The Hindu American community can not only join other faith communities but can take the lead on how to embrace everyone as equally divine,” he wrote.

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The New York Times

Scientists report earliest known coronavirus infections in five U.S. states

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on new research that identifies seven people who may be been infected with COVID-19 before the first confirmed cases in the U.S. “This is an interesting paper because it raises the idea that everyone thinks is true, that there were infections that were going undiagnosed,” he said.

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The Washington Post

The ideas of the first Black economics Ph.D. offer solutions to our problems today

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first African American with a doctoral degree in economics, advocated for economic justice after graduating from Penn in 1921.

FULL STORY →

  • Three Penn scientists chosen as 2021 Pew Scholars

    The Pew Charitable Trusts named Kellie A. Jurado, Presidential Assistant Professor of Microbiology, and Colin Conine, an assistant professor of pediatrics and genetics, as two of 22 early-career researchers nationwide selected as 2021 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. Liling Wan, an assistant professor of cancer biology, will join four other researchers in the U.S. as the 2021 class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research.

    FULL STORY AT Penn Medicine News →

  • Norm Badler elected to the ACM SIGGRAPH Academy

    The Rachleff Family Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and director of the Center for Digital Visualization is among the eight new members elected to this year’s Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques  Academy Class.

    FULL STORY AT Penn Engineering Today →