6.19
Dental School’s Joan Gluch promotes academics and community engagement
A recipient of the third annual Netter Center Faculty-Community Partnership Award, Gluch and Philadelphia FIGHT will share award funding to develop projects to promote community oral health.
Envisioning campus as ‘living lab’ to improve bird habitat
The University’s 300 acres in West Philadelphia serve as welcoming habitat for dozens of bird species. Chloe Cerwinka is documenting the area’s feathered inhabitants to improve their habitat.
Examining 20th-century America’s obsession with poor posture, a forgotten ‘epidemic’
Poor posture was considered a real threat to the nation’s health through much of the 20th century. Beth Linker of the School of Arts and Sciences is investigating the history of this forgotten “epidemic” and how its legacy is reflected in notions of health and disability today.
Digitized plant collection to answer how living in a megalopolis affects flora
Digital records of the roughly 800,000 plant specimens from five mid-Atlantic states will create a digital herbarium, a database covering 400 years of native flora.
Leveraging Penn’s expertise to meet challenges in the water sector
A conference on campus brings together The Water Center at Penn and city officials and community members across the country to find solutions for better water utilities and access.
The varying skin colors of Africa: light, dark, and all in between
A team of geneticists led by Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, has shown that there is a huge amount of variation of skin color within Africa, ranging from skin as light as some Asians to the darkest skin on a global level.
The transforming power of global aid on health care—and care giving
Foreign aid makes up close to half of Mozambique’s national health care budget. In a new book, Ramah McKay of the School of Arts and Science lends a critical eye toward how this influx of global health dollars is felt on the ground, by caregivers and patients alike.
Did serial killer H. H. Holmes fake his own death?
Biological archaeologists from the Penn Museum have helped resolve a lingering question about serial killer H. H. Holmes that has persisted since 1896: his final resting place.
With second FDA approval, the transformative power of CAR-T is multiplied
After last year’s approval to treat pediatric lymphoma, the latest indication will expand the number of patients that can be treated with personalized cell therapy almost tenfold.
Veterinary experts work to stay ahead of equine doping
As in human sports, unscrupulous practices occasionally make their way into horse racing. Researchers and veterinarians at the School of Veterinary Medicine are keeping an eye on illicit drug use, evaluating samples, and designing tests to maintain the integrity of the sport and keep the competitors safe.