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Understanding the decline in racial disparities in COVID
Young black man wearing surgical face masks while sitting and riding on a window seat of a tram

Image: iStockPhoto / AlexLinch

Understanding the decline in racial disparities in COVID

The School of Arts & Sciences’ Irma Elo and Samuel Preston, with a collaborative team of researchers, assessed racial disparities in U.S. COVID-19 deaths, calling for continued efforts to better understand and implement targeted strategies for addressing health inequalities.
Social conformity in pandemics: How our behaviors spread faster than the virus itself
Subway train passengers with protective masks crowding to get on and off subway station platform on Metro station.

Subway train passengers with protective masks on a station platform in Sofia, Bulgaria in June 2020.

(Image: iStock/JordanSimenov)

Social conformity in pandemics: How our behaviors spread faster than the virus itself

Researchers led by former postdoc Bryce Morsky and Erol Akçay of the School of Arts & Sciences have produced a model for disease transmission that factors in the effects of social dynamics, specifically, how masking and social distancing are affected by social norms.
Pregnancy complications tied to higher risk of death as long as 50 years later
Pregnant person laying in a bed with an IV drip in their arm.

Image: iStock/Motortion

Pregnancy complications tied to higher risk of death as long as 50 years later

Even decades after delivering pre-term or with conditions like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure, those with complications in pregnancy or birth have a higher risk of death.

From Penn Medicine News

Drug for common skin condition can help people lose weight: study
CBS Philadelphia

Drug for common skin condition can help people lose weight: study

Research by Joel Gelfand of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues finds that a drug used to treat psoriasis can help people lose weight and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Testing, treatments, and more: A glossary for year three of the pandemic
Illustration of people talking about the coronavirus pandemic

The lexicon of the coronavirus pandemic continues to expand as new knowledge about COVID-19 emerges. 

Testing, treatments, and more: A glossary for year three of the pandemic

Penn Today adds a new installment to this series aimed at making sense of the language around COVID-19.

Marilyn Perkins

Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn
A person standing along a black iron fence, one arm hanging over the fence. In the background are trees and a blurred out mural.

Fran Barg spent more than 30 years at Penn, conducting research that fell at the intersection of medicine and anthropology. Though she technically retired in June 2021, she plans to remain connected to Penn, to the mentoring and research that has enriched her career.

Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn

She spent her career studying the culture of medicine. Through collaborations with colleagues in medicine and anthropology, she’s pinpointed why it’s so crucial to see serious medical problems from both a scientific perspective and a patient one.

Michele W. Berger

Kevin Johnson appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor
Kevin Johnson

Kevin Johnson appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor

Johnson, the University’s 27th PIK Professor, will hold joint appointments in the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication.