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Medical Ethics
Tackling the ethical considerations of dementia research
Alzheimer’s research poses tricky questions. Bedside-nurse-turned-bioethicist Emily Largent wants to answer them, and to improve the lives of Alzheimer’s patients.
Going beyond the binary in historical explorations of sex and gender
Beans Velocci of the School of Arts & Sciences explores how sex and gender have been shaped and categorized through history—and the consequences of those constructions taking on the guise of scientific and medical fact.
Five from Penn elected to National Academy of Medicine
Five Penn experts have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for their contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.
Abortion clinic websites may unwittingly aid patient prosecutions
More than 99% of abortion clinic web pages studied included widely used code that transferred user data to external entities, which could sell the data or provide it to law enforcement, without the clinics knowledge.
Higher rates of chemical sedation among Black psychiatric patients points to inequities
Penn Medicine researchers also find that white patients are more likely to be chemically sedated in emergency departments at hospitals that treat high proportion Black patients, suggesting that hospital demographics can impact practice patterns.
Heart disease-protective diabetes drug is not used equitably
The medication GLP-1 RA treats diabetes and is linked to positive outcomes for heart disease patients, yet a Penn Medicine study has found inequities in its use along racial, ethnic, and economic lines
Improving diversity in cancer clinical trials
The Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training Program at the Abramson Cancer Center was established in August 2021 to create spokespersons and resources to increase awareness and access to cancer clinical trials in the diverse Philadelphia communities.
Three Penn faculty named Hastings Center Fellows
Holly Fernandez Lynch, Quayshawn Spencer, and Connie Ulrich have been named Hastings Center Fellows for deepening public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology.
Learning to listen in troubled times
The SNF Paideia Program and partners featured Ernesto Pujol and Aaron Levy, an artist and an interdisciplinary scholar who have transformed both what it means to listen and what the act of listening can achieve as part of a lecture and workshops.
More than a third of Congressional members held significant health care assets
Due to their role in shaping health care policy, lawmakers should divest from assets while in office, Penn Medicine researchers recommend.
In the News
University of Pennsylvania pledges to bolster relations with India at "Penn India Engagement Forum"
PIK Professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Dean Erika H. James of the Wharton School, and Dean Vijay Kumar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science are quoted on the forum to support India's exceptional growth and specific health care needs.
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‘We need pleasure to survive’
PIK Professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel says that moderation is a good principle and comments on whether tweaks in bad behavior can help. The work of Adam Grant is suggested for additional reading and an understanding of "languishing."
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Drug shortages are an urgent national danger. Here’s how we fix them
In an Op-Ed, PIK Professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel writes that the fragility of outsourced pharmaceutical supply chains is a risk to U.S. national security and health.
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Alzheimer’s drug that slows cognitive decline gets FDA approval
Holly Fernandez Lynch of the Perelman School of Medicine and the Leonard Davis Institute says that the debate over Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab underscores the complicated risk-benefit calculation for patients.
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Will SEPTA’s new artificial intelligence security system racially profile riders?
In an Op-Ed, Helayne Drell and Ravi B. Parikh of the Perelman School of Medicine and the Leonard Davis Institute and colleagues offer suggestions for preventing algorithmic racial bias against SEPTA riders.
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Congress’ pandemic prep effort receives mixed reviews
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel says that Congress’ bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act isn’t fixing the aspects that led to a bad COVID response, which doesn’t bode well for future variants and pandemics.
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