Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors

An old and large book upside down on a table, being held by two sets of hands, one gloved, the other not. There are boxes and other materials all around.

Keepers of the cultural memory

In wartime, saving human lives is a top priority. But secondary considerations often include preserving the cultural heritage also under siege. Penn experts offer their thoughts as the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold.

Michele W. Berger ・

A group of older people at a restaurant clinking half-full wine glasses, with their masks pulled down around their chins to reveal a smile. Food is on the table.

New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways

A report spearheaded by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, with input from other Penn experts, lays out a dozen priorities for the federal government to tackle in the next 12 months. The aim: to help guide the U.S. to the pandemic’s “next normal.”

Michele W. Berger ・

Person reading success story how-to book.

Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

Does explicitly acknowledging bias make us less likely to make biased decisions? A new study examining how people justify decisions based on biased data finds that this is not exactly the case.

Emma Arsekin ・

Lynn Meskell standing in front of a glass display case at the Penn Museum.

Studying the past through a modern-day lens

In a Q & A, archaeologist and PIK Professor Lynn Meskell discusses her background, the subjects that interest her—from espionage to World Heritage sites—and collaborations that have organically arisen at Penn despite the pandemic and a mostly remote first year.

Michele W. Berger ・



In the News


Scientific American

A natural disaster made monkeys age faster

Researchers co-led by PIK Professor Michael Platt tracked the effects of Hurricane Maria on monkey populations to better understand how stress impacts humans. “The average monkey aged about two years biologically, so it’s about eight years of human life, which is pretty grim,” Platt said.

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NPR

Millions of children will miss healthy school meals when pandemic relief expires

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel said the initiatives that make child-nutrition programs more efficient shouldn’t be allowed to expire. “When you improve the ability for the country to deliver food to children, to families, you improve the health outcomes of Americans,” he said.

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Politico.com

Some hospitals ask patients, visitors to remove N95s, citing CDC

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel commented on CDC guidelines that promote surgical masks over N95s, despite the latter’s superior protection. “It’s baffling,” he said. “This is something where the CDC has been on the wrong side for a long time.”

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USA Today

Lawmakers push legislation to protect doctors who prescribe ivermectin for COVID-19. Can they do that?

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel weighed in on proposed bills that would make it easier for doctors to prescribe ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, to COVID-19 patients, even though the treatment has not proven effective. “It’s inevitable someone’s going to be harmed, and this is harmful to the country,” he said.

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ABC News

What the ‘new normal’ of living with COVID might look like

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and other public health officials issued recommendations for how the U.S. should manage the pandemic going forward. "We needed to have a new strategic plan for the country," Emanuel said. "Having an outside group, which is bipartisan, has a certain advantage."

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The New York Times

The White House is mulling a pandemic strategy for ‘the next normal’

A team of experts led by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel provided recommendations to the Biden administration as the pandemic enters a new phase. The team proposed establishing clear benchmarks for when to impose or ease emergency measures, a research initiative to develop more coronavirus therapeutics, and new air quality standards for indoor spaces, among other changes.

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