Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel vouched for Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases and an expert on the novel coronavirus. “He’s Mr. Authoritative. You want an authoritative statement or idea, you go to Tony. He says what he knows, and he doesn’t say what he doesn’t know,” he said.

PIK Professor Duncan Watts spoke about the prevalence of misinformation regarding health scares. “In any contest between someone who says, ‘It’s complicated and we don’t know the answer,’ and another person who says, ‘We know what to do,’ the other person will always get more attention—even when we know they’re not right—because it’s simple and appealing and lends itself to action,” he said.

PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff commented on research that found Neanderthal DNA spread across Africa. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around that,” she said.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel advised Americans to “stop panicking and being hysterical” about the risk of exposure to coronavirus. “I think we need to put it into context, the death rate is much lower than for SARS,” he said.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and Cathy Zhang and Aaron Glickman of the Perelman School of Medicine wrote about the successes of the Affordable Care Act. “This coverage triumph does not mean that the American health care system does not need reform. But it does demonstrate that the ACA can catalyze near-universal coverage. And by adopting some modest policy reforms, every state, and the country as a whole, can get there, too,” they wrote.

PIK Professor Jonathan Moreno discussed the book “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die: Bioethics and the Transformation of Health Care in America,” which he co-authored with President Amy Gutmann.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and Saurabh Jha of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the potential hazards of using artificial intelligence in medicine.

PIK Professor Herbert Hovenkamp spoke about a congressional subcommittee leading antitrust investigations of big tech companies. “There’s a long game being played here—interrogate, educate and prepare for antitrust reform,” he said.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel said PCORI, a government-funded research institute, wasn’t “bold enough” in dealing with drug companies and went “way overboard” with its patient engagement efforts.