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Public Health
Modeling how violence permeates health and health care
While violence from wars or civil conflicts is a documented occupational hazard for health care workers, little is known about the impact on these workers and corresponding health services as a result of violence caused by widespread organized crime activity.
Campus public health measures help mitigate the spread of COVID-19
Alongside regular saliva-based COVID-19 testing, other tools such as contact tracing, quarantine and isolation facilities, and health and well-being monitoring platforms are critical for protecting and supporting the campus community.
More chairs, new presence expand dental care access
A growing presence in community care centers has given Penn Dental Medicine more opportunities to serve Philadelphians and to train its students.
Penn Med students create unexpected community outreach
The Perelman School of Medicine’s Medical School Government used its annual funding that usually goes to events in non-pandemic times to help the West Philadelphia community.
Addressing breastfeeding disparities for African American mothers
Despite an abundance of data on the importance of breastfeeding and human milk for babies and their mothers, a disparity exists for African American mothers and infants, where breastfeeding is initiated only about 69% of the time.
Take-at-home tests boost colorectal cancer screening tenfold
By making it the default to send screening tests to patients’ homes unless they opted out via text message, screening rates increased by more than 1000%.
When the message matters, use science to craft it
An interdisciplinary initiative called the Message Effects Lab aims to understand, tap into, and develop communication around what motivates specific behaviors for specific populations. Its first projects center around COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
From animals to people and back again
Penn researchers are studying the propensity of SARS-CoV-2 to cross between species, and they are working to protect people, pets, and wildlife from COVID-19 infection.
Evicted and infected: How the housing crisis could worsen the COVID-19 pandemic
A research team found that evictions could lead to a considerable uptick in COVID-19 infections in U.S. cities. With rising eviction rates, COVID cases in Philadelphia could cause 53,000 additional infections.
What drives people away from medication for opioid use disorder?
Penn LDI experts have investigated the stigma and ideological beliefs surrounding using medications for opioid use disorder.
In the News
Got canker sores? Try switching your toothpaste
Richard Wender of the Perelman School of Medicine says that canker sores often start with a minor trauma to the mucosal lining, like a sharp edge on a tooth or a pair of prickly braces.
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FDA Study finds infectious H5N1 bird flu virus in 14% of raw milk samples
Patrick E. Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says it is important that anyone planning to consume raw milk be aware that doing so can make you sick and that pasteurization reduces the risk of milk-borne illnesses.
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Colorado has the most cases of bird flu among dairy cows in the U.S.
The School of Veterinary Medicine has developed a bird flu vaccine that is to be tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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This Juneteenth, we must invest in our future as well as remember our past
Victor Roy, an incoming assistant professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, writes that “baby bonds” could help mitigate the worsening racial wealth gap.
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Column: How a blunder by a respected medical journal is fueling an anti-vaccine lie
Jeffrey S. Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine says that even with a 100% effective vaccine, there would have been high levels of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in 2021.
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RFK Jr.’s vaccine misinformation campaign started after he ignored a Philly doctor
Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine and Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing comment on Robert F. Kennedy’s misinformation campaign against vaccines.
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