Public Health | Penn Today

How can Philly achieve health equity?

School of Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel participated in a panel discussion about health equity in Philadelphia. She said the pandemic has revealed the connections between social determinants of health, differences in quality of care, and access to health care. “We are still living with the sins of the past,” she said. “And I think in order for us to move forward, we have to address the structural-related issue.”

A tall clear glass of water filled almost to the top on a dark-colored countertop. Nature is obvious but blurred in the background.

Well water, lead, and the link to juvenile delinquency

Research from Penn and other universities found that, compared to children with municipal water, those relying on private wells in the U.S. had a 21% higher risk of being reported for any delinquency and a 38% increased risk of being reported for serious delinquency after age 14.

Four volunteers place jars and tins of food in two boxes at a food pantry.

HUP Food Pantry team innovates to address food insecurity

Between June 2020 and November 2021, the HUP Food Pantry gave out nearly 5,000 bags of food to postpartum families with food insecurity.

Gloved hands holding a smart phone with a cord plugged in that is attached to lab equipment.

COVID-19 turned everything upside down. What has Penn Medicine’s innovation team learned?

To many in health care—including those in Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Care Innovation—the COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis from which to find the next great learning opportunity.

America’s flu-shot problem is also its next COVID-shot problem

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing said that, if the American public is asked to be vaccinated against COVID-19 again in the future, the turnout would likely not exceed that of the typical annual flu vaccine. “I’m guessing that flu-vaccine coverage is going to be a ceiling,” she said. “I just don’t think we’ll have 70 percent of U.S. adults saying, ‘Oh, an annual COVID shot? Sure.’”

Q&A

Leonard A. Lauder talks game-changing gift to Penn Nursing, and more

Lauder, a Penn alumnus and emeritus Trustee, donated $125 million to the University, establishing a new program for aspiring nurse practitioners who intend to work in underserved communities.

Improving access to at-home health care

With their company Mobility Health, President’s Innovation Prize winners Aris Saxena and Yiwen Li have created a program which connects patients with on-demand health care at their homes.

Shrugs over flu signal future attitudes about COVID

Robert Aronowitz of the School of Arts & Sciences said public attitudes toward flu illustrate “how we get used to living with the toll of a virus and don’t count it or see it or care or fear it too much.”

Gloved hand holding a vaccine vial and needle extended toward a parent holding their hands up to deny the shot.

Belief in vaccination misinformation predicts attitudes toward vaccinating children

The survey data come from the fifth wave of the Annenberg Science Knowledge survey, a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults empaneled by the Annenberg Public Policy Center in April 2021 to track attitudes and behavior in the pandemic.

How did this many deaths become normal?

Courtney Boen of the School of Arts & Sciences said the Global North’s insistence on moving on from the pandemic “shifts the burden to the very groups experiencing mass deaths to protect themselves” and absolves world leaders of responsibility. “It’s a lot easier to say that we have to learn to live with COVID if you’re not personally experiencing the ongoing loss of your family members,” she said.

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