Public Health

Four peple standing, posing for the camera. Three are students at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences. The fourth is a professor there, Adamson Muula.

The future of health research in Malawi

A workshop convened by Penn, University College Dublin, and the Young Researchers Forum in Malawi brought together stakeholders to discuss the African nation’s use of technology in health care and the double burden of non-communicable and infectious diseases.

Michele W. Berger ・

A silhouette of a person in black on a red background. The person is holding a phone that reads "COVID-19" and the back of the head is open, with many different symbols flowing out, including a globe, a hospital, a needle, a vial, a mask, the dollar sign, and a TV screen that reads "Fake News."

Why COVID misinformation continues to spread

Penn Medicine’s Anish Agarwal discusses why false claims about the virus and vaccines arise and persist, plus what he hopes will come from NIH-funded research he and Penn Engineering’s Sharath Chandra Guntuku have recently begun.

Michele W. Berger ・

Two chickens in a grassy yard

An evolving animal health emergency

More than 52 million birds in the U.S. have been affected by an outbreak of avian influenza. Researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine are supporting Pennsylvania’s diagnostic work and launching new investigations to better understand the virus.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Marci Hamilton sits at a table beside large windows overlooking campus.

Marci Hamilton works to prevent child sex abuse globally

A new initiative from Hamilton’s CHILD USA and a survivor-led nonprofit called the Brave Movement will research statutes of limitations for every country in the world and track their findings in a global dashboard.

Michele W. Berger ・



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions

Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing and Ashish Thakrar of the Perelman School of Medicine comment on the lack of specificity in Philadelphia’s plan to remove drug users from Kensington and on the current state of drug treatment in the city.

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FactCheck.org

Posts mislead about COVID-19 vaccine safety with out-of-context clip of FDA official

Jeffrey S. Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine says that many adverse medical events, even those clearly unrelated to vaccines, have been reported an order of magnitude more for COVID vaccines during the pandemic than any time before.

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WHYY (Philadelphia)

Philadelphians hope a cleaner city will reduce gun violence. Will Oh or Parker make it a reality?

A $3 million blight reduction project in Philadelphia is informed by Penn research showing that cleaning up trash and revitalizing vacant lots can reduce gun violence rates by as much as 29%.

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Business Insider

Universal basic income is working—even in red states

Researchers at Penn concluded that a basic income program in Stockton, California, could have profound positive impacts on local public health.

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CBS Philadelphia

NJ’s Camden County deploying virtual reality to teach students about naloxone

Penn partnered with New Jersey’s Camden County to create a virtual reality training video for administering the opioid-reversing drug Narcan.

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NPR

An overdose drug is finally over-the-counter. Is that enough to stop the death toll?

Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing says that over-the-counter Narcan is a baby step in the right direction, not a game changer.

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