11/15
Public Health
The ACA in 2019: Will it face a reckoning?
Wharton’s Mark Pauly, Eric Clemons and Robert Field discuss what lies ahead for the Affordable Care Act in 2019.
25 years of integration, innovation, and ideals
2018 marked 25 years since the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) was first established—a milestone that would undoubtedly make the institution’s founder, Benjamin Franklin, proud.
Penn Dental Medicine offering free emergency care to furloughed federal workers
As the federal government shutdown continues, Penn Dental Medicine is opening its doors to furloughed federal workers, offering them free care for emergency dental needs.
What do opponents of genetically modified foods really know about the science?
The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, found that the strongest critics actually know less—a pattern similar for gene therapy, but not for climate change.
Does opioid use in pets create higher risk for abuse in humans?
A new study shows a 41 percent increase in opioids for small animals over the past 10 years, indicating an avenue of potential risk for human access to opioids.
Can music improve anxiety and depression for people with memory disorders?
That’s the aim of a recently completed pilot program connecting Penn Memory Center patients, Penn graduate students, and Curtis Institute musicians.
The NICU ensures safe sleep one swaddle at a time
The Women & Babies Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit focuses on promoting sleep safety techniques with parents while their baby is still in the NICU.
End of life care quality remains a problem—nurses may be a solution
A new study from the School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research describes the quality of end of life care in nearly 500 U.S. hospitals, utilizing nearly 13,000 bedside nurses as informants of quality.
Boots on the ground for the opioid task force
Opioid addiction is a “public health emergency,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Overdose deaths involving opioids—both prescription and illegal—have increased fivefold between 1999 and 2016.
Telemedicine today, and the future of virtual health care
From the Connected Care Center central hub for ICU patients, to telegenetics, Penn practitioners are looking to the future of convenient care.
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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