Health & Medicine | Penn Today

Penn Medicine breaks ground on fourth proton therapy center

The advanced radiation therapy facility is expected to open at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in 2027.

Nudge boosts statin-prescribing, means fewer pharmacy trips

Statins are lifesaving to those with high cholesterol, but patients don’t always take them. A nudge that increased long-term prescriptions could be key.

2 min. read

Nami Lindquist, Melanie Herbert, and Alex Popescu

Penn students develop AI-driven solution to transform senior care

Fourth-year students Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu were awarded the President’s Innovation Prize for Sync Labs, a privacy-centered AI system to address the growing caregiving gap in senior care

8 min. read

Medically tailored meals improve nutrition, reduce readmissions for heart failure patients

A new study by Penn Nursing professor Charlene Compher, published in BMC Nutrition, demonstrates that providing medically tailored meals to patients with heart failure and malnutrition risk following hospital discharge significantly improves their nutritional status and keeps hospital readmission rates well below local and national averages.

3D visualization showing a reddish-blue tumor mass with internal vasculature, surrounded by blue CAR T cells and small extracellular vesicles against a dark background.

Armoring CAR T cells to take on cancer

Wei Guo of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science have uncovered how solid tumors manipulate cancer-fighting CAR T cells through extracellular vesicles, causing the engineered CAR T cells to commit fratricide—essentially turning against each other instead of attacking the cancer.

3 min. read

New drug therapy with natural compound shows promise against periodontal diseases

A translational study from the lab of Penn Dental Medicine’s Esra Sahingur shows “senotherapy” drug combination is effective in managing gingivitis and periodontitis.

COVID vaccine protected kids from long COVID

New research from Penn Medicine biostatistics professor Yong Chen finds that vaccines kept children and adolescents from developing long COVID by blocking COVID-19 infections from the start, instead of special protection against the virus.

Dental student outside of university building

A nontraditional journey to dental school

Kendra Domotor may have “zigzagged” her way to dentistry, but her journey helped her find her center in dentistry, helping her blend her love of science, teaching, and service.

5 min. read

Wyss donation creates Penn orthoplastic surgery hub

The $4.9 million donation from the Wyss Medical Foundation will create the Wyss Orthoplastic Global Education and Innovation Hub at Penn Medicine. The Hub will conduct research, create fellowships, and establish a conference in the emerging field of orthoplastic surgery, which combines expertise from both plastic and orthopaedic surgery.

Study reveals worse patient outcomes in Black-serving hospitals

A new study from researchers at Penn Nursing has uncovered concerning disparities in patient outcomes, specifically related to nursing care, within hospitals that predominantly serve Black communities.

1 min. read

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