9/20
Health Sciences
Three things to know about BRCA mutations in men
Kara Maxwell, director of the Men & BRCA Program at the Basser Center, is bridging the knowledge gap about how BRCA mutations affect men.
Safe and sound: Sonura supports newborn development by sequestering disruptive noise
A team of five recent graduates from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and recipients of the 2023 President’s Innovation Prize have developed a beanie that filters out harmful noises for infants in neonatal intensive care units.
Remote blood pressure monitoring may stave off postpartum health issues for those with preeclampsia
Penn Medicine’s remote heart-monitoring program, Heart Safe Motherhood, is likely to drive down total health care costs for the new mothers.
Educating a 21st-century veterinarian
A curriculum overhaul incorporates integrated learning blocks with lectures and hands-on activities focused on animal health to prepare future graduates for lifelong learning.
Act First, a PEP winner, wants to teach Philly students critical first aid—and the confidence to follow through
Kenneth Pham and Catherine Chang, winners of the 2023 President’s Engagement Prize, will teach Philadelphia high school students CPR, Narcan administration, and blood loss prevention.
Improved gene editing method could power future cell and gene therapies
A new technique based on special cell-penetrating peptides promises advantages over current methods for editing the genomes of primary cells, such as patients’ T cells.
‘Communities for Childbirth’ in action
President Engagement Prize winner and fourth-year Seungwon ‘Lucy’ Lee is creating a coordinated referral system of first responders, emergency dispatchers, and systemized hospital networks to improve emergency maternal health care in Uganda.
Understanding the decline in racial disparities in COVID
The School of Arts & Sciences’ Irma Elo and Samuel Preston, with a collaborative team of researchers, assessed racial disparities in U.S. COVID-19 deaths, calling for continued efforts to better understand and implement targeted strategies for addressing health inequalities.
Beyond the pipette and the stethoscope, students explore biology’s societal impacts
The new Biology and Society course, supported by SNF Paideia, gave biology majors the chance to explore how scientists must contend with subjects such as health equity and vaccine hesitancy.
Why Penn research powers many FDA-approved treatments
Since 2017, the FDA approved more than two dozen new therapies with roots at Penn Medicine—almost half of which are first-in-class for their indications.
In the News
My brother’s recovery from a car crash became a lesson in how to talk to doctors and nurses
Emily Largent of the Perelman School of Medicine writes that communication is part of healing, as she experienced when her brother was in a car accident and unable to notify family himself.
FULL STORY →
In-hospital strokes like Charlie Manuel’s are common
Steven Messé of the Perelman School of Medicine has been working on a solution to a long-standing problem in stroke care and says that for a variety of reasons in-hospital strokes sometimes are not detected until hours after they occur.
FULL STORY →
Penn researcher’s Every Cure nonprofit lands ‘game-changing’ support as it works to help patients with uncurable diseases
David Fajgenbaum of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on “game-changer” funding for the nonprofit Every Cure, which he co-founded.
FULL STORY →
Penn’s cell therapy pioneer Dr. Carl June shares $3M Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine has been awarded a $3 million Breakthrough Prize in life sciences for developing CAR-T therapy to treat cancer, with remarks from President Liz Magill.
FULL STORY →
Penn’s Carl June splits a $3 million Breakthrough Prize for pioneering the cancer treatment CAR-T
Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine has been honored with the $3 million Breakthrough Prize for discovering how to attack cancer by harnessing a patient’s immune system through CAR-T therapy.
FULL STORY →