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Exploring the links between jobs and health, reframed by COVID-19
Grocery worker stocks produce on shelves while wearing mask and gloves

COVID-19 reshaped Andi Johnson’s course on social determinants of health, inspiring a new focus on how the pandemic shaped employment and how people's jobs influenced their ability to stay safe.

Exploring the links between jobs and health, reframed by COVID-19

More than half of America’s farm workers are immigrants, and most have been considered essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic. While this designation has ensured the continuity of their livelihoods, it has also increased their risk of becoming sick. 

Katherine Unger Baillie

Coronavirus exploited failure of Pa. health officials to improve long-standing problems with nursing home oversight

Coronavirus exploited failure of Pa. health officials to improve long-standing problems with nursing home oversight

Rachel Werner of the Perelman School of Medicine said relaxing nursing home regulations during the pandemic was a matter of “balancing risks.” “The trade-off was, had they not been relaxed, other things would be worse,” she said.

Parasites and the microbiome
scientists process samples in a field setting

Researchers Meagan Rubel and Eric Mbunwe process fecal samples in a hunter-gatherer village at dusk. (Image: Courtesy of the Tishkoff laboratory)

Parasites and the microbiome

In a study of ethnically diverse people from Cameroon, the presence of a parasite infection was closely linked to the make-up of the gastrointestinal microbiome, according to a research team led by Penn scientists.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The case against separating breastfeeding mothers and infants during the pandemic
Person in a black dress standing on stairs for a portrait.

Diane Spatz is a professor of perinatal nursing and the Helen M. Shearer Professor of Nutrition at the School of Nursing, and a nurse scientist for the lactation program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (Image: Eric Sucar)

  • Q&A

    • The case against separating breastfeeding mothers and infants during the pandemic

    In a Q&A, Diane Spatz of Penn Nursing and CHOP discusses why it’s safe and beneficial to keep them together, even when the mother tests positive for COVID-19.

    Michele W. Berger

    Examining health inequities with a global lens
    Smiling person sites on high ledge overlooking a coastal city

    Despite her time being cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising senior Adriana Discher packed a lot into her time studying abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Cape Town, South Africa. (Image: Courtesy of Adriana Discher)

    Examining health inequities with a global lens

    Rising senior Adriana Discher examined public health measures and disparities in four countries—three in person and one virtually—during a semester abroad program this spring.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Thousands of medical workers turn out to remember George Floyd and work for health equity

    Thousands of medical workers turn out to remember George Floyd and work for health equity

    Thousands of local medical professionals gathered at Franklin Field to denounce systemic racism in health care by kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the time it took for a Minneapolis police officer to kill George Floyd. “Today we are going to be uncomfortable. Our knees are going to be uncomfortable,” said Florencia Greer Polite of the Perelman School of Medicine. “But we’ve been comfortable for too long.”

    Cause of death: COVID-19, police violence or racism?

    Cause of death: COVID-19, police violence or racism?

    Atheendar Venkataramani of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the negative effects of local police brutality on the overall mental health of Black Americans. The neglect of Black communities throughout the country has been “so pernicious, so ingrained and so predictable, how could you not be out there calling attention to these issues?” he said.