Public Health | Penn Today

Closeup of bottom third of a young person's face smoking a cigarette

Collegiate affirmative action bans linked to smoking among minority students

A Penn Medicine study shows unanticipated adverse effects of affirmative action bans on health behaviors in minority high school students.

Strangers sprang into action to save a life on the subway. What if policymakers shared these values?

Janet Weiner of the Leonard Davis Institute wrote an op-ed about the opioid epidemic and an encounter Jeanmarie Perrone of the Perelman School of Medicine recently had on public transit. Aided by the Narcan she carries in her purse, Perrone and a group of strangers saved the life of a young man who had overdosed.

Two people, one older, one younger sitting and looking at their phones.

What influences how parents and their gay adolescent sons talk about sexual health at home?

Research from Penn found that even when parent-child conversations avoid heteronormative stereotypes, outside factors like mass media and religion—those beyond the parents’ control—can reinforce them.

Open prison door with sunlight coming in and outside city in background

For incarcerated women, From Cell to Home offers a second chance

The program, run by the Ortner Center’s Kathleen M. Brown with support from Penn student volunteers and the Quattrone Center, works to secure the release of reformed prisoners serving life sentences.

Gloved hands holding a syringe with groundwater with a background of a body of water

Q&A

Toxins from the tap

In Pennsylvania and hundreds of other locations around the country, manmade chemicals known as PFAS have been found in drinking water. Howard Neukrug discusses the potential harm, how local and federal agencies are responding, and the many related questions that remain unanswered.

person pushing another person in a wheelchair on a grassy area in a park during the daytime

Quantifying the health risks of being a family caregiver

Health care and economics researchers find that more research is needed in the area of ‘next friend risk,’ or the full dimension of health risks faced by family and friends who become caregivers to the homebound.

A person in a pink button-down shirt leaning against a brick wall.

Contest fosters local solutions to global sustainability challenges

SoleProvider won the Sustainable Solutions competition created by rising senior Richard Ling. The automated texting system offers Philadelphia’s homeless a simple way to request a particular need and for users to fulfill it.

College affirmative action bans linked to higher rates of smoking among minority youth

A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine has found that states that ban affirmative action in college admissions experience increased smoking rates among black, Latino, and Indigenous high schoolers. “Educational policies can have these unintended health consequences,” said co-author Atheendar Venkataramani. “Social policies really matter for health, and it’s worth talking about.”

Team portrait of OncoLink staff on a rooftop with Philadelphia skyline in background

OncoLink: 25 years—and millions of hits—later

The online source for cancer information turns 25. Last year alone, the website had 4.5 million visits, with half from other countries, and nurses looking for reliable material to educate patients.

torso of doctor with crossed arms in white lab coat holding a stethoscope

Untreated white coat hypertension leads to more death from heart disease

Researchers at Penn Medicine say white coat hypertension, a condition in which a patient’s blood pressure readings are higher when taken at the doctor’s office compared to other settings, underscores the need for increased out-of-office blood pressure monitoring.

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