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Telemedicine today, and the future of virtual health care
A computer and smartphone with a blood pressure cuff A smartphone, blood pressure cuff, and computer interface demonstrating the Heart Safe Motherhood interface. (Photo courtesy: Adi Hirshberg)

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.
Why aren’t more users of opioids or meth screened for hepatitis C?

Why aren’t more users of opioids or meth screened for hepatitis C?

Stacey Trooskin of the Perelman School of Medicine and Philadelphia FIGHT spoke about prioritizing hepatitis C testing in higher-risk patients. “That’s something pretty basic that we’ve done in our community health centers to make sure we’re testing people and providing a cure.”

Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies
Gloved hand taking scissors to a strand of DNA.

Since it started making headlines five years ago, the gene-editing technology CRISPR has been controversial. It’s back in the news after a researcher in China claims to have altered the DNA of twin girls. 

Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies

In a Q&A, PIK Professor Jonathan Moreno discusses using CRISPR technology on humans and the future of the field.

Michele W. Berger

A new, virtual tool in the very real fight against opioid overdoses
Students holding up cardboard virtual reality reader devices.

Students in the Penn School of Nursing test out a virtual reality training for administering the drug Narcan in the event of an opioid overdose. Results from this experiment led researchers to conclude that such simulation sessions could be as effective for training health care providers on the topic as in-person simulation training sessions.

A new, virtual tool in the very real fight against opioid overdoses

Researchers from Penn Nursing and the Annenberg School have found that an immersive Narcan training video is as effective as in-person simulation trainings.

Michele W. Berger

Penn study: Marijuana doesn’t cause bad behavior — it’s the other way around

Penn study: Marijuana doesn’t cause bad behavior — it’s the other way around

A new study, co-authored by Dan Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has found that marijuana may not be the “gateway drug” it was once thought to be. “Previous research had suggested that using marijuana would lead to conduct problems,” said Romer. “We found the exact reverse.”

Workplace pumping made easier
Dare Henry-Moss leaning against the doorway of a new lactation room, with a breast pump in the background

Dare Henry-Moss, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Public Health Initiatives, developed a recommendation plan for improving lactation support for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, including conducting a needs assessment intended to guide standards for such spaces.

Workplace pumping made easier

Listening to employee feedback, Penn Medicine added hospital-grade pumps and doubled its lactation spaces, taking strides to help women meet their breastfeeding goals.

Michele W. Berger

World AIDS Day: What’s happening with the epidemic today
SERO HIV/AIDS activists together The SERO Project, one of six community organizations featured in this year’s Day With(out) Art program at the Institute of Contemporary Art, is pictured at a workshop event earlier this year. The group advocates for people living with HIV and fights laws that criminalize sexual partners for non-disclosure of HIV status. (Photo courtesy: The Institute of Contemporary Art.)
  • Q&A

    • World AIDS Day: What’s happening with the epidemic today

    Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division Ian Frank explains progress made and challenges still faced in the world of HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and treatment.
    What will it take to prevent the next wildfire disaster?
    firefighters in remaining archway of a destroyed building with side of firetruck in foreground

    What will it take to prevent the next wildfire disaster?

    Wharton’s Howard Kunreuther, co-director of the school’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, discusses what California can do to protect itself from future wildfires.

    Penn Today Staff

    All hands on deck: Fentanyl in Philadelphia
    gurney in an emergency room

    All hands on deck: Fentanyl in Philadelphia

    In 2017, fentanyl surpassed heroin as the leading drug involved in overdose deaths, increasing from 57 percent of opioid-related deaths in 2016 to 84 percent in 2017.

    Penn Today Staff