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Today, Penn Medicine launches the Penn Nerve Center, which unites experts across disciplines to offer expert diagnosis and cutting-edge treatment for a wide range of nerve conditions including traumatic nerve injuries, nerve entrapment, nerve compression, and nerve tumors. Combining experts in neurosurgery, orthopaedics, plastic surgery, physical medicine and rehab, neurology, and radiology, the Center is the first of its kind in the region.

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David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, an assistant professor of Translational Medicine & Human Genetics and director of the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment & Laboratory at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded $1 million by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to expand the scope of the COvid19 Registry of Off-label & New Agents (CORONA) project and build out his team to accelerate treatment identification for COVID-19.

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World-renowned genetics researcher Shelley L. Berger, PhD, and cellular biologist M. Celeste Simon, PhD, have been named as members of the 2021 class of fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy.

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The U.S. government’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, usually abbreviated as WIC, saw a jump in enrollment of nearly 8 percent in states that implemented a federally mandated switch from paper vouchers to electronic benefit cards (EBTs), according to a study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The finding, published in JAMA Pediatrics, supports the rationale for the switch, which was to increase participation by making it easier and less stigmatizing to obtain and redeem WIC benefits.

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A Penn Medicine new study of how text messaging could inform opioid prescribing practices showed that 60 percent of opioids are left over after orthopaedic and urologic procedures

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The Mercy Catholic Medical Center – Mercy Philadelphia Campus has officially transitioned to the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar, an innovative and integrated public health campus designed to serve the West and Southwest Philadelphia communities.

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Findings should empower the search for better treatments for lung diseases

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Hormone drugs that reduce androgen levels may help disarm the coronavirus spike protein used to infect cells and stop the progression of severe COVID-19 disease, suggests a new preclinical study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in Cell Press’s iScience.

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Researchers at Penn Medicine used machine learning-aided analysis to uncover top positive and negative themes in patient Yelp reviews of substance use treatment facilities

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The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) rank #16 in the United States and #61 globally on Newsweek’s “World’s Best Hospitals 2021.” The combined enterprise HUP/PPMC is also the highest-ranking Pennsylvania hospital.

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Penn Medicine’s OncoLink — the first cancer information website on the internet — has hit a new milestone: 100,000 cancer survivors from around the world have now received a personalized survivorship care plan through the website to guide them through life after cancer.

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In a study at Penn researchers found that Pennsylvania’s financial incentive policy encouraged hospitals to enact rapid changes to support treatment for opioid use disorder for patients visiting the ED, and evaluates the efficacy of the Opioid Hospital Quality Improvement Program.

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Even though the use of rhythm control strategies for treating Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (AF), a common abnormal heart rhythm, have increased overall in the United States, patients from racial and ethnic minority groups and those with lower income were less likely to receive rhythm control treatment - often the preferred treatment - according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Long thought a vestigial part of human cells, new genetic analysis of the primary cilium shows that it may be tied to common conditions like diabetes and kidney failure

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A second study of the injectable anti-obesity medication, semaglutide, has confirmed the large weight losses reported in a study earlier this month, establishing the reliability and robustness of this new drug. With obesity affecting more than 40 percent of American adults, the findings could have a major impact on weight management in primary care and other settings.

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A significant number of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients in a Penn Medicine-initiated clinical trial continue to be in remission five years after receiving the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy Kymriah™, researchers in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Basic biology finding on thyroid hormone function could lead to new treatments for obesity, diabetes and related disorders

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Avacopan, which targets a receptor that attracts the cells that cause inflammation, was shown to be more effective at keeping patients in remission for a year than prednisone

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Among the orthopaedic surgery patients in a study using text messaging to monitor opioid use, 61 percent of their tablets were found to be left over

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International cancer cell therapy pioneer Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, has been named a 2021 Dan David Prize Laureate.

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A new brain-and-behavior study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarifies how the “anomalous-is-bad” stereotype manifests, and implicates a brain region called the amygdala as one of the likely mediators of this stereotype.

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By making it the default to send colorectal cancer screening tests to patients’ homes unless they opted out via text message, screening rates increased by more than 1,000 percent

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Inflammation in the blood could serve as a new biomarker to help identify patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who won’t respond to the immune-stimulating drugs known as CD40 agonists, suggests a new study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania published in JCI Insight.

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Stem cell study findings show that LMNA gene mutations can disrupt the “identity” of heart muscle cells

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Penn Medicine opened its new Interventional Support Center (ISC), the largest instrument processing and surgical supply preparation facility in the country. Located in Southwest Philadelphia, the ISC is the first facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. In this space, staff will both sterilize and package thousands of instruments each day in preparation for surgeries and procedures.

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Penn Medicine’s Pavilion, one of the largest hospital projects underway in the United States and the largest capital project in the University of Pennsylvania’s history, will feature an art installation by renowned artist and designer Maya Lin. The artwork—tentatively titled “DNA Tree of Life”—will be on display in the atrium of the new state-of-the-art facility, set to open later this year.

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Several genetic mutations previously linked to breast cancer and included on commercial genetic tests, including direct-to-consumer tests, were found not to increase a woman’s risk of disease, according to a population study of more than 64,000 women published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine from several institutions, including Penn Medicine.

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New research into opioid overdoses that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted new disparities along racial lines that are likely fueled by existing inequality

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Patients with inactive cancer and not currently undergoing treatments also face a significantly higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, a new study from Penn Medicine published online today in JNCI Cancer Spectrum shows.

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In a mouse study, researchers used nanotechnology and previous knowledge of a protein pathway to significantly reduce knee cartilage degeneration and pain

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Making doctors opt out from prescribing cardiac rehabilitation instead of opting in increased referrals by roughly 70 percent

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Penn Medicine researchers have successfully developed, tested, and implemented a first-of-its-kind, patient-informed questionnaire tool for ventral hernia repair surgery patients that could be broadly used to improve the way clinicians care for patients and potentially outcomes.

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A test of the Sum-Share statistical method using only summary-level data found 1,734 genetic variations associated with cardiovascular-related conditions when just one had previously been likely

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Older people as well as minorities, non-English speakers and those with lower incomes face inequities in accessing telemedicine care amid COVID-19

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Discovering wide variation in hospitals’ COVID-19 survival rates, researchers found that the levels of the novel coronavirus in the surrounding community was likely the driving factor

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The rate of hospital readmissions for hip and knee replacement patients declined from roughly 12 percent to 3 percent when they were enrolled in a “hovering” program

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**All experts also available for interviews prior to event and EUA Advisory Committee Meetings** **B-roll and lab photos of Drs. Weissman and Wherry shot this month, headshots of the others, and photos from Penn’s Moderna vaccine trial participants getting vaccinated, are available for use**

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Researchers examine trends in fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries to inform prevention strategies, finding that twice as many people who died from gunshots survive

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Knocking out a protein known to stifle T cell activation on CAR T cells using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology enhanced the engineered T cells’ ability to eliminate blood cancers.

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A new biomarker discovered by a team that includes researchers from Penn Medicine identifies patients with an aggressive form of lymphoma unlikely to respond to the targeted treatment ibrutinib.

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A subcutaneous injection of the immune-boosting drug teclistamab was found to be safe and elicit responses in a majority of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

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The fellowship is a signature program of The Carol Emmott Foundation, established in 2016 to address the underrepresentation of women in the highest levels of healthcare leadership and governance.

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The Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the world’s first comprehensive center aimed at advancing research, treatment, and prevention of BRCA-related cancers, is pleased to announce Bella Kaufman, MD, of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, as the recipient of the eighth annual Basser Global Prize.

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Combining chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with a PAK4 inhibitor allowed the engineered cells to punch their way through and attack solid tumors, leading to significantly enhanced survival in mice.

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Marginalized groups of people value professionalism more — and are more likely to leave a job at an institution due to issues of professionalism — compared to their white, male counterparts, according to a Penn Medicine study of staff, faculty, and students who were affiliated with a large, academic health system in 2015 and 2017.

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By disabling a function of a set of cells in mice, researchers appear to have halted the process that breaks down bone, a likely boon for osteoporosis treatment

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Resuscitation and survival rates for hospitalized COVID-19 patients who have cardiac arrest are much higher than earlier reports of near-zero; variation at the individual hospital level may have affected overall numbers

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Internationally recognized leaders in health care and connectivity partner with Quil platform to customize and enhance care and patient education through video and digital communication

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Penn Medicine and Virtua Health announced the renewal of their strategic alliance in cancer and neuroscience services for another three years. The collaboration, which first began in 2015, has enabled South Jersey residents to access comprehensive health care closer to home from a cross-disciplinary team of Penn and Virtua clinicians.

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Early and repeated exposures to diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and CT scans, may increase the risk of testicular cancer.