September 2012 Archive - Penn Medicine News Blog

It’s hard to fathom, but to this day one startling Civil War statistic stands: approximately 625,000 American men – the equivalent of 6 million men today – were killed in action or died of disease between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. That’s more than in World War I,...

Janelle Harris, CNII, Jaime Thomas, CN IV, Maria Nicolas, CNII, Sitha Dy, CNS and Jocelyn Blaisdell, NM Two years ago, a group of HUP nurses on Ravdin 9, a surgical unit, joined the hospital-wide Community Outreach Committee. The committee would help the Hospital renew its prestigious nursing Magnet certification, but...

Chemo luauBeach Boys music, hot dogs, sheet cake and feather boas aren’t the tools oncologists usually use to attack cancer. But along with powerful drugs and targeted radiation treatments, they’ve all played a big role in helping Debbie Hemmes, a 52-year-old Abramson Cancer Center patient from Westampton, NJ, fight lung cancer. Debbie’s daughter, Kelly McCollister, quickly added her own prescription to the list: a special party during each chemo session to help her mom count down the days until she finished her treatment.

Earlier this summer, Sarah Millar, PhD, professor of Dermatology and Cell and Developmental Biology, received an unusual phone call from Carl Baker, MD PhD, Health Scientist Administrator at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

“Thanks for pushing me to do my best … I believe in myself more than I ever did.” Local students in Penn Medicine’s High School Pipeline Program work hard. Indeed, they’re responsible for keeping up their grades in school while taking college-level courses and working within the University of Pennsylvania...

The use of DNA in forensics is powerful yet subject to uncertainties. Jennifer Wagner, JD, PhD, a Research Associate at the Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn CIGHT), and Sara Katsanis, MS, an Associate in Research at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy at Duke University (Duke IGSP) conducted an exhaustive search of the literature and genome databases to put forensic markers used in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) into a context of current understanding of the human genome. Their findings are available in an early online issue of the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

One man’s refusal to let choroideremia slow him down Image courtesy of E.J. Scott Earlier this year, the world paused to watch its greatest athletes take center stage and compete for the gold in the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The United States’ Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian...

This summer, Garret FitzGerald, MD, chair of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT), testified at a briefing on the Hill organized by American Association for the Advancement of Science that the current drug-development system in the United States is flawed and in need of change.

Tonight I’m taking part in my first volunteer training session for Penn Wissahickon Hospice, where I’ll be learning how to greet visitors and answer incoming calls to our inpatient hospice unit. This unit was the first such inpatient unit opened in the Philadelphia-area back in 2008. I’m excited and nervous....

It’s 8:30 a.m. at Infant Friendship Center (IFC) of the Montgomery Early Learning Centers (MELC). Already bustling with activity, storytime on one floor, kids learning letters and numbers in the next room, sing-a-longs on another floor, the center has been hopping since it opened at 7 a.m. Chris Ambrose, MELC...

Life is full of embarrassing moments. Who among us hasn’t suffered the mild mortification of unknowingly walking around with toilet paper trailing from a shoe? Or an unzipped fly? How many of us know what it’s like to emerge from an underwater dive only to discover that part of our...

As I was reading about the early years of the Department of Psychiatry of the Perelman School of Medicine recently, I came upon a surprising case of anticipation. Learning about a new program -- in 1949 -- reminded me once again that some ideas are good enough to go around more than once.