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  • The Rickels Standard

    July 09, 2012

    “We need new and better ways to treat our patients, not just ‘me, too’ medications. We need new and daring approaches. Our patients deserve it!”

  • Helping Mothers Give Their Babies the Best Start in Life

    July 03, 2012

    All of Society Needs to Support Breastfeeding for Everyone to Reap the Maximum Benefits Medical journals, magazines, websites… they’re all touting the same message, something nature has known all along: breastfeeding is beneficial for both babies and mothers. The message is getting through - but not always to everyone who...

  • Behind the Scenes of the Drug Approval Process

    June 29, 2012

    This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new prescription weight loss drug – the first in more than a decade. Advocates of the drug, which trials showed helped users lose an average of about five percent of their body weight, say it provides an important new weight loss option for the 35 percent of Americans classified as obese. But the medication, which will be sold under the name Belviq, is not without risks. Some studies showed that it causes heart valve problems, an issue that echoes the reasons why the weight-loss drug combination known as Fen-Phen was pulled from the market in 1997. A Penn medical toxicologist and emergency physician, Jeanmarie Perrone, played a role behind the headlines about the drug’s approval, as a member of an FDA advisory committee tasked with reviewing the data about the drug and making recommendations to the agency about whether or not it should be approved.

  • Investing in Our Future

    June 28, 2012

    Capital investment – which is money spent on buildings, facilities and equipment – helps an organization maintain its leadership position. At Penn Medicine, our current and future projects represent something more important: a way to continue providing high-quality health care and improving each patient’s experience. Some of our projects are...

  • Service Link at Sayre Removes Barriers to Medical Care in the Community

    June 27, 2012

    Service Link at Sayre Removes Barriers to Medical Care in the Community Located at 59th and Locust, The Dr. Bernett L. Johnson Jr. Sayre Health Center is a full-service, primary care health facility serving the needs of West Philadelphia residents since it opened in 2005. Like many health care providers...

  • To Play, or Not To Play

    June 22, 2012

    I love sports. Football, hockey, wrestling, gymnastics, soccer. You name a sport, chances are, I love it. I'm counting down until the London Olympics (35 days!). As a die-hard sports fan, it's tough for me to imagine significant changes in the way sports are played, to prevent brain injuries. Can...

  • Mutations in a Common Molecular Motor Cause Rare Diseases

    June 19, 2012

    The lab of Erika Holzbaur, a professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been using live-cell imaging to get a better handle on what happens when the transport of cellular cargo goes off track, and how that may be the start of neurodegenerative diseases. In this case, a Parkinson’s-like disorder and a hereditary form of motor neuron disease.

  • Pharmacists Play Key Role in Reducing Medication Errors Among Hospitalized Patients

    June 18, 2012

    Drugs used in hospitals are meant to save lives – to battle infections, kill cancer cells, control pain, steady uneven heart beats, and prevent blood clots from forming when patients are unable to get out of bed and move around. But despite these healing powers, medication errors are common, and the consequences can be severe. According to the Food and Drug Administration, medication errors cause at least one death every day and injure approximately 1.3 million people each year in the United States. And countless so-called "near-misses" with incorrect dosing or drug mix-ups go unreported. In response, the federal government and hospitals across the nation have made cutting medication errors a cornerstone of patient safety initiatives. Baligh Yehia, MD, MSHP, MPP, an Infectious Diseases fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, recently published a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases examining the prevalence of antiretroviral medication errors among hospital patients infected with HIV. Medication errors are a risk during hospitalizations of all kinds, but HIV patients are especially vulnerable.

  • Celebrating Survivorship at Every Stage

    June 18, 2012

    It’s about time we starting treating cancer patients as survivors – even when they’re still in the midst of treatment. Every year hundreds of hospitals, cancer centers and communities throughout the US and across the world join in a Celebration of Life for National Cancer Survivors Day®. This year the...

  • Critical Care Can Lead to Critical Impact on the Brain

    June 15, 2012

    Evidence has mounted in recent years that survivors of critical illnesses, such as sepsis and acute organ failure, experience long-lasting cognitive and psychiatric effects long after they have been discharged from the hospital. But many questions about these connections remain. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine are uncovering some answers through their research on how patients with acute lung injury (ALI) are impacted by neuropsychological impairments, and potentially learning new ways to help prevent these late effects.

About this Blog

This blog is written and produced by Penn Medicine’s Department of Communications. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive an e-mail notification when new content goes live!

Views expressed are those of the author or other attributed individual and do not necessarily represent the official opinion of the related Department(s), University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), or the University of Pennsylvania, unless explicitly stated with the authority to do so.

Health information is provided for educational purposes and should not be used as a source of personal medical advice.

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