RWJF Young Leader Award

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced that Dr. Raina Merchant and Dr. Scott Halpern of the Perelman School of Medicine, have been selected to receive the inaugural RWJF Young Leader Award. The award recognizes leaders ages 40 and under for their exceptional contributions to improving the health of the nation. Penn is the only institution—public or private—to have more than one winner honored. Each recipient will receive $40,000.

Dr. Merchant is an assistant professor of emergency medicine and a senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. An expert in treatment for cardiac arrest, which is among the nation’s top killers, her research focuses on the creation and dissemination of new media-driven tactics for improving survival from this deadly condition for resuscitation science. As the creator and director of the MyHeartMap Challenge, a mobile phone-fueled crowdsourcing contest that mapped the locations of automated external defibrillators, she made Philadelphia the first city in the nation to have a map of these lifesaving devices (Almanac January 17, 2012). That data will now be used by 911 operators and bystanders to locate the nearest AED for bystanders to use during cardiac emergencies before EMS arrives.

Dr. Halpern is deputy director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at Penn and an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and medical ethics and health policy. He is also the founding director of the Fostering Improvement in End-of-Life Decision Science (FIELDS) program, which created a multidisciplinary team of Penn faculty working toward the common goal of improving the timing, content and outcomes of the end-of-life decisions made by patients, family members and providers. By translating knowledge from the fields of economics, psychology, medical ethics and epidemiology, the multidisciplinary teams he has built test a variety of scalable—and hence, sustainable—interventions to improve health-related decision making, particularly in such charged but critical areas as end-of-life care.

Civic Design Review Committee: Mr. Garofalo

Mr. Dan Garofalo, environmental sustainability coordinator and senior facilities planner in FRES, has been named to the first Civic Design Review Committee of the City of Philadelphia.

The seven-member committee, mandated by the city’s new zoning code, will advise the City Planning Commission as it reviews development projects that have a significant impact on public streets, sidewalks, trails, parks and open spaces. The committee will consist of six standing members and one rotating member, depending on the project’s location.

SAE Fellow: Dr. Jackson

Dr. Andrew Jackson, professor of practice in the department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has been named a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) for his “outstanding contributions in the field of tribology and lubrication science.” Fellows of the SAE are long-term members who have made a significant impact on society’s mobility technology through leadership, research and innovation.

Dr. Jackson is an internationally recognized leader in the field of tribology and lubrication science as a result of 35 years of industrial basic research and through his service to the technical community.

NIH Grant: Dr. Lewis

Dr. Lisa Lewis, assistant professor of nursing, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health R01 grant which will provide approximately $1.9 million over the next four years for Dr. Lewis to continue research of adherence to medication in African-American men with high blood pressure. African-American men in the United States bear a disproportionate burden of uncontrolled high blood pressure when compared to other racial and ethnic groups.

The objective of Dr. Lewis’s new study is to determine factors that are associated with poor medication adherence in African-American men with hypertension. Dr. Lewis will then lay groundwork for interventions to improve adherence.

Intel Schools of Distinction Award: Penn Alexander School

Penn Alexander School won the middle school science category at the Intel Schools of Distinction Awards in Washington, DC. Honored schools provide a rich, rigorous science or mathematics curriculum by incorporating hands-on investigative experiences that prepare students to be successful in the global economy. The award includes a cash prize, curriculum materials, professional development resources, hardware and software, valued at over $100,000. Winners were selected from a pool of 18 schools recognized as finalists from 176 applications from 35 states.