November 19, 2019 Volume 66 Issue 14

The University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science announced the largest gift in the School’s history—a $25 million commitment from Harlan M. Stone, (C’80, PAR’13) to support the construction of a new Data Science Building.  

The building, which will be located at the corner of 34th and Chestnut Streets, will serve as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaborations that harness expertise, research, and data across Penn’s 12 schools and numerous academic centers. Upon completion, the Data Science Building will centralize resources that will advance the work of scholars across a wide variety of fields while making the tools and concepts of data analysis more accessible to the entire Penn community. 

“We are profoundly grateful to Harlan Stone for this exceptional gift,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “As a loyal Penn alumnus and a longtime friend of Penn Engineering, his vision and leadership are truly inspirational. The Data Science Building will promote collaborations across disciplines as scholars harness data responsibly to discover innovative solutions for crucial issues facing the world. Applying knowledge to create real-world impact is why Benjamin Franklin founded our University, and Harlan Stone’s leadership gift strengthens the very heart of The Power of Penn campaign.”

Planned features for the Data Science Building include active-learning classrooms; collaborative spaces for student projects; a data science hub for the entire Penn community; research centers for new, socially aware data science methodologies and novel, bio-inspired paradigms for computing; and laboratories that will develop data-driven, evidence-based solutions for safer and more cost-effective health care.

“I feel very strongly that rigorous application of engineering principles can benefit humanity, especially data science,” said Mr. Stone. “The possibilities for utilizing data to improve lives around the world are virtually endless and exciting to think about. There is no better place than Penn Engineering for this to be accomplished and I am humbled to help make this a reality.”

“Data-driven approaches and methodology are being used to drive decision-making and propel innovation in virtually every academic discipline and business,” said Penn Engineering Nemirovsky Family Dean Vijay Kumar. “Harlan Stone’s vision and generosity in supporting this new educational and research facility will elevate data science to greater prominence on our campus, fueling Penn Engineering to the forefront of a field that is central to the future of humanity.”

Mr. Stone’s gift supporting the Data Science Building helps Penn Engineering achieve one of its major objectives for The Power of Penn Engineering: Inventing The Future campaign. Through the campaign, the School is adding cutting-edge spaces for education, research, and technology innovation; growing its distinguished faculty, including new endowed positions; and cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship among students by creating opportunities for networking within Philadelphia’s tech ecosystem.

Mr. Stone is the CEO of HMTX Industries, a global flooring manufacturer whose brands service a diverse cross-section of the construction marketplace. An alumnus of the School of Arts & Sciences, he serves on the Penn Engineering Board of Overseers and is currently chair of its Academic Life Committee. He also chairs the newly formed Penn Engineering Technical Advisory Board.

His past philanthropy to Penn Engineering has advanced the School’s highest strategic priorities, including an endowed professorship, financial aid support for undergraduate and graduate students, and an interactive animation theater in the Digital Media Design program. Mr. Stone is also active at Penn Medicine, serving as a member of the Abramson Cancer Center Innovation Advisory Board and supporting the Basser Center for BRCA and the Tumor Sequencing and Analytics Fund.

The Penn Squash Center, located between the Palestra and Franklin Field, celebrated the completion of its major renovation over Homecoming Weekend.

Over the past year, the Squash Center has been transformed into what Director of Squash Jack Wyant calls “if not the best squash facility in the country, certainly one of them.” He added, “two show courts of the same size, right next to each other, will allow us to play the men’s matches and women’s concurrently.”

Through a partnership involving Penn Athletics, the Division of Facilities & Real Estate Services, EwingCole and LF Driscoll, the former Ringe Squash Courts have been replaced with a new structure that features more natural light and thus better visibility, and is technologically sound, spectator-friendly and ADA-compliant. It features air conditioning and better heating so that it can operate year-round and better connection between the two structures. 

New team rooms, coaches’ offices, restrooms, two extra international courts and a pair of four-glass-wall courts are also fresh amenities in the redesigned center, as well as an upgraded seating and viewing area.

A Message to the Penn Community: 

We are writing today to let you know about a significant new initiative to advance health and wellness at Penn. Wellness, as you know, is one of our highest priorities for the Penn campus. We have a profound shared responsibility to care for each other, to look out for each other and to help all members of the Penn community forge lives of purpose and meaning on our campus. 

Over the past two years, we have advanced several initiatives to achieve these essential goals, including the appointment of the first Chief Wellness Officer in the Ivy League, a comprehensive operational review of CAPS and the development of a Wellness at Penn website and ongoing series of Community Conversations about wellness. Building on these initiatives, we will now take the next step of integrating all of our health and wellness resources, including CAPS and SHS, into a comprehensive Health and Wellness unit of the Provost’s Office. This unit will be overseen directly by the Provost in partnership with our Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Benoit Dubé, who will report to him as an Associate Provost.

This reconceived structure will help us to better understand and to promote wellness as a holistic, multi-dimensional process. It will bring together Campus Health, CAPS, SHS and programs to support students with challenges involving alcohol or other drugs to more explicitly inform and complement each other’s work. It will integrate them more fully into the core educational missions of the Provost’s Office, encompassing our Vice Provosts for Education, Faculty, Global Initiatives and Research, as well as such areas as College Houses, New Student Orientation and Athletics & Recreation. And it will create more effective partnerships with the vitally important wellness and work/life balance programs developed in Human Resources for our faculty and staff. 

At the same time, the new organization will be streamlined to give our outstanding clinicians more time to focus on their work in health and wellness, reducing the amount of time they spend on administration. CAPS and SHS, which both provide essential care for our students, will be more tightly integrated under the leadership of the Chief Wellness Officer, working closely with the senior medical and clinical directors of those areas. 

We are grateful to all of you for the extraordinary community that we create together every day at Penn. We know that you will join us in our ongoing efforts to ensure that every member of our community has the support and resources to thrive on our campus. 

—Amy Gutmann, President

—Wendell Pritchett, Provost

George Breen, Olympic medalist and former Penn swimming coach, died on November 9 after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 84. 

A native of Buffalo, New York, Mr. Breen attended SUNY Cortland and earned a master’s in education from Indiana University. He did not begin his competitive swimming career until his freshman year at Cortland. While there, he was guided by legendary coach Doc Counsilman. He went on to be a 22-time national champion who established six world records during his career.

Mr. Breen was a member of the 1956 and 1960 Olympic teams and served as captain of Team USA in 1960. In 1956, he set a world record in the preliminaries of the 1500 freestyle but settled for the bronze medal, and he also won a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle and a silver medal as a member of the 800 freestyle relay. In the 1960 Olympics, he won another bronze in the 1500 free. A year earlier, at the Pan American Games, Mr. Breen was the gold medalist in the 400 freestyle and the silver medalist in the 1500 freestyle. He was a three-time All-American and was a  national champion 15 times between 1955 and 1960.

Mr. Breen went on to coach the Vesper’s Swim Club before coming to Penn. He was the coach of the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team 1966-1982 and was also supervisor of aquatics, in charge of both the men’s and women’s programs. During that time, “Penn swimming was more successful than at any other time in the sport’s history at the University,” according to records in his file. His wife, Nancy, was the Penn women’s swimming coach. 

He was also coach and manager of several US National teams, was appointed head manager of the 1980 US Olympic team, and served as a television commentator. 

His other achievements included serving as president of the American Swimming Coaches Association, chair of the USA Swimming Olympic International Operations Committee, a Board of Directors member for Middle Atlantic Swimming and a member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors as Coach Vice President of USA Swimming. He was also inducted into several halls of fame: the American Swimming Coaches Association, Cortland State and the Helms Foundation. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1975. 

Charmaine Hamilton, registrar support specialist at Penn, died November 5 at Penn Presbyterian Hospital. She was 60.

Ms. Hamilton graduated from University City High School and earned a master’s of arts in human services from Lincoln University in 1994. 

Ms. Hamilton spent most of her professional career in human services supporting adults with disabilities and managing teams at Community Interactions, Inc. in Delaware County and United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia & Vicinity. She joined Penn in 2016 as a registrar specialist in finance and student registration. In 2018, she was given the department’s best in class award for “Going Above and Beyond.” She was also involved with the Women of Color at Penn and the Penn Knitting Circle.

She is survived by her husband, Charles D. Hamilton; parents, Ruth and Leon Evans; sisters, Ruth Salters (Frederick), Sarah Evans and Myra Evans; brothers, James Evans, Leon Evans, Alfonzo Evans and Anthony Evans; uncle, William Whitehurst (Catherine); aunt, Evelyn Nelson; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives and friends.

Lois Johnson-Hamerman, a retired clinical professor from Penn’s School of Medicine and Pennsylvania Hospital neonatologist, died August 10 of pneumonia at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. She was 91.

Dr. Johnson-Hamerman was born in Newcomb, a small town in the New York Adirondacks. After graduating from Newcomb Central School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1949 and a medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1952. She completed an internship in adult medicine at the University of Minnesota Hospital and residencies in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. From 1955 to 1958, she pursued advanced study at SUNY Brooklyn. Her focus was bilirubin-dependent brain damage and the genesis of kernicterus.

In 1958, she became an associate physician at Albert Einstein Hospital. In 1963, she moved to Philadelphia and joined Penn’s faculty as an associate professor in pediatrics and also served as an associate physician at both CHOP and Pennsylvania Hospital. She remained at Pennsylvania Hospital for 40 years while holding various teaching positions at Penn and at Thomas Jefferson University. She retired from Penn in 1999. 

She was closely affiliated with Parents of Infants and Children with Kernicterus (PICK). She developed the Kernicterus Data Registry, which helped spur awareness of the need to routinely screen newborns for jaundice before discharging them from the hospital. She also conducted early research into retinopathy as it occurs in premature infants.

In 1996, Dr. Johnson-Hamerman was awarded the Bilirubin Club Award for her leadership in research on newborn jaundice and prevention of bilirubin injury.

She is survived by her daughter, Sylvia Hamerman-Brown; a granddaughter; a brother; and a sister.

Penn honored seven distinguished alumni at the recent Alumni Award of Merit Gala.

Creative Spirit Award

Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon received the 2019 Creative Spirit Award for her life-long commitment to and excellence in the arts. She received her PhD and master’s degrees from Penn following a certificate from the Curtis Institute of Music and bachelor’s from Bowling Green State University. A Pulitzer Prize and two-time Grammy Award winner, Dr. Higdon is one of this country’s most frequently performed living composers. As the Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition at the Curtis Institute of Music and a frequent composer-in-residence at universities throughout the country, she is known as a dynamic and committed teacher. One of the nation’s most distinguished queer composers, she has also been an engaging role model for the LGBT community. In addition to returning to Penn for music department colloquia and University talks, she welcomed Penn students into a behind-the-scenes experience at Opera Philadelphia’s production of her opera, Cold Mountain. 

Alumni Award of Merit

William W. M. Cheung, a 1982 alumnus of the School of Dental Medicine, has developed a thriving dental practice in his native Hong Kong while serving Penn as a leader and global bridge builder. An emeritus trustee, his leadership extends to two decades of service as a member of the Penn Dental Board of Overseers, including a tenure as chair. Currently, he serves as campaign co-chair for the Power of Penn Dental Medicine campaign. His own philanthropy includes gifts to Penn Dental, funding the Cheung Advanced Dental Care Center and the Cheung Auditorium and creating the Cheung Family World Scholars. Expanding Penn’s global reach and engagement in East Asia has been a part of his legacy, recruiting internationally recognized faculty and fortifying the Cheung Center’s curriculum. He also oversaw Penn’s establishment of the Hong Kong Foundation and was a key supporter in the development of the Penn Wharton China Center. He is father to two involved alumnae, Stefani and Liana.

Dean A. Henry is a member of the Wharton Class of 1974. After retiring from a distinguished career in information technology, he started a business specializing in African-American genealogy. Inspired by the graduation of his daughter Kristen from Penn in 2004 and by Penn President Amy Gutmann’s Penn Compact with its emphasis on diversity and inclusion, he became an active member of the Black Alumni Society. Soon after he joined and took up leading roles in the James Brister Society, the alumni group dedicated to improving the campus experience for students, faculty and administrators of color. In 2006, Mr. Henry chaired the Finance Committee for the 125th Anniversary Commemoration of James Brister, Penn’s first African-American graduate. Beginning in 2013, he served a two-year term as the society’s co-chair, helping to hone the group’s priorities, reconfigure programming and reach out to a broad range of alumni. Most recently, in addition to serving on his class’s reunion committee, he has been active in the Brister Society’s efforts to support first-generation/low-income students. 

Nursing alumna Andrea “Andie” Berry Laporte, class of 1969, is a trustee emerita. She joined the Board of Trustees as an alumni trustee in 2010 and in 2015 was named a Term Trustee. In addition, she has served on the Penn Alumni Board of Directors, as a member and chair of the Board of Overseers of the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) and as a member and chair of the Penn Nursing Board of Overseers. Her philanthropic support spans Nursing, the ICA and the School of Dental Medicine. At Nursing, she helped to endow the Theresa I. Lynch Fund and established the Killebrew-Laporte Center for Admissions & Student Affairs and the Andrea B. Laporte Endowed Professorship, as well as supporting the Center for Global Women’s Health. At the ICA, she created the Andrea B. Laporte Curator Fund. The daughter of Penn alumni Dorothy Thornburg Berry and Harrison M. Berry, Jr., she recently honored her father’s 30-year tenure at Penn Dental with the creation of an endowed scholarship in his name. Having served on the University’s steering committee for the Making History Campaign, she currently serves in the same capacity on The Power of Penn campaign. 

Wharton Class of 1978 alum Jeffrey L. Seltzer has, since 2003, served as an overseer for the University Libraries. In this capacity, he helped to cultivate a strong bond between the Penn Libraries and his class, negotiating such gifts as the Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion to house the David Rittenhouse Orrery, the Class of 1978 Group Study Room and the Library Scholars Alcove. His generosity to Penn includes establishing the Seltzer Family Digital Media Awards, the Seltzer Family eMedicine Fund and the Seltzer Family Studio, home to Penn’s student radio station, WQHS. In 1998, as a member of the Advisory Board for what has become the Huntsman Program, he established the Seltzer Family International Studies and Business Scholarship. Since 2005, he has provided his expertise in sports management to the Alumni Advisory Committee for the Wharton Sports Business Initiative and has for nearly two decades participated in the Penn Alumni Interview Program. In addition to making other contributions to Penn Medicine, he joined with family in establishing the Dr. Ramon Sifre Prize for Excellence in Diagnostic Medicine honoring his father-in-law and grandfather-in-law, both alumni of what is now the Perelman School of Medicine. 

Stacey Deutsch Shoer, Class of 1989, began volunteering her time at Penn as a student guide for the Kite and Key Society. As an alumna, she has enhanced Penn’s presence in South Florida. Serving as the president of the Penn Club of Miami, she has expanded the membership of the club, quadrupling the number of members in her first year. She also serves as the Alumni Interview Committee chair for the Miami area as part of her involvement with the Alumni Interview Program. In 2014, she helped the Class of 1989 achieve the Class Award of Merit for its fundraising efforts. In addition, as an active member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW), she has served as co-chair of the Miami Regional Event Committee and the Leadership Committee, creating signature events for Homecoming Weekend, volunteer leadership retreats and twice-yearly TCPW conferences. Her Penn alumni family members include sister, Alison Schonwald; husband, Howard Shoe; and sons, Carter and Maxwell.

Shannon Hedvat holds three Penn degrees. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering in 2007 and 2008 before graduating from Penn Law in 2011. As an intellectual property attorney, she has won awards for her commitment to pro bono work. Her volunteerism at Penn began while an undergraduate. She earned a Penn Alumni Student Award of Merit in 2007 for service as president of both the Kite and Key Society and the Engineering Student Activities Council and as co-chair for the University Honor Council and the Class of 2007 Gift Drive. She continues to volunteer for Penn Law Admissions, the Alumni Interview Program, Host Committees for various Penn events and The Penn Fund Executive Board. Her service to the Class of 2007 includes leadership roles such as vice president of the class and gift chair. She has also been a guest lecturer on the legal aspects of entrepreneurship and been a mentor to current engineering students. Together, with her active alumni siblings, sister, Lauren; and brother, Brandon, she established the Mikail Hedvat Ijadi Family Scholarship. 

Other Awards

In addition to the individual awards, the Class of 1994 received the Class Award of Merit and the Class of 1989 received the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications. A special acknowledgement was made to the Penn Club of Southwest Florida for outstanding leadership and alumni engagement within its region.

Faculty Award of Merit

The Faculty Award of Merit went to Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw of the School of Arts and Sciences. Associate professor in the history of art, Dr. DuBois Shaw is a scholar and a curator who explores race, gender, sexuality and class in art from the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. She has engaged alumni in numerous ways: as a faculty host for Penn Alumni Travel for 10 years, leading trips to Peru, Spain, Portugal, France, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and the Caribbean; as a speaker at Trustees’ Council of Penn Women and Penn Spectrum events; and as part of Experience Penn, accompanying alumni on behind-the-scenes tours at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and Art Basel in Miami.

The following faculty members will receive this year’s Perelman School of Medicine Awards of Excellence at the 24th annual dinner on Monday, November 25. The awards recognize outstanding performance by faculty in the research, clinical and mentoring areas.

Sara Cherry, professor of microbiology, is the winner of this year’s Stanley N. Cohen Biomedical Research Award. Dr. Cherry’s research centers on the discovery of novel pathways involved in the replication of diverse viruses. Vector-borne diseases are globally responsible for more than 725,000 deaths annually, disproportionately affecting underprivileged individuals. There are no specific chemotherapeutics for these diseases and only a handful of approved vaccines. Dr. Cherry has made fundamental discoveries on virus-host interactions and is widely regarded as a leader in the application of functional genomic cell-based screening to identify host factors that control viral infections. She pioneered the development of genetic and small molecule screens against viruses from each of the families of human arboviruses, including Zika virus. She has made fundamental discoveries in the role of nutrient signaling and autophagy in antiviral defenses. The Cherry Lab has also discovered that many cellular RNA binding proteins have antiviral activity against arboviruses and initiated the use of Drosophila to study enterovirus infection. Dr. Cherry has had a transformative impact on the scientific community across the University through her role as the inaugural scientific director of the High-Throughput Screening Core and her initiation of a new precision oncology program in the Penn Center for Precision Medicine. Her accomplishments have brought her significant national and international recognition, including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator Award in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.

Yvette I. Sheline, McLure Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Research, is the winner of this year’s William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award. Dr. Sheline is known for her pioneering studies, widely cited in psychiatric literature, of hippocampal volume loss in major depressive disorder (MDD) and the moderating effects of antidepressant treatment. She and her group were also the first to show that depressed patients had overactive responses to emotional face stimuli in fMRI studies of the amygdala, and subsequent work incorporated the effects of comorbid illness, depression effects on white matter tracts and integrated neuropsychological measures in studies of depression treatment response. Her recent research has focused on three areas: dimensional aspects of mood dysregulation across disorders, brain mechanisms of depression treatment effects, and the potential for SSRIs to lower brain amyloid in pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease. With the receipt of a Human Connectome grant, these efforts will culminate in the development of biomarkers improving personalized interventions. Her most recent work employs neuroimaging to examine treatment effects of cognitive behavioral therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation and real time fMRI feedback, as well as the effects of elevated levels of inflammation in hampering successful treatment in major depression.  

Rebecca Hubbard, associate professor of biostatistics in biostatistics and epidemiology at HUP, is the recipient of this year’s Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award. Dr. Hubbard’s research focuses on the development and application of methods to improve analyses using healthcare databases, including electronic health records (EHR) and health insurance claims data, with emphasis on improving our understanding of the use, performance and results of cancer screening tests. She has made key contributions to research that directly informs national screening guidelines for breast and colorectal cancer. Through collaborations with national and international screening and surveillance networks, she has advanced high-quality assessment and evaluation of cancer screening programs around the world. In addition, Dr. Hubbard has worked to develop and apply statistical methods to improve the validity of inference in research using healthcare databases across a range of clinical research areas. Her methodologic contributions to the analysis of EHR data have helped to open up a major new frontier in clinical and health services research. In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Hubbard was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2019. 

Jorge Henao-Mejia, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, is the winner of this year’s Michael S. Brown New Investigator Research Award. Dr. Henao-Mejia’s work at Penn and CHOP integrates two broad areas: gene expression regulation by non-coding RNAs and how these molecules control inflammatory processes in the context of inflammatory disorders. His research explores the biochemical mechanisms that control the duration and intensity of immune responses and how their dysregulation promotes the development of chronic inflammation in the context of modern human pathologies such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, autoimmunity, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. His recent studies on long non-coding RNAs represent a critical building block for illuminating an uncharted landscape of regulatory mechanisms that are critical for immune and tissue homeostasis. They are the foundation for ongoing studies aimed to elucidate the mechanisms by which these molecules control gene expression, the nature of the signals that regulate them and the identity of novel non-coding RNAs that control resident immune cells in different tissues. In addition to this research, Dr. Henao-Mejia was one of the pioneers in adopting the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system for targeting one-cell mouse embryos for the purpose of generating new genetically engineered mouse models. He has generated over 150 new mouse models for 60 researchers at Penn/CHOP and nationwide. 

Allison Willis, associate professor of neurology and of epidemiology, is the recipient of this year’s Marjorie A. Bowman New Investigator Research Award. Dr. Willis is a pioneer and innovator in the field of translational neuroepidemiology and neurology health services research, a discipline that has substantial implications for the growing population of adults and children with neurological disorders, particularly older adults who are at risk for a neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Willis combines her skills in analytical and spatial epidemiology to produce research focused on translational neuroepidemiology research questions to inform basic science research, health care practices and healthcare policy. She is an emergent leader in health services, pharmacoepidemiology and outcomes research in neurology. Dr. Willis published one of the first studies demonstrating that there are substantial gaps in guideline adherent care for Parkinson’s disease (PD), even among uniformly insured populations. She then quantified the burden of avoidable health events associated therewith, and identified specific targets for reducing these disparities. She recently led a PCORI-funded team to build a 10-site research network for the study of sex differences and disparities in PD, the Women and PD Teams to Advance Learning and Knowledge (Women and PD TALK). Dr. Willis received the 2015 American Academy of Neurology’s Jon Stolk Award, given annually to the most outstanding young clinician-scientist in Movement Disorders in the United States.

Joel M. Gelfand, professor of dermatology and epidemiology, is the winner of this year’s Lady Barbara Colyton Prize for Autoimmune Research. Dr. Gelfand’s research program focuses on observational and experimental studies primarily in patients with psoriasis, a chronic, immune mediated disease that affects over 125 million people worldwide. In addition to his work in the clinical development of the immunomodulating drugs used to treat psoriasis, he was the first to rigorously establish psoriasis as an independent risk factor for major adverse cardiovascular events. As a result of Dr. Gelfand’s research, it is now accepted that psoriasis patients, especially those with more severe skin presentations, have an increased risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and a decrease in life expectancy. Dr. Gelfand’s work has directly resulted in the reclassification of psoriasis as a systemic disease and has led to improved standards of care for patients. Clinicians are now recommended to counsel their psoriasis patients about and monitor them for cardiometabolic diseases and other comorbidities. Dr. Gelfand is now conducting translational and mechanistic clinical trials to determine how immune-targeted treatments impact vascular inflammation, lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism and serum biomarkers of inflammation linked to cardiovascular events. Dr. Gelfand is a recipient of the American Skin Association’s Psoriasis Research Award and the National Psoriasis Foundation’s Excellence in Research Award.

Scott D. Halpern, professor of medicine, epidemiology and medical ethics and health policy, is the recipient of this year’s Arthur Asbury Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. Dr. Halpern is a pulmonary and critical care specialist who is among the world’s leading scholars in the areas of organization and delivery of critical care; the management of decisions at the end of life; research ethics; and tobacco cessation. He is the founding director of the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research Center. His uncompromising pursuit of excellence in these areas also defines his approach to mentorship, which is distinguished not just for his generosity, empathy and caring, but also for the discipline and rigor he applies to the process. He has been the single most sought-after dry-bench research mentor at Penn Medicine. Dr. Halpern approaches mentorship as a skill that can be improved with study and experience, soliciting advice from colleagues on ways to surmount challenges in mentoring. He has created and implemented several innovative mentoring programs, including a flexible approach to scheduling mentor-mentee meetings. He also developed the Junior Faculty Visiting Professor Program in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, which spans eight leading academic medical centers across North America. 

Kristy L. Weber, Abramson Family Professor in Sarcoma Care Excellence, is the first recipient of the Duncan Van Dusen Professionalism Award for Faculty. Dr. Weber is a skilled and compassionate physician who has dedicated her life to adults and children afflicted with benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors, as well as patients with metastatic bone disease. Her maturity and commitment to excellence in everything she does has had a positive influence on Penn Medicine. She has an unwavering commitment to diversity, she has built bridges to CHOP as a faculty academic mentor and has helped build the sarcoma clinical and research program as a collaborative effort with Penn Veterinary Medicine and CHOP. Dr. Weber epitomizes the core values of the award: professionalism, respect, integrity and personal accountability. Noted for her precise and detailed communication skills, she sets high expectations for herself and her team, and she is honest, fair and an exceptional role model. One colleague noted, “Importantly, she is not only a role model about how to be a great doctor, teacher and researcher; she is a great role model because she models for us every day how we should treat one another.” 

Stephen J. Schuster, Robert and Margarita Louis-Dreyfus Professor in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Lymphoma Clinical Care and Research, is the winner of this year’s Louis Duhring Outstanding Clinical Specialist Award. Dr. Schuster is an internationally renowned lymphoma expert who combines exceptional patient care with innovative investigation and a deep commitment to teaching and mentoring. His track record as a clinical investigator and translational researcher has been exceptional and, over his 25-year career, he has changed the trajectory and outcome for patients with lymphoma. He has developed and led innovative clinical trials, including therapeutic monoclonal antibody-based therapies for B cell lymphomas as well as therapeutic vaccine strategies. He played a key role in the development of anti-PD-1 therapy Nivolumab for patients with lymphoma as well as other new agents, and is recognized as the go-to person in the world for using CAR T cell therapy for lymphomas. Dr. Schuster led the pivotal, multi-center trial that resulted in FDA approval for tisagenlecleucel, a genetically modified CAR T cell therapy, and continues to be a leader in this field, investigating the next generation of approaches for cellular therapy. In addition to his clinical research activities, he has an extraordinary ability to connect with his patients and their loved ones and he is sought out by patients from all over the world for his expertise in managing the most complex lymphoma cases. 

John M. Bruza, associate professor of clinical medicine, is the winner of this year’s Sylvan Eisman Outstanding Primary Care Physician Award. Since joining Penn Medicine in 1997, Dr. Bruza has provided primary care to older adults who range from vibrant to frail in a variety of settings including ambulatory Penn Medicine Geriatric clinics in West Philadelphia and Radnor, and in long-term care nursing facilities. In each setting, he delivers outstanding care that takes into account the patient’s goals and care preferences, consistently providing high-quality care to patients, including those with complex multiple chronic conditions. He has been consistently named a Top Doctor in geriatric medicine by Philadelphia Magazine since 2011 and has earned the esteem of his patients and their families, as well as of his colleagues. As medical director for the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) unit at Penn Presbyterian, he plays a pivotal role in the training of residents and medical students who receive geriatrics training on the ACE unit. As vice chief for clinical affairs for the division of geriatrics, he supervises all care provided and has led the charge to transform the delivery of care by serving as the physician lead for the implementation of Comprehensive Primary Care Plus, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid pilot program. 

Daniel Licht, professor of neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is the recipient of the Luigi Mastroianni, Jr., Clinical Innovator Award. Dr. Licht’s research focuses on the impact of critical congenital heart disease on fetal brain development and how this increases the risk for neonatal white matter brain injury that occurs at the time of a patient’s first heart surgery. Dr. Licht uses novel diffuse optical instruments, developed here at Penn, to assess cerebral blood flow and cerebral oxygen delivery in neonatal critical congenital heart disease, with the goal of increasing our understanding of the impact that abnormal oxygenation has on the developing brain. Utilizing diffuse optics, Dr. Licht’s group found that the risk for white matter brain injury increases with time from birth to heart surgery. As a result, the CHOP Cardiac Center is altering its surgical practice to correct heart defects within the first week of life, with the goal of decreasing the risk of white matter brain injury. Dr. Licht is among the first clinician-scientists to combine MRI and optics to evaluate cerebral oxygen metabolism in clinically relevant scenarios, which is important for patient care and outcomes. His work is the first integration of combined optical measurements of cerebral blood flow, hemoglobin concentration and blood oxygen saturation in neonatal congenital heart disease patients, which he applied to the assessment of heart surgery and treatment efficacy. 

Sindhu Srinivas, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at HUP, is the winner of this year’s Alfred Stengel Health System Champion Award. Since her appointment as director of obstetrical services in 2012 and as vice chair for quality and safety in 2015, Dr. Srinivas has had a transformative impact on safety culture, and on the development and implementation of clinical pathways/guidelines that serve as a model for Penn Medicine. Among her many accomplishments, she implemented and now oversees a system-wide OB quality and safety reorganization designed to standardize care across all Penn Medicine OB programs. Under her leadership, a comprehensive postpartum hemorrhage prevention and treatment program was developed. She was the champion of the Performance Improvement in Action project: “Improving Handoffs between Triage and Labor & Delivery.” There is now a resident rotation devoted exclusively to obstetrical triage, 24/7 coverage by a nurse practitioner or midwife and significantly increased involvement by attending physicians in the Perinatal Evaluation Center. As a result, patients receive streamlined care by providers with appropriate levels of experience, promoting better clinical outcomes and improved satisfaction by patients and staff. 

Professional and Personal Development Programs

Open to faculty and staff. Register at http://knowledgelink.upenn.edu

Mindful Communication; 12/2; 12:30-1:45 p.m. Mindfulness is “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally,” said Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindful communication practices shine awareness on our intentions in communication. We learn: how to be intentional, stay present, observe our thoughts and manage our feelings for both listening and being heard—true communication. In this experiential workshop, you’ll see how mindful communication can help you become more intentional, engaged and effective both at home and in the workplace. No prior meditation or mindfulness experience necessary.

Psychology of Job Performance; 12/3; 12:30- 1:30 p.m. Successfully overcoming performance issues in the workplace requires a basic understanding of how the human mind works. In this hour-long session, we will discuss how job performance intersects with concepts within the field of psychology, such as behavioral science and motivation. We will discuss how these concepts form a framework that can be used to diagnose performance issues and realize the most efficient and effective ways to overcome them.

Assertiveness Skills; 12/4; 12:30-1:30 p.m. You may experience situations when you need to utilize assertiveness to complete a task, goal or project. In this class, we will identify personal blocks to assertiveness, identify both assertive and non-assertive language and behaviors and learn ways to use assertiveness in everyday situations.

Work-life Workshops

Open to faculty and staff. Register at www.hr.upenn.edu/registration

Healthy Coping Methods for Holiday Celebrations and Stress; 12/11; 11 a.m.-noon. The holidays can be a magical time filled with family, food, fellowship, gifts and laughter. However, the season can also be filled with sadness and stress due to countless factors. Quite often we are not equipped to manage the impact of these issues. Many people will increase their alcohol and drug use to cope with the social demands of holiday parties, the complexity of family dynamics and expectations of perfection. This presentation focuses on ways to prepare for the breadth of emotion often associated with the holidays. It will provide effective ways of coping with stress and practical self-care options to replace unhealthy modes of coping.

Penn Healthy You Workshops

Open to faculty and staff. Register at www.hr.upenn.edu/registration

Survival Skills for Holiday Eating Workshop; 12/3; noon-1 p.m. Join Meghan Anderson, registered dietician from Family Food, for this nutrition education workshop. Holidays are filled with celebrations and food. Come learn tools that will keep you on track during the holidays while still enjoying yourself. You will leave with a clear plan to reach your health goals over the holidays.

Gentle Yoga; 12/5; 11 a.m.-noon. Let your body reward itself with movement. Explore the natural movements of the spine with slow and fluid moving bends and soft twists. You will flow into modified sun salutations that loosen those tightened muscles and joints of the lower back, neck, shoulders and wrists. You’ll get a workout in the process. Mats and props will be provided.

December Wellness Walk; 12/6; noon-1 p.m. Our wellness walks encourage participants to increase their physical activity by stepping outside to pump up their heart rate by walking through Penn’s beautiful campus. What better way to get motivated and gain energy for the day! Meet the Center for Public Health Initiatives staff in front of College Hall by the Ben Franklin statue. The walk will be approximately 2 miles and we will inform you when we have reached the 1-mile mark if you need to exit the walk early. Bring your water bottle, and don’t forget to bring along a colleague and your sneakers!

Body Pump; 12/13, 11 a.m.-noon. A toning and conditioning class with weights that is for everybody. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to add strength training into their aerobic workout. You won’t know if you don’t go. So meet the challenge and reap the rewards.

Spinning; 12/18; 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Pedal your way to a fantastic workout indoors! With the use of stationary cycles, each class is led on a “virtual” outdoor road, complete with a variety of exercises. This class will give you an energizing, calorie-burning, fun workout, and it is great for all fitness levels because you will always ride at a self-directed pace.

—Division of Human Resources

Morris Arboretum’s popular Holiday Garden Railway Nights returns this year on Friday evenings December 20, 27; Saturday evenings December 7, 14, 21, 28; and Sunday evenings December 15, 22, 29 from 4:30 until 7:30 p.m. 

Set against the darkening winter sky, Holiday Garden Railway Nights features the model trains in action, decorated for the holidays with thousands of twinkling lights as they zip around an outdoor quarter-mile track. Famous Philadelphia historic buildings adorned in winter finery surround the tracks to create a magical miniature holiday village. Pack a flashlight and have your children help lead the way through the garden as night falls. New this year, on your way to the Holiday Garden Railway, discover a forest of trees made of lights up to 12 feet tall. The Compton Café will be open during these events with hot cocoa or coffee to warm-up your walk along with various tasty snacks for purchase.

While on site, pick up a few holiday gifts at The Shop at Morris Arboretum that specializes in, environmentally-friendly reuse of materials and items inspired by nature. Gifts for children to engage and inspire young minds are plentiful.  And for the person on your list who has everything, give the gift of a Morris Arboretum membership, the gift that lasts all year long.

The Garden Railway is supported, in part, through the generosity of Gwen and Ed Asplundh and by a gift given in memory of Joe Shuttleworth.

This is a separate admission from daytime visits and advanced tickets are required for Holiday Garden Railway Nights. Arboretum Member-Adult: $15, and Arboretum Member-Child: $8, Non-member-Adult: $20, Non-member-Child: $10. Tickets are available at https://experience.morrisarboretum.org/ For more information about this event, visit morrisarb.org or call (215) 247-5777.

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department Community Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for November 4-10, 2019. View prior weeks' reports. —Ed.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety and includes all criminal incidents reported and made known to the University Police Department for the dates of November 4-10, 2019. The University Police actively patrol from Market St to Baltimore and from the Schuylkill River to 43rd St in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police. In this effort to provide you with a thorough and accurate report on public safety concerns, we hope that your increased awareness will lessen the opportunity for crime. For any concerns or suggestions regarding this report, please call the Division of Public Safety at (215) 898-4482.

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 9 incidents (7 assaults, 1 domestic assault and 1 robbery) with 2 arrests were reported for November 4-10, 2019  by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

The deadline for the MLK Community Involvement Recognition Awards (Almanac October 8, 2019) has been extended to November 20. Electronic submissions at www.upenn.edu/aarc/mlk/award.htm are preferred but, not required. If you prefer sending by mail, please send to the African- American Resource Center, attn: Colleen Winn, 3643 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA  19104-6230. Should you have any questions, please contact the African-American Resource Center at (215) 898-0104 or aarc@pobox.upenn.edu

Week Six Winners

Philadelphia Eagles—Dallas Goedert autographed photo ($100 value): John Lennon, HUP

Philadelphia Eagles—Jalen Mills autographed jersey ($100 value): Jerome Pugh, HUP

Penn Museum—Four gift passes to Museum ($72 value): Karen Swider, CPUP

Fearless Restaurants—Louie Louie gift card ($100 value): Quyen Nguyen, Pennsylvania Hospital

Business Services­—Penn fashion scarf ($90 value): Abigail McGee, CPUP

eCity Interactive—Two tickets to Verdi’s Requiem, Opera Philadelphia, January 31, 2020 ($100 value): Peter Morgans, VPUL

Digital Color Graphics—Oyster House gift card ($100 value): Jenna Kessler, HUP

Visit http://pennsway.upenn.edu for more information about the raffle and making a pledge. 

There is still time to participate in this year’s campaign and enter to win the Grand Prize. 

Grand Prize (December 2 Drawing)

2020 Phillies Game in the Penn Medicine Club Box for You & 15 Friends!

Almanac publishes a supplement every January featuring the camps and programs taking place at Penn over the summer. Offerings listed are camps for children, teens and young adults for an array of activities, from academics, enrichment and recreation—including anthropology, business, law, veterinary medicine and music—to numerous sports camps. To submit a camp, email almanac@upenn.edu with the following information: name of camp; dates held (if multiple sessions, indicate dates for each); age range; summary of 35 words or less; cost (note any discounts); link to enrollment/application forms; deadline, if applicable, to apply/enroll; link, email and/or phone number for more information. 

Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

Two-Step Verification adds an additional layer of security to help keep your data and Penn’s data safe. If you use a smartphone, using the Duo Mobile app makes using Two-Step as fast and easy as a tap on your smartphone screen. It also allows you to use Two-Step in areas where you may not have a data or WiFi connection.

You can use Duo Mobile when you initially enroll in Two-Step Verification, or you can add it after you have enrolled.

Download Duo Mobile from your smartphone’s app store. It’s available for Android on the Google Play Store and for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.

It’s free! Follow the setup instructions in the Two-Step dashboard. Now when you need to use a second verification step, you only need to tap “Approve” in the Duo Mobile app. (Never tap “Approve” for any push notification that you have not initiated).

Benefits of using Duo Mobile instead of text:

• Duo Mobile is a “one tap” time-saving solution—no need to type in verification codes.
• Duo Mobile works even when you have a poor data or WiFi signal.
• Saves the University money, since each text message or phone call generates a cost for Penn.

If the Duo Mobile app is migrated to a new phone, or a new SIM card is installed, the migrated University of Pennsylvania profile must be removed and then the phone re-enrolled via the Two-Step dashboard. For information on adding Duo Push, or reconfiguring Two-Step Verification on a replacement phone, see: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/two-step-verification-configuring-replacement-phone

For more information on Duo Mobile and Two-Step Verification, see: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/two-step-verification-detailed-instructions

To access the Two-Step dashboard, see: https://twostep.apps.upenn.edu/

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/news-alerts#One-Step-Ahead

As you plan for the end of the calendar year and the 2020 Spring Term, here’s a reminder of Penn’s upcoming holiday observances.

Holidays

Thanksgiving—Thursday and Friday, November 28 & 29, 2019

Christmas Day—Wednesday, December 25, 2019

New Year’s Day—Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—Monday, January 20, 2020

Memorial Day—Monday, May 25, 2020

Special Winter Vacation

Each year, the President, Provost and EVP assess the feasibility of observing Penn’s traditional Special Winter Vacation. Based on this assessment, the Special Winter Vacation granted to faculty and staff will be December 26, 27, 30 and 31, 2019.

For a complete list of this fiscal year’s holidays and details on policies regarding work over Special Winter Vacation, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/recognized-holidays-for-fiscal-year-2020

Many instructors have occasion to teach a required course to students who are unconvinced about why they must be there. For me, that course is Introduction to City & Regional Planning: Past and Present. This is a survey of the history of city planning, taught through lectures, discussions and walking tours—all integrated into the typical twice-weekly lecture time slots. The majority of the enrolled students are completing the first semester of their two-year master’s degree in the department of city & regional planning. Teaching a course like this, to a large number of students who might not otherwise have chosen to be there, offers both challenges and opportunities. For example, how can we motivate all students around this required subject? And, does this motivational challenge invite—even, perhaps, require—the opportunity for pedagogical experimentation? By giving students some choice in their work, focusing on why the content matters to them, and taking them seriously as students of history, we aim to make our required course as meaningful to them as possible.

Most students in this course have come to Penn to become professionals in the city planning field. In their first year in the degree program, we require them to gain basic proficiency in statistical methods, Geographic Information Systems and the process of developing a neighborhood plan. Compared to these other areas of their training, planning history may not seem as relevant to their future careers. It would, after all, be the rare job in urban design, community and economic development, transportation planning, property development, environmental planning or smart cities that specifically lists familiarity with planning history as a qualification for the position. 

But the course offers many valuable qualitative skills in reading, writing and critical thinking, alongside substantive knowledge about the development of their chosen field. I aim to help students appreciate all of these, both during their tenure in the course, and later as they progress throughout their careers. 

It is critical to note that I did not develop—and do not teach—this course on my own. My collaborator and co-instructor is Domenic Vitiello, associate professor of city & regional planning and urban studies. In crafting the curriculum together, we have also built upon the work of our colleague Eugenie Birch, Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research & Education, who developed her own version of the course before us. The course we teach today is the product of all of our successive ideas and experimentation. While the resultant strategies I describe below relate specifically to the teaching of planning history, they should also suggest analogues that could apply to other required courses in different disciplines and for different audiences. 

We have no illusions or aspirations of converting our students to belated history majors. Rather, an overriding goal has been to impart to them the value of history and of historical thinking as a basis for their future-oriented planning work. We hope the course will help them decipher the evolution of planning ideas and understand how those ideas have shaped landscapes and lives when implemented on the ground. We aim to do this in at least three key ways.

First, we aim to help students see the course as more than just a requirement imposed upon them by giving them choices to tailor the experience to their specific interests. Recognizing the students’ varied geographic backgrounds, and also cognizant of the fact that we cannot do justice to both international and US planning history in the space of just one semester, we allow each student to choose either a domestic or comparative international geographic focus at the outset. This drives their subsequent selections of readings and assignments throughout the term. Dividing the material in this way gives students agency in focusing their own deeper investigations within the breadth of the survey format, while also exposing them to portions of both spatial tracks through the lectures. It is particularly relevant for us to offer geographic choice given that roughly a third of our students are foreign-born. Further, our students have diverse goals about where they hope to practice planning one day—practice that begins as early as their second-year studio courses, which are regularly based in a variety of regions and countries. In another course and another department, the appropriate dimensions of choice could take on other forms entirely. 

Second, even though this is a history course, we design the curriculum with students’ largely contemporary urban interests in mind. At multiple points in the semester, we lead the students on guided walking tours of Philadelphia neighborhoods to help them examine the relationships between past plans and contemporary urban conditions. These walking tours also provide our graduate teaching assistants with valuable pedagogical experience in leading what are effectively mobile interactive lectures. By taking students on site, we help to translate a more traditionally classroom-bound subject into an instructional format with which they may be more familiar as planners.

Our students’ aims as contemporary planners also shape the course’s scope and assignments. During the second two- thirds of the semester, our lectures—and those of our colleagues whom we invite to come speak about their current research—bring historical topics up to the present. This helps set the context for an essay assignment in which we require students to trace the history of their specific planning subfield, showing how past practices and ideas relate to the present. The goal throughout is for each student to construct a usable history to take away with them from the course. This is not to suggest that history for non-historians must be presentist in its orientation. Rather, where appropriate, we simply endeavor to make the connections between past and present more visible to students for whom the inherent value of history may seem less obvious. 

Lastly, we aim to give planning students the skills historians use. This means that we introduce historiographical debates on day one, as one would in any graduate history seminar. We also teach the methods of interpreting primary sources throughout the semester. This occurs by example in lectures, followed by hands-on learning through close readings of historical plans, drawings, photographs, maps and contemporary built environments. In this way, we aim to teach not only what happened in history and why, but also how we come to know and understand that history itself. By providing this opportunity for our students to think as historians themselves, we hope they will come to understand history as much more than just a set of facts, but also as an interpretive approach to reconstructing the past. We hope this helps prepare them to contextualize change as it continues across space and time. 

When we offered the first iteration of this course six years ago, it included only a few of the above elements. These curricular designs developed over time, as Professor Vitiello and I responded to student feedback and our own learning objectives to more effectively tailor the subject matter to the interests and needs of our specific students. Similarly, none of these ideas are uniquely appropriate to teaching students in a required course. They represent pedagogical practices that I would apply to teaching a humanities subject to non-majors, to professional degree candidates, and to students more broadly. But I only came to recognize these approaches through the challenge and opportunity of bringing my expertise in urban and planning history to a classroom full of potentially skeptical graduate students.

Francesca Russello Ammon is associate professor of city and regional planning and historic preservation at the Weitzman School of Design.

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This essay continues the series that began in the fall of 1994 as the joint creation of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Lindback Society for Distinguished Teaching. 

See https://almanac.upenn.edu/talk-about-teaching-and-learning-archive for previous essays.