July 21, 2020 Volume 67 Issue 2

The updated Three-Year Academic Calendar  for 2020-2021 through 2022-2023 is now available.

The last day of in-person instruction for the 2020 Fall Term is November 20 and online instruction begins November 23. See the Fall 2020 Planning website at https://fall-2020-planning.upenn.edu/

Graduate and professional programs may follow their own calendars; check the website for each School or program.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first two days of Passover, and Good Friday are religious holidays that affect large numbers of Penn community members and that fall during the academic year. To view Penn’s policy regarding these and other holidays, visit https://catalog.upenn.edu/pennbook/secular-religious-holidays/

The University’s Three-Year Academic Calendar is subject to change. In the event that changes are made, the latest, most up-to-date version will be posted to Almanac’s website,  almanac.upenn.edu/penn-academic-calendar

The brain is one of the most complex systems in the body, controlling movement, memory, communication, emotion, thought, and more. Unfortunately, serious diseases and injuries such as stroke, dementia, and psychiatric disorders can impede and disable core functions in the brain. Now, thanks to recent advances in neuroscience, neuroengineering, and other converging fields, experts are exploring the use of neuromodulation—noninvasive brain stimulation—to restore these functions in the brain, and Penn Medicine has launched a new center to study this science.

The Penn Brain Science, Translation, Innovation, and Modulation (brainSTIM) Center brings together a team of leading neuroscientists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and engineers at Penn using neuromodulation techniques to research, repair, and enhance human brain function—the first translational center of its kind in the region.

The brainSTIM Center is being led by Roy Hamilton, an associate professor of neurology and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The center will be a hub for developing new treatments that use neuromodulation—direct stimulation of the brain with electrical signals or magnets—to reorder, reorganize, and restore brain function in patients suffering from various types of neurological disorders such as dementia and stroke and psychiatric disorders like anxiety.

“Neuromodulation is a fascinating technology—it’s already successfully used to treat depression and we’ve led exciting research on brain stimulation and aphasia, a language disorder which impairs a person’s ability to communicate. But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Hamilton. “Our driving goal is to investigate how cognition works in the neural networks of the brain, uncover how to enhance those functions, and ideally develop new simulation-based therapies for our patients.”

The center uses a range of neuromodulation tools, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) techniques. By combining these technologies with advanced imaging tools, such as structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, experts can explore key structure-function relationships in the brain that underlie human cognition and neural function.

Dr. Hamilton and fellow brainSTIM faculty members Branch Coslett, William N. Kelley Professor of Neurology, and John Medaglia, adjunct assistant professor of neurology at Penn and an assistant professor of psychology at Drexel University, are pursuing work funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Department of Defense to determine whether transcranial direct current electrical stimulation (tDCS) of the brain can be used to slow the progression of language loss for those with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a neurodegenerative condition that impairs communication ability.

Recent work from a team led by brainSTIM faculty Ted Satterthwaite, assistant professor of psychiatry, has shown that the functional networks of the brain responsible for self-control are highly variable in youth brain anatomy. They found that these networks are sculpted as adolescents develop into adulthood and are associated with individual differences in cognition. These personalized networks could be used to target neuromodulatory therapies in the developing brain.

Additionally, brainSTIM faculty Desmond Oathes, assistant professor of psychiatry, Danielle Bassett, J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Bioengineering, and Dr. Satterthwaite are currently pursuing work funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to understand how TMS might improve working memory in healthy adults and those with ADHD by combining network control theory (a set of concepts and principles employed in engineering), magnetic stimulation of the brain, and functional brain imaging.

“Over the past 20 years I’ve witnessed remarkable advances in the ability of neuromodulation to influence brain circuits that drive functions, cognition, and behavior,” added Dr. Hamilton. “While these initiatives, and many others, are already underway at Penn, our hope is that the creation of the center will allow for even more collaboration and advancements, enabling us to provide more effective treatment options to our patients in the region and beyond.”

For more information about the brainSTIM Center, visit https://www.med.upenn.edu/brainstimcenter/

Professor of English Zachary Lesser has been appointed the Edward W. Kane Professor of English. A leading scholar in English Renaissance drama and the history of the book, Dr. Lesser is a general editor of The Arden Shakespeare. He is known for his early contributions to the digital humanities, including co-creating DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, launched in 2007 as an online resource for studying the printing, publishing and marketing of Renaissance drama. Both of his books, Hamlet after Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text and Renaissance Drama and the Politics of Publication: Readings in the English Book Trade, won the Elizabeth Dietz Memorial Award given by Rice University, making Dr. Lesser the only two-time winner of the prize. The award alternates yearly between recognizing the best book about English Renaissance literary studies and the best book about Tudor drama. His new book, Ghosts, Holes, Rips and Scrapes: Shakespeare in 1619, Bibliography in the Longue Durée, will appear soon from Penn Press.

This professorship was established by Edward W. Kane (C’71) and Martha J. Wallace to support a preeminent scholar and teacher in the department of English. Mr. Kane has served as a University trustee and on the School of Veterinary Medicine Board of Overseers.

The University of Pennsylvania is announcing a special one-time faculty retirement incentive plan (Special Incentive Plan). While the Special Incentive Plan is similar in some respects to Penn’s longstanding Faculty Income Allowance Program (FIAP), it is a separate program and is only being offered for a short and specific period of time. Like FIAP, the Special Incentive Plan is available to standing faculty and standing faculty clinician-educators. Faculty members who elect to participate in the Special Incentive Plan will receive 200% of their academic base salary or 200% of the average academic base salary for full professors in the faculty member’s School, whichever is higher, but not exceeding 200% of the faculty member’s total salary. This amount will be paid in equal monthly installments over the two-year period following the faculty member’s retirement date. In addition, eligibility for the Special Incentive Plan is open to all faculty members over the age of 60 (or who will turn 60 on or before June 30, 2021), provided they have 10 or more years of full-time continuous service as a standing faculty member (including standing faculty clinician-educators) and meet the “Rule of 75” (the combination of a faculty member’s age and full-time continuous service as a standing faculty member equals or exceeds 75) as of June 30, 2021. It is important to note that the Special Incentive Plan is being offered not only to faculty members who are eligible for FIAP but also to standing faculty and standing faculty clinician-educators over the age of 69 who are no longer eligible to participate in FIAP.

Participation in the Special Incentive Plan must be elected between August 1, 2020 and October 30, 2020, and a faculty member’s retirement date must be no later than June 30, 2021. Any eligible faculty member who has retired or is scheduled to retire between March 1, 2020 and August 1, 2020 will also receive the enhanced benefit if it is more than they would have received under FIAP. Please note that, as Special Incentive Plan benefits are funded from the benefits pool, they do not impact funding for other academic priorities on campus.

If you have questions, you can learn more about the Special Incentive Plan benefits in the detailed brochure from Human Resources, https://www.hr.upenn.edu/docs/default-source/benefits/special-faculty-incentive-plan-guide.pdf and you can contact Jennifer Salwach at HRbenefits@hr.upenn.edu, who will direct you to the appropriate team member for an appointment with a counselor.

—Division of Human Resources

July 8, 2020

Amidst continuing health and safety concerns due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Ivy League Council of Presidents has set in place plans for intercollegiate athletics activity in the upcoming fall semester.

With the safety and well-being of students as their highest priority, Ivy League institutions are implementing campus-wide policies, including restrictions on student and staff travel, requirements for social distancing, limits on group gatherings, and regulations for visitors to campus. As athletics is expected to operate consistent with campus policies, it will not be possible for Ivy League teams to participate in intercollegiate athletics competition prior to the end of the fall semester.

Practice and other athletic training opportunities for enrolled student-athletes will be permitted provided they are structured in accordance with each institution’s procedures and applicable state regulations. The Ivy League will also issue guidelines on a phased approach to conditioning and practice activities to allow for interaction among student-athletes and coaches that will begin with limited individual and small group workouts and build to small group practice sessions, if public health conditions permit.

Fall sport student-athletes will not use a season of Ivy League or NCAA eligibility in the fall, whether or not they enroll. Students who wish to pursue competition during a fifth year will need to work with their institutions in accordance with campus policy to determine their options beyond their current anticipated graduation date.

Local campus policies for the student body regarding return to campus and in-person learning will apply to student-athletes.

A decision on the remaining winter and spring sports competition calendar, and on whether fall sport competition would be feasible in the spring, will be determined at a later date.

The Ivy League Council of Presidents offered the following joint statement:

“As a leadership group, we have a responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interest of the students who attend our institutions, as well as the faculty and staff who work at our schools. These decisions are extremely difficult, particularly when they impact meaningful student-athlete experiences that so many value and cherish.

“With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk, consistent with the policies that each of our schools is adopting as part of its reopening plans this fall. 

“We are entrusted to create and maintain an educational environment that is guided by health and safety considerations. There can be no greater responsibility—and that is the basis for this difficult decision.”

—Ivy League Council of Presidents
Christina Paxson, Brown University
Lee Bollinger, Columbia University
Martha Pollack, Cornell University
Philip Hanlon, Dartmouth College
Lawrence Bacow, Harvard University
Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania
Christopher Eisgruber, Princeton University
Peter Salovey, Yale University 

The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement has launched a series of podcasts titled Judges on Judging, in which jurists discuss current cases and legal issues.

Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, chairman of the Rendell Center and a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, moderates the podcasts, which are produced through a partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

The Rendell Center offers educational materials and lesson plans on civics for elementary school classes. These podcasts were envisioned as an extension of a symposium on a fair and impartial judiciary the center cosponsored in the fall of 2019.

The first podcast features Judge Rendell and US District Court Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg discussing the case of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn twice pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the FBI in interviews about his contacts with a Russian diplomat in late 2016 during the presidential transition. Nevertheless, in May 2020 the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case against Mr. Flynn and a federal appeals court panel subsequently ruled 2-1 that it should be dismissed. The trial judge, Emmet Sullivan, has asked the full appeals court to review that ruling.

“I was reading so much misinformation about the Michael Flynn case,” Judge Rendell said. “There are rules and principles that govern what we do. But there was so much rush to judgment from both a left and a right perspective that I thought to myself, we need to educate the public about what this is all about. I just thought it was a moment for education.”

Judge Rendell said she and her fellow judges are seeking to demystify the law and explain how judges think. “Rule 42, Rule 48, mandamus ... what are these magic words?” she said. “I am thinking of our audience as teachers. That helps me and my colleagues try to keep it educational.”

In the second podcast, on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the courts, Judge Rendell said, “I’m hoping to educate the next generation of citizens by talking about what judges do, how they decide cases, the laws that are impacting what happens in our courts today [and] the situations impacting our courts.”

The third podcast looks at the balance between First Amendment rights and laws prohibiting discrimination—first in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which the US Supreme Court decided in 2018, and then in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which will be argued before the Supreme Court in its next term. Judge Rendell and her colleague on the podcast, Judge Thomas Ambro, were on the Third Circuit Appeals Court panel that ruled in Fulton, which involves a Philadelphia Catholic adoption agency that would not place foster children with same-sex couples on the grounds of religious principle.

Two additional podcasts are planned this summer.

To listen, click here, or go to the Rendell Center’s page on its podcast series:

• Judges on Judging Podcast #1, The Michael Flynn Case
• Judges on Judging Podcast #2, The Impact of COVID on the Courts
• Judges on Judging Podcast #3, First Amendment Rights vs Laws Prohibiting Discrimination

Judaica Digital Humanities at the Penn Libraries is excited to announce the launch of the Digital Second Edition of Judaica Americana. This bibliographic database draws from Robert Singerman’s Judaica Americana, the award-winning, magisterial two-volume bibliography of American Jewish publications before 1900. Visitors can search the database’s 9,600+ bibliographic entries by author, language, holding institution, and various tags, as well as find open-access links to digitized Jewish monographs, serials, and periodicals, when available.

Last October, Dr. Singerman donated to the Penn Libraries the draft of the full text and copyright to his revised second edition of Judaica Americana. Dr. Singerman’s first edition, issued in 1990 in two volumes, was sponsored by the Center for the Study of the American Jewish Experience, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and published by Greenwood Press as part of the Bibliographies and Indexes in American History. In the first edition, Dr. Singerman cataloged just over 6,500+ monographic and serial publications and presented each with meticulous bibliographical descriptions, classification explanations, and holdings information (i.e., the names of collections where copies are known to be held).

Judaica Americana authoritatively chronicles American Jewish book production from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The second edition contains an additional 3,000 entries. Taken as a whole, Dr. Singerman’s bibliography provides extensive documentation of American Jewish communal activity and growth before 1901.

Librarian Emeritus Dr. Singerman spent nearly three decades at the Price Library of Judaica at the University of Florida, where he grew an assortment of 24,000 unprocessed volumes to a fully-cataloged collection of over 85,000 volumes. For the second edition of Judaica Americana, the Association of Jewish Libraries awarded him the 2020 Judaica Reference and Bibliography Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Singerman’s draft of the second edition—including a Supplements section, and two datasets based upon it—are now discoverable in ScholarlyCommons, the University of Pennsylvania’s open access institutional repository. All the files now are available to researchers, book trade specialists, genealogists, and bibliographers with all information needed to make full use of this invaluable resource.

Judaica Digital Humanities is profoundly grateful to Dr. Singerman for entrusting his extraordinary work to the Penn Libraries.

The project is an initiative of Judaica Digital Humanities at the Penn Libraries, which is a robust program of projects and tools for experimental digital scholarship with Judaica collections.

Additional information about this project and program can be found on the Judaica Digital Humanities website, https://repository.upenn.edu/judaicadh/

Irving G. Kagan, former assistant professor of zoology at the University of Pennsylvania, died of cardiac arrest April 26. He was 100. 

Dr. Kagan was born in the Bronx during the Spanish Flu pandemic. During World War II, he was a lieutenant navigator of B-29s and flew 38 missions over Japan. As a result of his navigational skills, which kept his plane at the lead of many bombing missions over Japan and facilitated a heralded rescue of his crew from the Pacific, he was awarded a Purple Heart, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and an Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

Dr. Kagan earned his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College. After the war, he earned his doctorate in zoology from the University of Michigan and did post-doctorate work at the University of Chicago. He came to the University of Pennsylvania as an instructor in zoology. In 1955, Dr. Kagan became an assistant professor.

He moved with his family in 1957 to Atlanta to join the Centers for Disease Control, where he was appointed director of the parasitology division. His research led to the development of diagnostic and immunologic tests for malaria, schistosomiasis and other parasitic diseases. In his 26-year tenure at the CDC, Dr. Kagan conducted extensive research and, together with a team of scientists and medical doctors working under him, published over 400 papers on parasitic diseases. He traveled widely as an ambassador of the CDC and as a consultant to the World Health Organization. In 1975, he was a member of one of the earliest presidential scientific delegations from the CDC to China. Dr. Kagan also served on the faculty of the Emory University Medical School for 10 years. 

In 1982, Dr. Kagan retired from the CDC and established his own laboratory, where he continued his scientific research, including on the newly emerging AIDS epidemic, and offered serologic testing to the medical community for malaria and other parasitic diseases. Dr. Kagan retired in 2017.

Dr. Kagan received the American Society of Parasitologists’ Henry Baldwin Medal in 1965 and the CSL Behring award for his work on schistosomiasis in Egypt in 1977. He was vice president of the World Federation of Parasitologists and president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine. Dr. Kagan was appointed as a charter member of the Senior Executive Service in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He was also a dedicated civil rights advocate and supporter of Jewish causes. 

His wife, Mildred, was the first social worker to establish a psychotherapy practice in Georgia. Dr. Kagan is survived by his family: Mila and Jule Kagan, Daniel Rosenbaum, and Arieh, Barbara, Alyssia and Liam Shands/Rosenbaum.

Bertram (Bert) Lubin, former assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, died June 27 at his home in Berkeley from a brain tumor. He was 81.

Born in the Bronx in 1939, Dr. Lubin moved to Pennsylvania when he was 7 and grew up near Pittsburgh where he worked at George’s Fruit Market owned by his parents.

Dr. Lubin was the first in his family to graduate college and one of four in his high school class to attend college. Dr. Lubin earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His pediatric residency was at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Lubin was drafted into the US Army and served in Vietnam at a provincial health program. Afterward, he returned to the US for a hematology/oncology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He then returned to CHOP in 1965 as an assistant instructor of pediatrics. He also directed the hematology laboratory. In 1972 he became an assistant professor in the same department. 

In 1973, Dr. Lubin joined Children’s Hospital Oakland as chief of hematology and oncology, starting its CHORI research program, where he helped contribute to blood-disease breakthroughs. His advocacy on sickle-cell disease screening for newborn children led California to become the first state to require such efforts.

In 2009, he became the hospital’s president and CEO and the first pediatrician to lead a children’s hospital in the state. His leadership outside the hospital doors helped forge its later tie with the University of California San Francisco. He also founded the hospital’s Center for Community Engagement.

Dr. Lubin made numerous philanthropic efforts and served on multiple regional boards, including the Oakland mayor’s Health Task Force, Oakland Promise, and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

He is survived by his wife, Vivian Scharlach; six children; and seven grandchildren.

Margaret Grace Stineman, emeritus professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, died at Simpson House retirement community on July 9. She was 67.

Dr. Stineman earned a BFA in painting and sculpture from Tyler School of Art in 1974. After completing her degree, she won a prestigious scholarship—the Prix de Roma, for her outstanding painting ability. She was to study in Italy for two years, but the selection committee rescinded the scholarship after the physical exam due to her physical limitations. Her mother arranged for her to go to Rome anyway, where she stayed for a year and studied art with the Temple School of Art International Programs. Dr. Stineman returned to Philadelphia and earned a BS in biology from Drexel in 1981. She earned her medical degree from Hahnemann University two years later.

After graduating, Dr. Stineman came to Penn as a resident and was hired as an instructor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1989, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and instructor, and then a lecturer in the department of general medicine. In 1992, she became an assistant professor in rehabilitation medicine. She went on to become an associate and then full professor. She also held a secondary position as an assistant professor in general internal medicine. In 2008, Dr. Stineman became an associate professor in biostatistics and epidemiology as well as taking on a clinical position in rehabilitation with CPUP and serving as a professor in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She also served as vice chair and director for research in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation and was a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Dr. Stineman retired and earned emeritus status in 2014. 

Dr. Stineman received uninterrupted NIH funding beginning in 1990 for a broad range of projects applying quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the study of the rehabilitation of patients with disabilities related to neurological disorders, limb loss, and other disabling conditions. She and her colleagues developed a patient classification approach—function related groups (FRGs)—using sophisticated health services statistical methods to create patient categories based upon care needs. This work forms the basis for Medicare’s national payment system for inpatient rehabilitation. 

She worked with Dr. Carl Granger and pioneered the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) that would become the national standard for measuring progress during a patient’s inpatient rehabilitation stay. Prediction of patient outcomes was an area she excelled in, particularly for persons with strokes. The FIM was related to resource use and outcomes during inpatient rehabilitation. She and her colleagues developed a Diagnostic Complexity Index for rehabilitation that captured the influence of comorbidities on functional independence and resource use.

The foundation for her work has been an expanded biopsycho-ecological model that views interactions between the person and the environment as contributing to illness and disability. It is this ecological framework that has inspired her conviction that medical interventions should move beyond the person to include the environment in which he or she lives.

Dr. Stineman’s distinguished and remarkable career includes over 146 scientific peer-reviewed publications. Her awards include some of the most prestigious in the field of rehabilitation. She won Elizabeth and Sidney Licht Award for Excellence in Scientific Writing from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine twice—1997 and 2001. Dr. Stineman was the first recipient of the Carolyn L. Braddom EdD Research Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists. 

She was an inaugural recipient of the Fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine distinction in 2002, and in that year also won Penn Medicine’s Samuel Martin Health Sciences Evaluation Research Award. The Distinguished Academician Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists was presented to her in 2004. Dr. Stineman received the Gold Key Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Stineman served as a national leader for the NIH. She was a member of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research from 1997 to 2000, then she chaired this board from 2000 to 2001. In this role Dr. Stineman left her mark on the direction of research in rehabilitation that has improved the lives of countless patients benefitting from research funded by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research. She served on the long-range planning committee for NIDRR from 2004 to 2008. She was a Secretarial appointee to the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special Disabilities.

Dr. Stineman was elected to the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine (Almanac October 19, 2010), and the Association of American Physicians in 2011. She earned the Drexel Alumni Award (Almanac May 13, 2008), and the Prince Salman Award for Disability Research (Almanac December 16, 2014). She also served on the University Council’s Personnel Benefits Committee. 

According to a tribute by Timothy R. Dillingham, The William J. Erdman II Professor and chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, “Such an esteemed career is all the more remarkable knowing that these many contributions were made from a wheelchair and with visual assistive devices. She was born with a severely deformed spine and shoulders requiring many operations as a child. She spent her adolescent years in a body cast. In addition to her physical limitations she had severely impaired vision. She was incorrectly viewed as having mental impairments as a child and did not flourish in high school.

“The many obstacles she faced were overcome by her tenacity and the selfless help from her mother, Peggy Stineman—advocate, mentor, and learning assistant. Dr. Stineman contributed to the department and Penn in so many ways. She cared for patients early in her career as an attending physiatrist on the Piersol Rehabilitation unit at HUP. She inspired all those around her. ... She taught Penn medical students about disability and impairment through her own experiences.

“Her life and accomplishments are inspiring and reflect her indomitable spirit. Margaret retired from Penn Medicine in 2014 yet remained a part of our department as a Professor Emeritus.  

“Margaret Grace Stineman MD, truly embodied her middle name ‘Grace,’ showing grace, kindness, and humility while excelling in her profession and achieving national and international prominence. She touched so many of our lives and we are all better for having the privilege of knowing and working with her. One of her many legacies is the gift of inspiration that she brought to the Penn community.”

According to Neville Strumpf, professor of nursing and dean emerita in the School of Nursing and longtime colleague and collaborator of Dr. Stineman on a large NIH study and a doctoral dissertation, “She was a brilliant, brave, and gentle person, who struggled against enormous physical odds. She was generous, witty, uncomplaining, and among many talents, a fine artist. Margaret made an astonishing contribution to rehab medicine and geriatrics, and to the mentoring of students, fellows and young investigators.”

Dr. Steinman is survived by her mother, Peggy Stineman. In lieu of flowers, people could donate to the Dr. Margaret Grace Stineman Resident Research Award at the University of Pennsylvania Perleman School of Medicine. Checks should be made payable to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania” and mailed to: Penn Medicine Development, Attn: Sheryl Garton, 3535 Market St., Ste. 750, Philadelphia, PA  19104. There will be no memorial service due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Francine F. (Fran) Walker, director of student life at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 35 years, died July 7. She was 76.

Dr. Walker grew up in northern New Jersey. After receiving her doctorate in English at Tufts University, she spent seven years teaching at Tufts, SUNY, Buffalo, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Dr. Walker came to Penn in 1974 as the assistant director of Student Activities in the department of student life. She became associate director of student life two years later. In 1987, she was made director of student activities and student life facilities, a newly created position by then-President Sheldon Hackney (Almanac July 14, 1987). In 1996, she became the director of Student Life in Faculty and Activities. In 1998, she became director of Student Services and Student Affairs in VPUL. She remained in that position until her retirement in 2010, after which she stayed on for a year in VPUL in a temporary position.

During her tenure at Penn, Dr. Walker served on a variety of committees, including serving as the A-1 Assembly chair, on the University Council, Campus Center Advisory Committee, the Task Force on Smoking, and the Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force. She won a Models of Excellence Award in 2004 (Almanac February 17, 2004) and served as a Commencement Marshall (Almanac May 25, 2010).

After retiring, she volunteered at the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees, New Jersey, for several years, caring for the cats at the shelter.

According to Adam Sherr of the Division of Finance’s Student Registration and Financial Services, “She single-handedly built the Office of Student Life into the comprehensive support system for Penn students that it is now (as the Office of Student Affairs). Out of the OSL, many other campus support offices were developed, most notably the LGBT Center which is now a model for campuses country- (and, dare I say world-) wide. She helped develop Penn’s Leadership Weekend and much of the curriculum is still being used today to impact the lives and skills of student leaders (and leaders to be) at Penn. And she cared. So much. About students, about Penn, about the colleagues with whom she worked.”

She is survived by her brother, Richard. Details for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.

Donald S. (Don) Young, professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, died July 4. He was 86.

Dr. Young was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and completed his bachelor of medicine at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 1957. In 1962, he earned a PhD in chemical pathology from the University of London, following in his father’s footsteps, who was then chair of the department of pathology at the University of Edinburgh and later became chair of the department of pathology at the University of Aberdeen.

Dr. Young received a Leverhulme Fellowship of Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, and then trained as a registrar (resident) in chemical pathology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and as honorary registrar, Hammersmith Hospital, in London. In 1965, he was appointed a visiting scientist in the clinical pathology department at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He went on to become the chief of the Clinical Chemistry Service at the NIH.

From 1977 to 1984, Dr. Young served as head of the section of clinical chemistry in the department of laboratory medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He also served in many capacities for professional organizations, including the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS) and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), of which he was president in 1980, and the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry, where he was president from 1985 to 1990. He was also a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Health Laboratory Services for the World Health Organization.

In 1984, Dr. Young joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as a professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. He oversaw the Division of Laboratory Medicine and the William Pepper Laboratory until 2009. He also held a secondary, clinical position with CPUP in PA Clinical Administration. He retired in 2010 and became an emeritus professor.

For 20 years, he served on the Board of Editors for the journal Clinical Chemistry, which he chaired from 1973 to 1978, and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Award for Outstanding Contributions Through Service to Clinical Chemistry, the National Institutes of Health Director’s Award, the Past President’s Award of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, and the Luigi Mastroianni Clinical Innovator Award of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Starting in the 1970s, Dr. Young became a very early proponent of automation processes for clinical laboratories, such as robotics and automating time-consuming aspects for specimen sample handling like aliquoting, centrifugation, or load-balancing samples across different analyzers to minimize turnaround-time. Today, these automation processes are the standard of care in clinical labs around the world, but this was not yet the case when the autolab at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania opened in 1997. At the time, the scale of such a project was unprecedented and quite bold in retrospect. During his tenure, he oversaw the advent of point-of-care testing as well. Dr. Young’s wide influence was also evident in the Effects book series—Effects of Drugs on Clinical Laboratory Tests, which he co-authored with JM Hicks and described the effects of disease, drugs, and other pre-analytical variables on lab tests in many editions. In all, Dr. Young co-authored 27 books and more than 200 publications.

According to the tribute posted on his departmental website, his colleagues described Dr. Young as a “tireless, dedicated” professional, who, while “committed to the highest standards,” was a person of “stamina and patience” at the same time, “with an impressive reputation world-wide.” He is remembered as “amiable, encouraging, and very supportive of the faculty and staff,” as a “wise mentor,” as well as a “generous and honorable gentleman.

Dr. Young is survived by his wife, Silja; and children, Gordon, Robert, and Peter.

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To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Call (215) 898-5274 or email almanac@upenn.edu

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Suite 300, 2929 Walnut St., (215) 898-8136 or email record@ben.dev.upenn.edu

Dear Members of the WPPSA Community,

I hope you all are doing well and staying healthy. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as your Chair for the past year, though now my tenure is coming to an end. WPPSA is a well-respected and highly-regarded organization here at Penn, and it has been an honor just to be a part of a leadership team that creates opportunities for weekly paid professionals.

WPPSA’s reputation is enhanced by the many professionals who contribute their time and expertise to advancing the organization. I have had the good fortune to work closely with such high quality board and committee members and appreciate all you’ve done for WPPSA during my term. WPPSA’s accomplishments over the past year have been impressive—and it was truly a team effort. There have been so many noteworthy moments, and as I write this last message, I want to celebrate some first-time accomplishments: Voices of Staff program, Reset & Refresh program, and a brand-new website. I truly believe this is the result of members’ input, focusing on your needs first, and providing a quality service.

There are so many more outstanding programs and support services planned for 2020 and beyond. I look forward to continuing to support the WPPSA leadership, and in particular our incoming Chair, Mariel Featherstone, as she continues to guide the organization’s future path. Mariel has been a part of the Penn community since 2015 and served on the WPPSA University Council since 2018; her leadership experience and expertise have made her the outstanding leader she is today. WPPSA could not be in more capable hands.

Please join me in welcoming and congratulating the new WPPSA Executive Board. While they will not be installed until our retreat in later July, they officially [took] office on July 1, 2020:

Chair: Mariel Featherstone
Secretary: Maureen Goldsmith
Treasurer: Dana Allison
Treasurer: Elisabeth Colella
Communications Officer: Laura Naden

Thank you, WPPSA members, for allowing me the opportunity to serve. Serving as Chair has been a valuable experience both personally and professionally; I walk away with many enduring friendships and memories I will forever cherish.

Gratefully Yours,

—Thalia Mangan, 2019-2020 Chair
Weekly Paid Professional Staff Assembly

Penn Dental Medicine’s Dana Graves, professor in the department of periodontics and vice dean for Research and Scholarship, has been recognized for his research as the recipient of the 2020 International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Periodontal Research Group (PRG) Award in Regenerative Periodontal Medicine. This annual award, sponsored by REGEDENT AG, honors investigators who have made significant contributions to the field of regenerative periodontal medicine throughout their careers.

Nominees are selected based on the relevance of their work in the field of regenerative periodontal or peri implant medicine, the scientific quality of their peer-reviewed publications, and the overall impact of their research.

Dr. Graves’ research has focused on wound healing, identifying mechanisms that limit healing and bone regeneration in diabetic animals in vivo, fracture healing, and bone coupling in periodontal disease. He was also one of the first researchers to study growth factors and their stimulation of osteoblasts and periodontal ligament fibroblasts, which provided a scientific basis for the use of growth factors in periodontal treatment.

The Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO) recently announced that Joseph W. St. Geme, III has been selected as the 2020 recipient of the Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award, named in honor of his father. Dr. St. Geme will receive the award during the 2021 Opening General Session of the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Vancouver, BC.

Dr. St. Geme is the chair of the department of pediatrics and physician-in-chief at CHOP and the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor of Pediatrics, professor of microbiology, and chair of the department of pediatrics at PSOM.

Dr. St. Geme has had a number of leadership roles, including with the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Pediatric Society. He has served as Principal Investigator on NIH training grants for fellows at Washington University, Duke University, and CHOP for more than 20 years and on NIH institutional career development awards for early-stage faculty at Duke and CHOP for nearly 15 years. He helped to establish the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Research Conference. He is also co-chief editor of Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, the highly regarded textbook that serves as a reference for pediatricians worldwide.

Dr. St. Geme is an internationally renowned scientist who studies the molecular and cellular determinants of bacterial pathogenicity, with a focus on Haemophilus influenzae and Kingella kingae, two model mucosal pathogens that are common causes of pediatric disease. His research group has made fundamental discoveries that have advanced understanding of bacterial adherence, protein secretion pathways, polysaccharide synthesis pathways, virulence regulation, and evasion of innate immunity, with impact on development of molecular diagnostics, new vaccines, and novel antimicrobials.

The Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award was created in 1988 in honor of Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. to recognize a pediatrician who is a role model for others to emulate as a clinician, an educator, and/or an investigator. Recipients of this award have a record of broad and sustained contributions to pediatrics that will have a major impact on child health.  Most importantly, the award recognizes individuals who have “created a future” within the field of pediatrics.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced six subspecialty fellows receiving a total of $1.32 million in grants through the second Doris Duke Physician Scientist Fellowship, two of whom are from the University of Pennsylvania: Senthil Selvaraj in PSOM’s division of cardiovascular medicine for “Therapeutic Exogenous Ketosis in Heart Failure with Reduced and Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Trial,” and Scott A. Peslak in PSOM’s division of hematology and oncology for “Cellular Signaling Pathways in the Regulation of Fetal Hemoglobin for Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease.”

Through the Physician Scientist Fellowship, which funds the research of clinical investigators at the subspecialty fellowship stage of their careers, DDCF aims to promote the transition of emerging physician scientists into faculty-level positions.  

Recipients of the Physician Scientist Fellowship were chosen through a competitive, peer-review process by an external panel of physician scientists. While fellows training in fields such as cardiology, hematology, infectious diseases and oncology typically receive funding from their departments for short-term research, there are few opportunities to obtain external support for extended research during this phase. DDCF has designed the Physician Scientist Fellowship to address this gap in support.

Each selected fellow is receiving two years of funding at $110,000 per year, a total of $220,000 for the entire grant term and will work under the supervision of a mentor who will guide them toward successful biomedical research careers.

Cynthia Sung, Gabel Family Term Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, has been named one of six winners of the 2020 Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D (WiSTEM2D) Scholars Award.

Launched in 2017, this annual award seeks to fuel development of future female leaders and feed the talent pipeline by awarding and sponsoring women at critical points in their careers. The goal of this award is to support the research passion of the awarded women and inspire career paths in their respective fields. As a recipient, Dr. Sung will receive $150,000 in funding and three years of mentorship from Johnson & Johnson to support her research.

The WiSTEM2D Scholars Award awarded candidates in each of the six disciplines that make up its acronym: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design.

Dr. Sung received the Manufacturing Award “for her work studying origami-inspired manufacturing and robotics, with the goal of designing, developing and controlling soft, foldable robots that can be used in multiple environments, including healthcare procedures and medical applications.”

GSE’s Higher Education Assistant Professor Amalia Dache received an NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship to further her research exploring geographic and structural factors that have historically inhibited access for students on the margins of race and class.

Four Penn doctoral candidates have been named 2020 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellows. They each received a prestigious fellowship, which supports individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, analysis, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.

• Briana Nichols, Literacy, Culture, and International Education, GSE; Anthropology, SAS
• Jessica Peng, Education, Culture, and Society, GSE; Anthropology, SAS
• Chelsea Chamberlain, History, SAS
• Peter Francis Harvey, Sociology, SAS

These scholars are researching an array of topics, including young people in Guatemala fighting to remain in their communities, how education is valued in Indonesia, how work by individuals and families with disabilities changed the way disabilities are viewed in American society, and the role of schools in managing the movement, sound, and shape of children’s bodies.

Fitness and Learning

7/23    Admissions Webinar-MSN and Nurse Anesthesia DNP Programs; noon; RSVP: https:// tinyurl.com/ycvdcszu (Nursing).
7/25    Recycled Art, Found Object Sculpture; 3 part class taught by Brujo de la Mancha; 3 p.m.; register: www.therotunda.org/event/recycled-art-found-object-sculpture-a-3-part-class-taught-by-brujo-de-la-mancha (The Rotunda). Also August 1, 8.
7/28    Morning Coffee Break With Anne Brancati; 10 a.m.; info: www.penn.museum/calendar/450/morning-coffee-break (Museum).

Special Events

7/23    Date Night: Venture to Egypt; 8 p.m.; virtual event; info: https://www.penn.museum/calendar/472/date-night (Museum).

Sports

Info: https://tinyurl.com/quakerclassics; to watch: www.youtube.com/PennSportsNetwork
7/24    (M) Basketball vs. Harvard; original broadcast: February 24, 2018.

Talks

7/23    Current Concepts in Bone Regeneration; Rodrigo Neiva, NYU; 6 p.m.; register: https://tinyurl.com/ybt5sy9t (Dental).
7/29    Comparing National Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis; several speakers; 4 p.m. Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/NationalResponsesCOVID-19 (The Penn Program on Regulation).

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AT PENN Deadlines

The Summer AT PENN calendar is online and being regularly updated. The deadline to submit virtual events to be featured in an issue Update is the Monday of the prior week.

Beginning Tuesday, July 28, the Penn Museum will open its doors to the public. In accordance with current recommendations, there will be a few changes to the visitor experience to keep everyone safe and healthy, including:

• The recommendation to purchase timed tickets in advance online. To aid in social-distancing measures, admission will be timed and at a limited capacity.
• A suggested one-way journey through the Museum, with floor markings to help guide visitors as they explore 10,000 years of history from around the world.
• Safety requirements. Visitors (ages 2+) and staff members will be required to wear a face covering at all times inside the Museum and in outdoor spaces like the Warden Garden or Stoner Courtyard. All guests will also be asked to maintain at least a six-foot distance from other visitors not in their household group.
• Increased frequency of cleaning throughout the day. Museum staff will regularly clean and sanitize spaces using CDC-rated products. In addition, hand sanitizer and wipe dispenser stations will be available throughout the Museum.
• Some parts of the Museum experience will be modified. The Café will reopen when state and city guidelines again permit indoor dining. Each guest will receive a Penn Museum stylus to safely encourage using interactive touchscreens. Temporarily, the Museum is unable to offer touchable artifacts or free public tours. However, its exciting digital programming and events for all ages will continue online with Penn Museum at Home.

Museum members are invited to attend a members-only week now through July 26. For more information, visit www.penn.museum/alert/

University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for July 6-12, 2020. 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 July 6-12, 2020. 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: 4 incidents (1 aggravated assault, 1 assault, 1 domestic assault, and 1 robbery) were reported for July 6-12, 2020 by the 18th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

Almanac will publish again on Tuesday, July 28. August publication dates are tentative. Weekly issues during the fall semester resume on Tuesday, August 25. For the complete publication schedule and deadlines, including the most up-to-date information about the tentative issues, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/publication-schedule-deadlines

Like the last few months’ issues, this edition of Almanac is digital-only. Please distribute to your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe to receive the E-Almanac by visiting https://almanac.upenn.edu/express-almanac The email will include links to the newly posted material. 

No issues were printed to distribute across campus because of COVID-19. Almanac is distributed electronically each Tuesday.