October 29, 2024 Volume 71 Issue 12

Penn Dental Medicine’s Shuying (Sheri) Yang, a professor in the department of basic & translational sciences, and collaborator Michael Mitchell, an associate professor of bioengineering in Penn Engineering, have been awarded a $2.79 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study a possible new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Their collaboration was catalyzed by Penn Dental Medicine’s Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), a joint center with Penn Engineering.

Affecting approximately 1% of the global population, RA is a severe autoimmune disorder that leads to chronic pain, inflammation, and joint destruction. Current treatments often fall short, with reportedly up to 40% of patients failing to respond effectively, while biologic therapies leave 6-21% of patients resistant to treatment.

“There is an urgent need for more effective treatments that target the underlying mechanisms of RA,” said Dr. Yang. “Our research focuses on the critical role of Inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase E (INPP5E), a 5-phosphatase that plays significant physiological roles in embryonic development, neurological function, the immune system, and blood cell proliferation and function.”

To date, their findings reveal that INPP5E expression is significantly reduced in the cells that play a pivotal role in RA pathogenesis. Through cutting-edge mouse models, it has been demonstrated that overexpression of INPP5E in macrophages reduces inflammation and bone destruction, suggesting that INPP5E is a potential internal protector against RA.

The innovative aspect of their project lies in the development of a novel delivery system using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), enabling targeted delivery of INPP5E mRNA specifically to cells in the lining and sub-lining tissue of joints. “This approach offers a breakthrough in RA treatment by enhancing precision in drug delivery and maximizing anti-inflammatory effects,” said Dr. Yang. “Our targeted mRNA therapy not only inhibits key inflammatory pathways, but also mitigates bone erosion, presenting a dual therapeutic benefit.”

By bridging molecular insights and innovative drug delivery technologies, this project aims to transform the landscape of RA management. It holds significant promise for advancing RA treatment by offering a novel therapeutic strategy that could lead to more effective, targeted interventions for patients who do not respond to current therapies.

J. Margo Brooks Carthon, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research in Penn Nutsing; professor of nursing in the department of family and community health; and associate director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, has been appointed the new director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, the preeminent history of nursing research center and archive. The Bates Center amplifies the importance of the history of nursing and healthcare to the development of crafting effective health policies and strategies to improve health for all.

“The evolution of the Bates Center continues to be a source of pride for us at Penn Nursing,” said Penn Nursing dean Antonia M. Villarruel. “Dr. Brooks Carthon brings expertise in an array of research methods including historical approaches, health services, and implementation science aimed at advancing health equity.  Her leadership will build on the legacy of faculty who were foundational in creating this important resource for historians of nursing and beyond. Working collaboratively with Penn Libraries and Bates curator Jessica Martucci, I am confident that nursing history will live beyond the archives and continue to inform policy and practice. Dr. Brooks Carthon scholarly work exemplifies what is possible.”

 “As the Bates Center director, I look forward to honoring the nursing profession’s historic contributions to addressing health inequities by integrating equity as a core value, one which will help to prioritize our collections, initiatives and collaborations,” said Dr. Brooks Carthon. “I recognize that advancing population health and achieving health equity requires a multipronged approach which brings together historians with clinicians, health services researchers, community participatory practitioners, innovators, and change agents from all backgrounds. I look forward to the Bates Center being a home where scholars from diverse perspectives can engage creatively to support bold and transformational ideas to improve population health locally, nationally, and internationally.”

The Bates Center is committed to providing the broadest and highest quality scholarship and educational programs and is equally committed to disseminating research findings through publications and interdisciplinary sharing and collaborations. By these means, the Bates Center dedicates itself to a leadership role in advancing the public’s knowledge of the history of nursing and healthcare.

Its goals are to:

• Advance knowledge in the history of nursing and healthcare.
• Engage with scholars whose research aligns with the mission of the center, the school, the University, and the pressing needs of healthcare systems in our nation and around the globe.
• Maximize the visibility, accessibility, and scope of the center’s historical collections.

Through its extensive collections, fellowships, and curricular opportunities, the Bates Center provides considerable evidence for scholars and students to question traditional disciplinary paradigms; to give voice to the historical power of nursing; and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of local and global approaches to issues of health and illness. It is a committed partner in preserving all voices of nursing history, opening access to collection materials, and growing Penn’s digitized collections and sites.

Vaughn A. Booker has been named the George E. Doty, Jr. and Lee Spelman Doty Presidential Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Booker is a historian of religion whose scholarship and teaching center on 20th-century African American religions. He focuses on people who engage in practices of simultaneously (re)making religious and racial identities, communities, and forms of authority. His teaching interests, which incorporate intersectional approaches, include Black religion and culture during Jim Crow, religion and the Civil Rights movement, contemporary Black religious/spiritual memoirs, religion and mourning/memorialization, and modern Black religious/spiritual communities.

Dr. Booker’s first book, Lift Every Voice and Swing: Black Musicians and Religious Culture in the Jazz Century, won the Council of Graduate Schools’ 2022 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities and was a finalist for the American Academy of Religion’s 2021 Religion and the Arts Book Award. His other academic publications have appeared in The Journal of Africana Religions, Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, and Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. Dr. Booker co-chairs the Afro-American Religious History Unit of the American Academy of Religion. In 2022-2023, he was a distinguished junior external faculty fellow of the Stanford University Humanities Center and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. He was selected as one of 10 junior religion faculty nationwide to be in the 2019-2020 cohort of the Young Scholars in American Religion Program.

Lee Spelman Doty, W’76, and George E. Doty, Jr., W’76, established the George E. Doty, Jr., and Lee Spelman Doty Presidential Professorship in 2021. Ms. Doty is an Emeritus University Trustee and member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and president of the Penn Alumni Association. In 2022, she received the Alumni Award of Merit. She is currently vice chair of global equities at JP Morgan Asset Management. Mr. Doty has served for many years on his class reunion committee. In addition to the endowed professorship, they have supported key initiatives across campus over the years, including undergraduate scholarships, graduate student support, and the Presidential Engagement Prize.

Patrick Walsh, a professor of chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been named the William Warren Rhodes-Robert J. Thompson Professor of Chemistry.

A member of the Penn faculty since 1999, Dr. Walsh works in the areas of catalysis, methods development, and reaction mechanisms. From 2008 to 2018, Dr. Walsh was the Alan MacDiarmid Term Professor of Chemistry. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in 2016. Recently, Dr. Walsh was selected as one of 10 annual recipients of a 2025 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. The award, administered by the American Chemical Society, recognizes and encourages excellence in organic chemistry.

The Rhodes-Thompson Professorship was established in 1972 by the late William W. Rhodes, C’1910, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Thompson. Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Thompson were close friends and business associates at the DuPont Company for more than 30 years. They chose to commemorate their long working relationship and advance the study of chemistry through this professorship.

Penn Arts & Sciences has launched the Plant Adaptability and Resilience Center, or Plant ARC. The center, led by Doris Wagner, the DiMaura Professor of Biology, aims to enhance plant development and fortitude in the face of climate change, which impacts food security, human health, and ecosystems through evermore extreme and unpredictable weather events like heatwaves, droughts, and floods. Anchored in the department of biology, Plant ARC will collaborate broadly across departments and with schools and centers across Penn, as well as with local stakeholders, and beyond.

 “Penn is the ideal place for Plant ARC because of its commitment to climate change solutions across schools and disciplines,” Dr. Wagner said. “Plants sustain all life on Earth and are crucial for ecosystems and climate regulation. By safeguarding essential species interactions, understanding how climate change affects plant physiology and development, and developing climate-resistant crops, Plant ARC will devise scalable, research-driven solutions that boost food security and ecosystem resilience, from urban farms in Philadelphia to global agricultural systems.”

To facilitate its research, Plant ARC will build phytotrons, programmable climate chambers that will allow Plant ARC team members to simulate past, current, and future climates from anywhere in the world; reproduce a given climate precisely in replicate experiments; and test plant response to successive, but different, climate exposures. The end goal is precision improvement of plant traits for agriculture and ecosystems generally and specifically in the urban setting.

 “Plant ARC is a tremendously exciting idea, allowing Penn researchers to further develop fundamental plant research and to harness the resulting advances in plant adaptability and resilience against the effects of climate change,” said Mark Trodden, associate dean for the natural sciences, the Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics, and co-director of the Penn Center for Particle Cosmology. “This center represents an important pillar in our broad efforts in sustainability and climate in the School of Arts & Sciences.”

The center is involved in multiple recent and upcoming events, including the Penn Science Café: Plants on a Warming Planet, which focused on the complexity of plant responses to climate change, and the 1.5* Minute Climate Lectures during Climate Week at Penn.

Penn Global has announced the launch of the Climate Security and Geopolitics Project. Led by Scott Moore, director of China programs and strategic initiatives for Penn Global and a practice professor of political science in the School of Arts & Sciences, this research project examines how the return of great power rivalry, particularly with China, impacts international climate action. It explores both the challenges and opportunities geopolitics presents for climate mitigation and adaptation, offering a unique perspective distinct from existing work in the field of climate and environmental security.

The project will tackle questions at the intersection of geopolitics and climate action. Questions explored include how national security policies can effectively align with climate initiatives, what changes in global governance are needed to address the risk of geoengineering interventions, and how China uses its involvement in international climate issues to bolster its soft power—and what this means for for U.S. national interests.

The project also includes a student-focused component through the Penn Global-Perry World House Climate & Security Policy Fellows Program. Supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the program provides Penn graduate students with exposure to public service careers focused on climate policy.

Based within Penn Global at the University of Pennsylvania and launched with the support of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Browne Center for International Politics at Penn, the Penn Global Project on Climate Security and Geopolitics will position Penn as a leading source of research and solutions at the intersection of climate policy, security, and international relations. Though rooted in rigorous research, the initiative will be aimed squarely at policymakers both in the U.S. and at the multilateral level.

To formally introduce the new project, Penn Global will host a series of launch events throughout the fall of 2024. On October 21, Penn Global partnered with Perry World House and the Center for Climate and Security to host a roundtable discussion on Geopolitics and the Future of Climate Finance, which featured Michael Weisberg, the Bess W. Heyman President’s Professor and deputy director of Perry World House; Erin Sikorsky, director of the Center for Climate and Security and a former Perry World House visiting fellow; Scott Moore; and Koko Warner, director of the International Organization for Migration Global Data Institute and a Perry World House non-resident senior advisor. The conversation took place at Penn Washington.

Scott Moore has also been named a Senior Advisor for Climate Security at the U.S. Department of Defense. In this role, which he will hold in conjunction with his current responsibilities with Penn Global, Dr. Moore will help shape U.S. government policy at the intersection of climate change and national security.

In addition to being a practice professor of political science and director of China programs and srategic initiatives, Dr. Moore is also a senior advisor to the Water Center at Penn. His primary research interests center on China, climate change, and security. Other research and teaching interests include water security and China’s role in the biotechnology sector.

Dr. Moore’s first book, Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins (Oxford University Press, 2018), examines how climate change and other pressures affect the likelihood of conflict over water within countries. His latest, China’s Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology are Reshaping China’s Rise and the World’s Future (Oxford University Press, 2022), explores China’s role in global public goods provision against the backdrop of geopolitical rivalry and competition. His current research and book project focuses on how the return of great power rivalry between major economies and emitters shapes prospects for climate action at the international level.

Before joining Penn, Dr. Moore was a young professional and water resources management specialist at the World Bank Group, and an environment, science, technology, and health officer for China at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked extensively on the Paris Agreement on climate change. Dr. Moore holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and an undergraduate degree from Princeton.

Stuart Curran, an emeritus professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences, died on October 7. He was 84.

Dr. Curran received his BA and MA from the University of Michigan and his PhD from Harvard University. In 1974, he joined Penn’s faculty as a professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences; concurrently, he was also appointed as a professor in the College of General Studies, the forerunner to today’s College of Liberal & Professional Studies. In 1996, he was appointed the inaugural Vartan Gregorian Professor of English (Almanac October 15, 1996), a chair created by 1959 Wharton alumnus Saul P. Steinberg to honor Dr. Gregorian, the first dean of SAS who later served as Penn provost.

Dr. Curran was a leading romanticist. His work was supported by fellowships from the Huntington Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Guggenheim Foundation, and in 2010, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the author of groundbreaking books on Percy Bysshe Shelley (which helped restore the poet’s place in literary history), one of several editors of the Johns Hopkins University Press Shelley edition, and the editor of novels by Mary Shelley, Charlotte Smith, and other female writers of the eighteenth century.

The author of two critical studies of Percy Bysshe Shelley as well as the standard bibliography on the poet, Dr. Curran was for many years the editor of the Keats-Shelley Journal. He also served as president of the Keats-Shelley Association of America.

Dr. Curran worked with American students in Italy, studying Romantic relationships in the time of Keats and Byron, and established the Stuart Curran Fund for Graduate Student Travel. The fund honors Dr. Curran’s deep commitment to stimulating and guiding graduate student research.

In 2004, Dr. Curran received Penn’s Provost’s Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring, awarded for the first time in that year. David Wallace, English department chair at the time, said, “in surveying the great mass of responses from current and former students, four key qualities of Stuart’s mentorship come to the fore: brilliance, precision, accessibility, and compassion.”

“Stuart’s attentiveness to his students does not end with the close of their graduate careers,” wrote a former student of Dr. Curran. “In the 22 years I have been teaching, Stuart has been unfailingly supportive, generous of his time, advice, invitations to panels, and solicitations for essays and reviews.” Another said, “no one who is not a member of my family has ever lavished on me the kind of care, attention, and dedication that I found as his student, nor has anyone ever challenged me as much.” Dr. Curran retired from Penn in 2009 and was awarded emeritus status.

Dr. Curran is survived by his husband of 57 years, Joseph Wittreich; his brother, Richard Curran; his niece, Ellen Curran Wells; his nephews, Bruce, Marc, and John Curran; and by friends, generations of students and colleagues. A memorial service will take place at a later date.

Joan Adele Celebre Dragonetti, a former assistant professor of obstetrics-gynecology in the School of Medicine, died on February 18. She was 90.

Dr. Dragonetti was born in Philadelphia and earned her degree from Temple University/Women’s College of Pennsylvania in 1960. She joined Penn’s faculty in 1968 as an associate in ob/gyn and as a dispensary physician in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and took on a faculty role there as an assistant professor in 1970. Two years later, she also became an assistant professor in Penn’s School of Medicine, a role she held until 1975.

Starting with her time at Penn, Dr. Dragonetti became a renowned figure in the medical community, particularly in women’s gynecological and obstetrical health. At Penn, she made significant contributions in women’s oncology prevention, and, after leaving Penn, she held her own practice for another 20 years, where she was cherished for her empathy and compassion towards her patients.

Dr. Dragonetti is survived by her children, Carla Dragonetti and Gerald Dragonetti; her former daughter-in-law, Lynn Cooke Boni; and her grandchildren, Jessica Dragonetti and Annalise Dragonetti.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Dr. Dragonetti’s memory can be made to organizations close to her heart, including ASPCA, Alley Cat Allies, Main Line Animal Rescue, Humane Society of the United States, and the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Karen Combs Flickinger, DH’58, a former instructor in periodontics and dental care systems in Penn Dental Medicine, died on July 3 after a brief battle with cancer. She was 86.

Ms. Flickinger graduated from Penn’s School of Dental Medicine with a degree in dental hygiene in 1958, then earned a bachelor’s degree in education from West Chester University in 1976. That same year, she joined Penn’s faculty as an instructor in periodontics. She held that position until 1983, when she became an instructor in the department of dental care systems.

At Penn, she was an integral part of a team that developed Penn’s preventative dentistry program. While at Penn, she served as president of the Pennsylvania Dental Hygienist Association. She left Penn in 1991 to become director of continuing education at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital before retiring.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, George Flickinger; her three daughters, Anne (Paul) Lobb, Barbara (Marta) Flickinger, and Kristin (David) Michener; and her seven grandchildren, Sarah and David Lobb, and Hannah (Allie), Madeline, Michaela, Joel and Justin Michener.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to breast or ovarian cancer research or to an animal rescue shelter of the donor’s choice.

George Koval, W’61, Penn’s former deputy vice provost in the Office of the Provost, died on June 15. He was 84.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Mr. Koval graduated from Coughlin High School in 1957. In high school, he was quarterback and captain of the school’s championship football team and was shortstop of the school’s championship baseball team; he was named Coughlin’s Athlete of the Year for 1957. He then went on to attend Penn’s Wharton School, graduating in 1961. At Penn, Mr. Koval was Penn’s All-American quarterback and team captain, leading the Red and Blue to their first Ivy League Title in 1959. He also played baseball for Penn.

From 1962 to 1969, Mr. Koval worked in Penn’s Office of Student Financial Services as a student employment manager. During this time, Mr. Koval also served for six years in the U.S. Army National Guard and Reserve and received an honorable discharge with the rank of Sergeant in 1969. From 1969 to 1974, Mr. Koval worked at Temple University as director of financial aid, then returned to Penn in 1974, also as director of financial aid. Mr. Koval spent the balance of his career in higher education at Penn, rising through the ranks to become director of housing and security. In 1980, he was named acting vice provost, and in 1989, he became Penn’s deputy vice provost, a role he held until his retirement in 1995.

“George lived his life as a kind, humble, and intelligent man, whose faith guided him through all of life’s challenges and celebrations,” said his family in an online tribute. “His legacy is one of love, dedication, and service to others. The impact he made on his family, friends, and community will continue to resonate for generations to come.”

He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou; his children, Lisa Babitz (Marty), Cindy Alesi (James), and Stephen Koval (Beatrice); and his grandchildren, Eric, Kevin, Keith, and Kelly Babitz, and Maximillian, Domonique Alesi, and Timothy Koval.

A memorial service was held on June 26, 2024. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the American Heart Association at https://www.heart.org/ or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

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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

During the University Council meeting on October 23, 2024, Interim President J. Larry Jameson encouraged members of the Penn community to read the report of the results of the  2024 Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness (HESMA) survey. He emphasized that creating a campus environment free of sexual misconduct was a collective responsibility of the entire campus (Almanac October 22, 2024).

The minutes of the September 17 meeting were approved and then Moderator Melissa Wilde asked if there were questions about the status reports. In response to a council member’s question about a recent search at a student’s residence, Vice President for Public Safety Kathleen Shields Anderson said that the search was pursuant to a Penn Police Department warrant and offered to meet with their constituency or other campus groups.

Associate Vice President and Associate Uni- versity Secretary Lizann Boyle Rode provided re- sponses to topics raised during new business at the last meeting. She noted that current health guidance can be found on the Wellness at Penn website and that COVID-19 tests are available to students free of charge; she noted that the appropriate individuals are aware of concerns regarding funding for lecturers who teach foreign languages; she also noted that Penn continues to monitor legal developments regarding the 2024 Title IX regulations.

During the President’s Report, David Asch, senior vice president for strategic initiatives, provided an update on the implementation of In Principle and Practice. While it is not yet a year old, many bold, campus-wide programs that cascade through schools and centers have been launched. He also noted that Michael Mann has been appointed vice provost for climate science, policy and action (Almanac October 22, 2024). The appointment of a vice provost for the arts is expected soon.

Dr. Asch also noted that Penn Washington, and Penn AI will ensure the University continues to lead in developing and deploying information-based technologies beneficially and justly. He also noted that Draw Down the Lightning grant requests are due on October 28 and the first round of programs will be announced in the spring (Almanac September 17, 2024).

During the Provost’s Report, Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell described stra- tegic initiatives in data science and artificial intelligence. She focused on several initiatives, including Penn Advanced Research Computing Center (PARCC) which will be launched in the spring and will be a hub for Penn’s 12 schools.   Dr. Bonnell also noted that the Penn AI Council, created to enhance the visibility of AI research across Penn and make cross-campus connections, is beginning its work.

During new business portion of the meeting, council members shared concerns that class schedules may not provide adequate time for students to eat lunch; expressed disappointment that a Proposal for the Formation of an Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Divestment introduced at the steering committee was not moving forward; requested the creation of a system that allows students to change their names on school-facing platforms while legal names remain unchanged on billing documents; expressed concern over the prevalence of sexual misconduct on campus as revealed in the HESMA survey results; and suggested that certain surveys be mandatory to increase response rates.

The next meeting of the University Council is on December 4, 2024 and includes an open forum.

ll members of the University community are invited to bring topics for consideration to

University Council Open Forum

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at 4:00 p.m.
Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

A PennCard is required to attend University Council meetings.

PennCard holders who want to be assured of speaking at Open Forum must submit a request to the Office of the University Secretary (ucouncil@pobox.upenn.edu) by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, briefly indicating the subject of the intended remarks. Speakers’ statements are limited to three minutes and should be framed to present topics of general University interest and be directed to University Council as a body through the moderator, and not to an individual.

Those who have not submitted a timely request to the Office of the University Secretary will be permitted to speak at the discretion of the moderator of University Council if time remains after the registered speakers.

For the meeting format and guidelines for remarks, please consult the University Council website at https://secretary.upenn.edu/univ-council/open-forum.

The Office of the University Secretary can be contacted at ucouncil@pobox.upenn.edu or (215) 898-7005.

—Office of the University Secretary

Six faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the nation’s highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Leaders in the fields of cardiology, nursing, palliative care, health justice, hematology and immunology are among the 100 new members, elected by current NAM members. They join dozens of Penn members who are a part of the prestigious group of healthcare thought leaders, clinicians, and researchers.

This year’s new members are:

Zoltan Pierre Arany, the Samuel Bellet Professor of Cardiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, is awarded for elucidating the causes of peripartum cardiomyopathy, a leading cause of maternal death after pregnancy, and for his world leadership in quantitative metabolic studies to address mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure and insulin resistance.

Kathryn H. Bowles, a professor and the van Ameringen Chair in Nursing Excellence in the Penn School of Nursing, is recognized for her work that led to the development and validation of a decision-support methodology that identified patients who need post-acute care, ensuring that high-risk patients were monitored and received adequate post-acute care plans when they were discharged to their home. Dr. Bowles also led a groundbreaking study that resulted in an important new diagnostic code to the CDC annual update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) list.

Scott D. Halpern, the John M. Eisenberg Professor in Medicine, a professor of medical ethics and health policy and of epidemiology, and director of the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research Center, all at the Perelman School of Medicine, is recognized for making seminal contributions to improving care near the end of life by combining conceptual and empirical work. Through trenchant ethical analyses and leadership of the field’s largest clinical trials, he has challenged old paradigms of serious illness decision-making and demonstrated how low-cost, scalable interventions can improve care quality and outcomes.

Eugenia South, the Ralph Muller Presidential Associate Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine; associate vice president of health justice for the University of Pennsylvania Health System; and the faculty director of the Center for Health Justice, is recognized for being among the country’s foremost leaders in developing and testing interventions to dismantle structural racism and prevent firearm injury in Black neighborhoods. She has made substantive, field-changing scientific and real-world contributions to advancing health via the lens of racial, environmental, and economic justice.

Alexis A. Thompson, chief of the division of hematology; the Elias Schwartz MD Endowed Chair in Hematology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and a professor of pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine, is recognized for her leadership in sickle cell disease (SCD), including creation of the first national SCD learning community, the largest SCD data repository, and collaborations to improve care for children with SCD in sub-Saharan Africa, and for her role in recent FDA approval of gene therapy and other novel SCD therapeutics.

E. John Wherry III, the Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor and chair of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine, is a pioneer in the field of T cell exhaustion, the mechanisms by which T cell responses are attenuated during chronic infections and cancer. These exhausted T cells also have an emerging role in autoimmunity. Dr. Wherry helped identify the role of the “checkpoint” molecule PD-1 and others for reinvigoration of exhausted T cells in cancer. His work has defined the underlying molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of exhausted T cells, and his laboratory has also recently focused on applying systems immunology approaches to define immune health patients across a spectrum of diseases. In 2020-2021, his laboratory established a new immune health project to interrogate and use immune features to identify novel treatment opportunities.

Scott Moore has been named a senior advisor for climate security at the U.S. Department of Defense. In this role, which he will hold in conjunction with his current responsibilities with Penn Global, Dr. Moore will help shape U.S. government policy at the intersection of climate change and national security. In addition to being a practice professor of political science in the School of Arts & Sciences and director of China programs and strategic initiatives for Penn Global, Dr. Moore is also a senior advisor to Penn’s Water Center. His primary research interests center on China, climate change, and security. Other research and teaching interests include water security and China’s role in the biotechnology sector.

Dr. Moore’s first book, Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins (Oxford University Press, 2018), examines how climate change and other pressures affect the likelihood of conflict over water within countries. His latest, China’s Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology are Reshaping China’s Rise and the World’s Future (Oxford University Press, 2022), explores China’s role in global public goods provision against the backdrop of geopolitical rivalry and competition. His current research and book project focuses on how the return of great power rivalry between major economies and emitters shapes prospects for climate action at the international level.

Kenrick D. Cato, a standing faculty member on the clinician-educator track in the department of family and community health and a professor of informatics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will receive the 2024 Donald A.B. Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics, part of the American Medical Informatics Association’s (AMIA) Signature Award program. These awards recognize AMIA members at different stages of their careers for their significant contributions to the field of informatics.

Award recipients will receive their awards at the AMIA 2024 Annual Symposium in San Francisco during the AMIA Awards Committee Meeting on November 11. The annual symposium is the world’s premier meeting for research and practice of biomedical and health informatics. The work presented spans the spectrum of the informatics field: translational bioinformatics, clinical research informatics, clinical informatics, consumer health informatics and public health informatics.

The November AT PENN calendar is now available. Click here to view it online, or click here to download a printable PDF.

Films

29        The Shadow War; tells the compelling stories of four young people as they struggle to survive a war that ended nearly 20 years ago; 6:15 p.m.; Perry World House (Perry World House, Cinema & Media Studies).

Fitness & Learning

29        Talking With Your Students About the Election; discussion for Penn faculty about how to prepare yourself and your class for the stress-filled time before the election, the day after the election, and whatever happens after; noon; room 134, Van Pelt Library; register: https://tinyurl.com/cetli-workshop-oct-29 (Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning &Innovation).

30        Finding Your Path: Navigating Elections, Reducing Cynicism, and Engaging in Politics; Leanne Krueger, PA House of Representatives, and Laurie Friedman, deputy finance director, will discuss practicalities surrounding the election and reducing cynicism in navigating the political environment; 2:30 p.m.; 4^th floor, McNeil Building; register: https://tinyurl.com/sp2-workshop-oct-30 (School of Social Policy & Practice).

Penn Libraries

Various locations. Info and to register: https://www.library.upenn.edu/events.

29        Shop Talk: Iron Handpress Use; noon; Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library.

            Should You Register the Copyright in Your Dissertation? 3 p.m.; Class of 1955 Conference Room, Van Pelt Library.

30        Death Café; 11 a.m.; Holman Biotech Commons.

            Introduction to Design Elements and Storytelling in Data Visualizations; 2:30 p.m.; Gershwind & Bennett Family Collaborative Classroom, Stemmler Hall.

31        Halloween Party; noon; Levy Dental Medicine Library.  

            Tea & Tarot—Halloween Edition; noon; Weigle Information Commons, Van Pelt Library.

            Coffee with a Codex: Occult Collection for Halloween; noon; online webinar.

            Open Studio Print Event: Print a Magic Spell; 1-4 p.m.; Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library.

            Spooky Fun; 1-5 p.m.; Fisher Fine Arts Library.

Talks

29        Earth-Abundant Elements in a New Light: Photophysics and Photochemistry of Early Transition Metal Photosensitizers; Carsten Milsmann, University of Delaware; noon; Carolyn Hoff Lynch Lecture Hall, 1973 Chemistry Building (Chemistry).

            Kisaeng: A Sociopolitical History of Women's Entertainment Labor in Korea, 1900-1950; Laurie Lee, music; noon; room 543, Williams Hall (East Asian Studies).

            Negative Life: The Cinema of Extinction; Steven Swarbrick, City University of New York; Jean-Thomas Tremblay, York University; 4 p.m.; room 135, Fisher-Bennett Hall (Cinema & Media Studies).

            Power and Possibility at the U.S. Supreme Court: A Historian’s View of the Most Recent Term; Karen Tani, SAS and Carey Law School; 4:30 p.m.; Michael A. Fitts Auditorium, Carey Law School (History, Owen J. Roberts Lecture in Constitutional Law).

30        Ecology-Driven Natural Product Discovery; Emily Mevers, Virginia Tech; noon; Carolyn Hoff Lynch Lecture Hall, 1973 Chemistry Building (Chemistry).

            New Ethnicities, Again: Notes on Diasporic Worldmaking in a Digital Era; Aswin Punathambekar, Annenberg School of Communication; noon; room 330, Fisher-Bennett Hall (Cinema & Media Studies).

            The Rising Generation and the Long History of Emancipation; Sarah Gronningsater, history; noon; online webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/gronningsater-talk-oct-30 (Penn Press, Penn Spectrum, School of Arts & Sciences).

            Unraveling SARS-CoV-2-Induced Diabetic Impairment in Adaptive Immunity: Exploring Compensatory Innate Responses and Implications for Severe Disease; Sara Kass-Gergi, pulmonary, allergy & critical care; noon; room 213, Stemmler Hall (Penn-CHOP Lung Biology Institute).

            The Trial as Theater in Medieval Japan; Vyjayanthi Selinger, Bowdoin College; 4:30 p.m.; room 623, Williams Hall (East Asian Languages & Civilizations).

31        From Philadelphia to Pusan: Korean Replies to a Student's Homicide During the Cold War; Justine Guichard, Université Paris Cité; noon; suite 310, 3600 Market Street (Korean Studies).

            Building a "Great Wall of Esoteric Buddhism" on the Sino-Russian Borderlands: Buddhist Pan-Asianism and (Re)Education in the Japanese Empire; Daigengna Duoer, Boston College; 3:30 p.m.; room 204, Cohen Hall (Religious Studies).

Economics

In-person events. Info: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/events.  

29        Selected Facts; Archishman Chakraborty, Yeshiva University; 4 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE.

30        Macroeconomic Consequences of Greenwashing; Joseph Huang, economics; noon; room 625, PCPSE.

            Market Power and the Welfare Effects of Institutional Investors; Felipe Barbieri, economics; 3:30 p.m.; room 100, PCPSE.

Mathematics

In-person events. Info: https://www.math.upenn.edu/events.

31        The Line Segment Extension Problem for Packing Dimension; Jacob Fiedler, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 3:30 p.m.; room 4C8, DRL.

            Scissors Automorphism Groups and Homological Stability; Ezekiel Lemann, Binghamton University; 3:30 p.m.; room 3W2, DRL.

Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics

In-person events at Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall. Info: https://events.seas.upenn.edu/calendar/tag/meam/list/.

29        Engineering Innovation in Maternal and Fetal Health: The Biomechanics of High-Risk Pregnancies; Kristin M. Myers, Columbia University; 10:15 a.m.

Physics & Astronomy

In-person events at room A8, DRL. Info: https://www.physics.upenn.edu/events/.

30        From Stars to Quasars: Microlensing as a Tool for Galactic and Extra-Galactic Discovery; Somayeh Khakpash, Rutgers University; 3:30 p.m.; room 4E19, DRL.

This is an update to the October AT PENN calendar. To submit events for future AT PENN calendars and weekly updates, email the salient details to almanac@upenn.edu.

Division of Public Safety

University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

About the Crime Report: Below are the Crimes Against Persons and/or Crimes Against Property from the campus report for October 14-20, 2024. The Crime Reports are available at: https://almanac.upenn.edu/sections/crimes. Prior weeks’ reports are also online. –Eds.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety (DPS) and contains all criminal incidents reported and made known to the Penn Police, including those reported to the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) that occurred within our patrol zone, for the dates of October 14-20, 2024. The Penn Police actively patrol from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street 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 DPS at (215) 898-7297. You may view the daily crime log on the DPS website.

Penn Police Patrol Zone
Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street

Philadelphia Police 18th District
Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 8 incidents were reported for October 14-20, 2024 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

The Division of Public Safety offers resources and support to the Penn community. DPS developed a few helpful risk reduction strategies outlined below. Know that it is never the fault of the person impacted (victim/survivor) by crime.

• See something concerning? Connect with Penn Public Safety 24/7 at (215) 573-3333.
• Worried about a friend’s or colleague’s mental or physical health? Get 24/7 connection to appropriate resources at (215) 898-HELP (4357).
• Seeking support after experiencing a crime? Call Special Services - Support and Advocacy resources at (215) 898-4481 or email an advocate at specialservices@publicsafety.upenn.edu
• Use the Walking Escort and Riding services available to you free of charge.
• Take a moment to update your cellphone information for the UPennAlert Emergency Notification System
• Download the Penn Guardian App which can help Police better find your location when you call in an emergency.
• Access free self-empowerment and defense courses through Penn DPS.
• Stay alert and reduce distractions; using cellphones, ear buds, etc. may limit your awareness.
• Orient yourself to your surroundings. (Identify your location, nearby exits, etc.)
• Keep your valuables out of sight and only carry necessary documents.

The Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation (CETLI) has announced an expansion of its Digital Strategies Grant Program. The program’s two grant opportunities—the Ignite Micro Grant and the Spark Innovation Grant—are designed to foster experimentation and innovation in online learning across Penn.

Ignite Micro Grants of up to $5,000 will support smaller-scale projects that improve established online programs. This grant is designed to reduce barriers to experimentation and innovation in digital learning and respond to the emerging needs of Penn’s growing population of online students and learners.

Through the Spark Innovation Grant, CETLI will support the development of new online programs in the for- and non-credit spaces, including production or instructional design costs. Recipients will be eligible to receive up to $35,000. The Spark Innovation Grant program seeks to strengthen Penn’s established reputation as an innovative place to teach and learn online.

In addition to financial support, all grant recipients will have opportunities to consult with CETLI throughout the process and receive individualized marketing strategy consultation, project support, and connection to pertinent Penn resources.

Applications for Ignite Micro Grants are now open and will be accepted on a rolling basis. Proposals for Spark Innovation Grants will be accepted starting December 1, 2024, and will close February 21, 2025.

Email onlinelearning@upenn.edu or visit the Digital Strategies Grant Program page for more information and application instructions.

The Diabetes Research Center (DRC) of the University of Pennsylvania is now accepting applications for support to perform pilot and feasibility studies in diabetes and related endocrine and metabolic disorders.

The application deadline is Monday, December 9, 2024, by 5 p.m.

The P&F program is intended to support new investigators and established investigators new to diabetes research. Established diabetes investigators pursing high impact/high risk projects or projects that are a significant departure from their usual work are also eligible for support under the DRC P&F program. Applications are welcome from basic, clinical, and translational investigators. 

Grants will be reviewed by the DRC Pilot and Feasibility Review Committee, as well as internal and external reviewers.  Funding level maximum is $75,000, which includes up to 25k for use in DRC/IDOM core facilities.

For detailed information and instructions, visit https://www.med.upenn.edu/idom/drc/pilots.html.

Investigators who are currently in the first year of support through this P&F Program may reapply for an additional year of funding.  Continuation requests need to be carefully justified and will be considered as competing renewals.  

For more information, please contact Lisa Henry at henryli@mail.med.upenn.edu, Patrick Seale, director of the DRC Pilot & Feasibility Grants Program, at sealep@pennmedicine.upenn.edu, or Doris Stoffers, associate director of the DRC Pilot & Feasibility Grants Program, at stoffers@mail.med.upenn.edu.

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

Dashlane is Penn’s new supported product for password management. Penn is not renewing its licensing agreement with LastPass, the previously supported product for password management. Penn-sponsored LastPass Premium accounts reverted to LastPass Free accounts on September 26,2024. Passwords stored in LastPass Free accounts are still available, for a single device.

An individual Dashlane Premium license is available to active faculty, staff, and students (Health System affiliates are not eligible for Dashlane Premium accounts). To claim a Dashlane Premium license, visit its product page, below. The distribution page will confirm your eligibility.

Dashlane Business is available as a replacement for LastPass Enterprise for departmental use. 

For more information about Dashlane, including how to move passwords from LastPass to Dashlane,  visit the ISC Dashlane page. 

Dashlane product page: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/dashlane.

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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.

Hanne Harbison

In the current political and sociocultural climate, there is an urgent need to be able to talk about difficult topics with others, some of whom you may not agree with. This communication skill is crucial for nurses who need to be able to talk about challenging issues with diverse people. We know that people from marginalized and minoritized backgrounds and racial groups receive inferior healthcare, which results in increased morbidity and mortality. While there is a need to address these disparities from a systemic and structural perspective, there is also a need to address them on an interpersonal level. 

To help students develop the ability to identify and interrupt bias in the provision of healthcare, the faculty in the women’s health gender-related nurse practitioner and midwifery programs have developed assignments to help students practice discussions about racism and bias in a way that promotes listening, understanding, and empathy. The goal of these assignments is to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our classrooms and in the healthcare environment as our students graduate and become professionals. The masters program is between four and five semesters depending on specialty, and students from both the women’s health and midwifery specialties are together in their clinical courses for three semesters. These assignments take place during the three semesters when the students are in the same courses.

The team that developed these assignments used four guiding principles adapted from “A Toolkit for Addressing Racism in Nursing and Healthcare,” published by the Organization of Nurse Leaders. These are: 1) Start with Heart—being aware of one’s own biases, using empathy and focusing on the desired outcome for the conversation, 2) Create a Safer Space—having and enforcing boundaries and monitoring the tone of the conversation, 3) Practice Self Awareness—being aware of how you react under stress and doing your own work to educate yourself about the effects of racism and bias, and 4) Facilitate Open Dialogue—understanding that these conversations may make us uncomfortable, and giving students tools to make them easier. Using these principles helps to make the conversations during these assignments purposeful and productive. 

The first assignment we developed is a discussion of either an article or a podcast that addresses racism in healthcare. This discussion occurs at the beginning of each of the three semesters where the students are together. We assign the piece along with a few questions to think about as homework prior to the in-class. The discussion takes place in small groups—usually five-six students with one faculty member. We created a facilitator guide and a learner’s guide to set expectations and provide resources and tools for these discussions. The guides include strategies for how to deal with difficult or strong feelings that can come up in these discussions. Additionally, the guides include a resource list for learning more about racism and bias in healthcare and more generally. They also include a set of proposed ground rules, intended to guide the process of the discussion so that everyone involved knows how to participate. The ground rules are taken from a variety of sources including Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to Be an Antiracist, Ijeoma Oluo’s book So You Want to Talk About Race, and circle practice as practiced by the Restorative Practices @ Penn. It is important to have buy-in from the entire group regarding the ground rules. To that end, the first part of each discussion involves everyone reviewing the proposed ground rules, suggesting additional ones as needed, and agreeing to abide by them.

In each group, the faculty member guides the conversation with the pre-chosen questions. Each student is given the opportunity to respond or pass. Once all the students have had a turn, we move on to the next question. The questions include things like—what surprised you about the content, how did the content make you feel, and where have you seen examples of what the content discusses in your own lives?

After the discussion we have the students complete an anonymous survey using a Likert Scale with choices of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree and Strongly Agree. Some of the questions include asking about the student’s comfort level in the discussion, whether they think having these discussions is important, if practicing these discussions is helpful and if they would like additional resources. The students have responded overwhelmingly positively to these discussions.

The second assignment is a scripting assignment, where the students develop a script for how they would have a difficult conversation with a colleague or patient. We do three of these scripting assignments over the three semesters we have all the students together. The faculty develop the scenarios for the first two, and we have the students bring a scenario from their own experiences for the third scenario. The assignment asks the students to develop two different written scripts—one is an “academic” version which is written for an audience of peer clinicians with appropriate sources and citations. The second is the “clinical” script. This is written using language that is accessible to the public and is phrased in a way that the student would speak to a colleague or patient. We give the students examples of both types of scripts in the assignment instructions, so they have a model to work from.

The order of the scenarios is important. We move from a topic that is less charged to the final example where we address the topic of racism, which is typically more charged. Our thought is that having these conversations in this order allows the students to scaffold the communication skills we want them to learn.

The first script is a discussion of weight management. This topic is introduced in a lecture prior to the scripting assignment. Weight bias in healthcare has been well documented and has been shown to have negative effects on health and health seeking behaviors. The second script involves a case where a provider dismisses the concerns of a patient who does not speak English as their first language and has different cultural beliefs around health and healing than the provider. For the third script, the students bring their own scenario. We ask the students to choose a situation where they have witnessed racial micro-aggressions or overt discrimination of a patient or colleague from a marginalized racial identity. At the beginning of the third semester, we ask the students to pay attention to interactions between providers, staff, and patients in their clinical placement with the intention of noticing microaggressions or overt discrimination. The faculty check in with the students at several points in the semester to assess their progress on identifying a scenario.

In each scripting assignment, the students read aloud their scripts to their group members and are given verbal feedback. The feedback is given following the ground rules for the assignments. Feedback is intended to be constructive and help the students ensure their scripts are clear and useful, i.e. is this something you would say. We also want the scripts to consider power dynamics, body language, and location and timing of the encounter.

Both assignments help the students understand how racism and bias affect health and healthcare. By giving students tools and space to practice, these assignments empower our students to hold conversations that often feel challenging. Students appreciate these opportunities to improve their ability to work with a range of patients and the chance to talk in a safe space about issues that are increasingly hard to discuss.

Hanne Harbison is a senior lecturer and the director of the women’s health and gender-related nurse practitioner program at Penn’s School of Nursing.

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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.