PHILADELPHIA – Two Penn Medicine physicians – Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, MPH, MSCE, chief of the division of Infectious Diseases and the Robert Austrian Professor in the department of Medicine, and Ben Z. Stanger, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Medicine and associate investigator of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute – were elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP), a nonprofit, professional society for physicians dedicated to the pursuit and advancement of medical knowledge.
The AAP was founded in 1885 by seven physicians for “the advancement of scientific and practical medicine,” and is now composed of over 1,300 active members and approximately 600 emeritus and honorary members from the United States, Canada and other countries.
Lautenbach, also a professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and a senior scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has focused his work on the control of bacterial infections in both healthcare and community settings. His research has concentrated primarily on understanding and curtailing the emergence and further spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multidrug-resistant gram negative organisms. More recent work has focused on the role of biomarkers to inform the use of antibiotics. Lautenbach received his Doctor of Medicine and Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University and his Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stanger and his lab study how cells acquire their specialized features and their ability to adapt to new roles when given exposure to new, different conditions. His work has focused on gastrointestinal cancer and tissue regeneration. Stanger received his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard Medical School and came to the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.
Each year, physicians are recognized by nomination for membership by the Council of the Association. Their election gives them the opportunity to share their scientific discoveries and contributions with their colleagues at AAP’s annual meeting.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.