Discover extraordinary advances in medical science, transformations of health care, and the people driving change, in stories from the Perelman School of Medicine alumni magazine.
Researchers are capturing images of the biology inside our cells using cryogenic electron microscopy to inform how we understand and treat disease.
A program where cancer patients can get free mental health care addresses an underrecognized need: that cancer’s deepest wounds are often not physical.
Samuel Parry, MD, the Franklin Payne Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn has been awarded the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM)’s 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award.
A new electronic implant system can help lab‑grown pancreatic cells mature and function properly, potentially providing a basis for novel, cell-based therapies for diabetes.
A muscle science lab draws on personal experience at the extremes—world-class athleticism and muscular dystrophy—in seeking a safer gene therapy.
America’s first hospital will mark its 275th anniversary by transforming Pennsylvania Hospital’s historic Pine Building into a museum, open this May.
New research finds that a specific pattern of brain activity in a frontal brain region is linked to compulsive behaviors in people with OCD.
Understanding how a disease starts and gets going is essential to finding treatments—and imaging with cryoEM and cryoET is leading to such insights.
Penn is at the forefront of using close-up imaging techniques to suggest new ways to match drugs to biological receptors like a key with a lock.
Structural biologists are now more clearly seeing fundamental mechanisms of how cells function in the human body and across many forms of life.
From precision education to AI, two new leaders are exploring innovative ways to train tomorrow’s doctors.
Penn Medicine is leveraging emerging technology to strengthen clinical reasoning skills and patient care among medical students and residents.
The gift sparks curriculum transformation, new lectureship, and names Entrepreneurship Pathway in honor of alumnus Rod Wong, M03.
Even before she experienced cancer herself, Deborah Burnham, PhD, had a knack for “magical” prompts to help cancer patients write through their illness.
Three decades of training leaders and driving research that defines ethics in health care, policy, and innovation were honored with a national award.
The Abramson Cancer Center’s legacy of holistic care is the foundation for cancer care and research that aims to become a model for the world.
A pair of early X-ray plates represent the beginning of a revolution in medicine that began at Penn.
Penn Medicine’s eminence today traces back to decades-ago investments in people, places, and uniting in the purpose of academic medicine.
Perelman School of Medicine papers win Clinical Research Forum’s 2026 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards, highlighting the power of federal funding for science.
At home and overseas, Florencia Polite, MD, is on a mission to help patients and physicians understand how RSV vaccines protect newborns.
Penn medical students are forging connections with those experiencing homelessness and shining a light on the transformative power of street medicine.
The 2026 recipient of the ASBMB Ruth Kirschstein Award for Maximizing Access in Science shares her approach to creating opportunities for all.
Getting Luka Krizanac new hands took 16 years, a connection between a surgeon and his mentor, and surgeries on two continents.
Public investments in biomedical research have an outsized effect, driving new scientific insights, economic growth, and ultimately treatments and cures.
In a historic medical breakthrough, a child with a rare genetic disorder has been successfully treated with a customized CRISPR gene editing therapy.
For PennSTAR, Penn Medicine’s critical care transport service, any given day brings a new opportunity to save lives—at high speed and altitude, anywhere they’re needed across the region.
Penn Medicine is building better systems that help patients build health care around their lives instead of their lives around health care.
Behind the scenes, it takes smart capacity management systems to serve patients who need nothing less than the most advanced health care available anywhere.
A reimagined facility has been introduced as the epicenter for pioneering Penn research aimed at “breaking the immunological code” of autoimmune diseases and bringing them to heel.
A $50 million gift from the Lurie family to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine will launch the Lurie Autism Institute to drive autism research.
The Pavilion will be renamed to recognize Catherine and Anthony Clifton’s historic philanthropic commitment that will usher in a new era of innovation.
Penn Medicine research is bringing the “sleeper” phase of cancer to light—creating hope that more cancers could be wiped out for good and never come back.
Penn researchers have spent decades detecting where tumor cells lurk after treatment in hopes of finding them in time to stop cancer from coming back.
The Basser Center for BRCA is running an innovative cancer interception clinical trial that depends on volunteers with deep, personal ties to cancer.
Penn Medicine is harnessing technology, innovation, and physician insights to make health care easier for clinicians and patients.
Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, is using his insights from technology in radiology to solve problems and scale up changes in the health system.
Nearly two decades into her tenure at Penn, Raina Merchant, MD, leads teams transforming health care for better patient, clinician, and community experiences.
Reversing racial inequities is a full-force effort rooted in research that includes gardens and parks, financial support, and lifting up local community members.
Combining economic assistance with greening initiatives in a randomized trial, IGNITE aims to show how to reverse the harms of racial injustice in health.
Deeply Rooted is a community partnership that plants trees, greens vacant lots, and funds grassroots programs. The goal: health justice in action.
To improve health while addressing climate change, Penn Medicine aims to become the most environmentally friendly health care system in the country.
From rethinking anesthesia gases that have outsized greenhouse effects, to medical waste disposal, Penn Medicine is reducing the climate impacts of surgery.
Climate change affects health, from viral transmission to the effectiveness of medications. Penn researchers are discovering how and seeking solutions.
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