Penn Medicine Magazine

A growing list of FDA-approved therapies is rooted in research at Penn Medicine. Also in this issue: the new science of cancer interception, and a student group for future doctors to explore interests in business and technology.

At Penn Medicine, home care is evolving from a convenience to a crucial edge in the future of medicine. Also in this issue: the Pavilion at one year, diversity among residents, and virtual reality in medical education.

A four-year ultrasound curriculum helps Perelman School of Medicine students build competence and confidence in the classroom.

Read essays on the devastating impact of, and potential solutions to, community gun violence, in the deadliest year on record in Philadelphia.

Neuroscience and cancer innovations that are redefining the future are a major focus of this issue. The cover story highlights the new, brain-powered Pavilion at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where cutting-edge neuroscience work will transform research and clinical care. Other stories highlight cancer, from a look back on the half-century career of Penn’s longest-serving cancer center director, to cancer outreach in our communities, and a creative cancer patient helping others through art.

Sometimes a physical place has everything to do with health and disease. Unsafe or unstable housing conditions, poverty, and related social inequities are deeply linked with well-being — and that’s equally true when it comes to diseases carried by pest insects. In this issue, a Penn epidemiologist asks: What if the next pandemic is carried by a bug? Other stories in this issue explore place and health from other angles, such as how medical education transforms when forced to pause on some in-person activities. And we highlight the arrival of vaccines against COVID-19 that will help deliver us again to a better place.

In this issue, we grapple with what a contemporary global pandemic means in our lives and work in academic medicine, and with the question of how it changes things. These stories show how COVID-19 has driven our focus on what matters most. That includes public health, surviving the pandemic; creativity, whether in finding unexpected sources of PPE or in using artistic expression to cope with hardship; and justice, driving out longstanding inequities. It includes caring for each other and the compassion that shines on the faces of those around us, even through masks and shields that protect us.

You’ll find bridges, both metaphorical and literal throughout this issue.

The Innovation Issue: Innovation in health care is not just a matter of new technology. It's a process of testing new solutions and learning which solutions will succeed. From the advent of lab and data technologies that will transform care today and tomorrow, to the creative processes behind inventing medical devices and changing care models to help patients wherever they are, the story of innovation at Penn Medicine is still unfolding.

We start in the fall of 2015. Follow along with seven students through the story of four years in medical school.