Assessing and Addressing Nutrition and Health in our Communities

Aug 30, 2021

Learn more and register for this 3-day workshop addressing food insecurity, neighborhood food environment, and nutrition health disparities.

Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH is among the organizers and will be participating in this important event. The goal is to review the state of the science, identify research gaps and opportunities related to food insecurity and the neighborhood food environment, and suggest innovative research strategies that will inform policy and practice to address and prevent diet-related health disparities and promote health equity.

The virtual event is hosted by the National Institutes of Health, admission is free, and it is open to the public.

Learn more & Register

2021 Community Scholars Symposium and Pitch Presentation

Mar 16, 2021

The Intersection of Community, Academia, and Grant-Making

Friday, April 9, 2021


9:00AM – 12PM (Virtual)

 

Register for the fifth annual Penn Community Scholars Symposium: The Intersection of Community, Academia, and Grant-Making. This symposium offers insights into developing, pitching, and funding innovative project ideas that utilize community-academic partnerships, while offering an opportunity for networking among community, academics, and grant-makers. Pitches are judged by a panel of funders and academics and the top three presenters will receive a financial award.

Reserve your spot

Meet the Community Scholars:

Erin Davison, Philadelphia Legal Assistance

Jule Anne Henstenburg, MANNA

Andy Kucer, Students Run Philly Style

Colin MacFarlane, Nationalities Service Center

Sam Margolis, Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia

Anthony Singleton, Educators 4 Education

Ashli Stephens, Worth Womb Work Inc.

 

Keynote Speakers:

Vanessa Briggs, Brandywine Health Foundation

Lynette Medley, No More Secrets

 

Expert Panel:

Victoria Cargill, MD, MSCE, Baltimore City Health Department

Heather Falck, IBC Foundation Programs

Ann Marie Healy, Philadelphia Health Partnership

Laura Kind McKenna, The Patricia Kind Family Foundation

Raina Merchant, MD, UPenn

Douglas Wiebe, PhD, UPenn

 

The Penn community Scholars program is supported by the Penn Injury Science Center with funding from the Office of the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.

Research Day 2021 – Virtual & Open to the Public

Mar 9, 2021

Former US Preventive Services Task Force Chief Inspires Real Change: Join Us!

The U.S. lags behind other developed nations in many health outcomes. How can we move from potential to actual health improvement? Be our guest virtually for DBEI & CCEB Research Day on March 24 and hear our 1:30 p.m.keynote by Sue Curry, PhD, former chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and an expert on translating research into policy. Find a detailed schedule, create an account, and register here.

 Attend the full event from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and be with us as:

* Our top 10 poster presenters give five-minute flash talks and compete for prizes.
* Faculty members share their high-impact research.

  • Biostatistics: Hongzhe Li, PhD: Interrogating the Gut Microbiome — Estimation of Growth Rates and Prediction of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters.
  • Pamela Shaw, PhD: Efficient Study Designs for the Analysis of Error-Prone Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data.
  • Epidemiology: Sean Hennessy, PharmD, PhD: Medicines as Thermo-Protectants?
  • Informatics: Blanca Himes, PhD: Enhancing Electronic Health Record Data to Address Health Disparities.
  • Dr. Curry presents “Population Health: Making Science Matter,” the Brian L. Strom Visiting Professorship Lecture. Dr. Curry is an emeritus Dean and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy of the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Learn more and register for the event here.

 

 

Dr. Glanz named to new NAS committee

Feb 16, 2021

National collaboration on sunscreen science

Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, a George A. Weiss University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named to a new National Academy of Sciences committee: Committee on Environmental Impact of Currently Marketed Sunscreens and Potential Human Impacts of Changes in Sunscreen Usage. The study is sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and managed by the Ocean Studies Board and the National Academy of Medicine’s Health and Medicine Division.

This study will review the state of science on the use of currently marketed sunscreen ingredients, their fate and effects in aquatic environments, and the potential public health implications associated with changes in sunscreen usage.

 

Why is the study being done? 

Concerns have been raised about the potential toxicity of sunscreens to a variety of marine and freshwater aquatic organisms, particularly corals. At the same time, there are concerns that people will use less sunscreen rather than substituting sunscreens with UV filters that are considered environmentally safe.

Karen Glanz has been conducting research in skin cancer prevention for more than 25 years.  She is internationally recognized as a leader in the study of human behavior related to sun protection, and commercial aspects of sunscreen sales and purchases.

Community-Driven Research Day

Jan 26, 2021

Information can be found here.

Community-Based Organizations interested in presenting can register HERE (the deadline has just been extended to 1/29/21 ).

Virtual Presentations

Join us for the 11th annual Community-Driven Research Day, co-sponsored by the Center for Violence Prevention. “Resilience and Action to Improve Health” will be held virtually on Thursday, 2/11 from 10am-12:30pm. Barbara Israel, DrPh, of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center is slated as the keynote speaker.

Making connections

The goal of the event is to encourage collaboration between university-based research partners and community-based organizations (CBOs). A connection will be made through virtual presentations in themed breakout sessions, where CBOs and community groups will highlight their questions to researchers. Experts will be available from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This is a great opportunity for your community organization to connect with academic researchers, who have an interest in community/academic partnerships around public health concerns. Topics include, violence prevention, poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, health and wellness, etc.

Funding the future

Following the event, up to eight $10,000 pilot grants will be made available to support interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research in health. The available funding is limited to presenters of Community-Driven Research Day in partnership with faculty of CHOP, Penn, Temple, Drexel, Jefferson, and PCOM.

 

Webinar: Community Health and Economic Prosperity

Aug 25, 2020

Save the Date: 9/9/2020 at 1:00-2:30 PM EST for Community Health & Economic Prosperity –

Join Vice Admiral Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, along with top leaders in the field of community health from Penn and beyond, as they discuss opportunities for the food industry to create a healthy and equitable food system. The webinar will be held September 9, 2020 from 1:00 – 2:30 PM, and is sponsored by the following.

Registration is limited, details here

 

COVID-19 Risk Perception, Knowledge, and Behaviors in 6 States

Jun 22, 2020

In May 2020, UPenn PRC Director, Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, received one of the thirteen COVID-19 Rapid Response Research Grants from Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute. 

The study aim is to assess individuals’ risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors related to prevention of COVID-19, response to the pandemic, and psychological impacts of quarantine and/or diagnosis of COVID-19. Primary outcomes are: individuals’ behaviors, risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors related to prevention and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary outcomes are: changes in risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors about the COVID-19 pandemic over time, by geographic area, and by personal experience with the disease.

Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH

Principal Investigator:
Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH

John Holmes, PhD

Co-Investigator:
John Holmes, PhD

Penn’s Faculty respond to the COVID-19 pandemic

Mar 19, 2020

Changing daily

The world is changing daily and news outlets are trying to keep everyone informed with the latest updates, and the best strategies to combat the virus, with a captive audience as millions self-isolate.

The faculty at the University of Pennsylvania have stepped up to the microphone, to offer their expertise in how we as a community, both academic and medical, handle the population’s needs during this time.

Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute (Penn LDI) has created a website tracking the contributions to the press from affiliated faculty. The website lists the article with a link to the source, and the name of the faculty contributor. You can also follow their Twitter channel for the latest additions to the list.

Expert voices

One notable contribution is our own director’s, Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH. Dr. Glanz was interviewed for an article in The Atlantic, focusing on getting exercise during social isolation.

Dr. Glanz encourages everyone to “stay as active as they can; it helps with feeling good; staying healthy and maintaining sanity.”

John H. Holmes, the UPenn PRC Evaluation Core Lead, gave an update from the University of Pavia in Italy, and Carolyn Cannuscio, our Community Engagement Core Lead, has been the voice of social distancing across all channels. She has been a valuable source for the media during this time, regarding social distancing and how it affects public health, as seen in this interview by Vox.

Karen Glanz and Carmen Guerra co-authored an op-ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 14, 2020. The piece brings to light the racial disparities in care for people with COVID-19, from social distancing practices, to testing, and ultimately, to those who succumb to the virus. Read the article online or the pdf version.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest news from our center and our affiliated faculty.

 

ACC Population Science Research Seminar, February 20, 2020

Feb 18, 2020

Join us next Thursday, February 20th for the ACC Population Science Seminar – “Helping Parents Quit Smoking in Pediatric Settings”.
Please reply with your RSVP by Monday, February 17th.

The Cancer Control Program is one of two Population Science Research Programs of the Abramson Cancer Center. Program members work intra- and inter-Programmatically to apply advances in science to population health and cutting-edge data analytics, address the cancer burdens and risk factors in our catchment area, and train the next generation of cancer control researchers.

Monthly Abramson Cancer Center Population Science Research Seminars are sponsored by: