From WebMD Health News: A leaked trove of papers from inside Facebook shows that the social media giant’s internal research uncovered a host of problems on the platform related to public health and other issues, but did virtually nothing about it. The files were leaked by a whistleblower, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who shared tens of thousands of documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Congress, and a consortium of news organizations. She has since testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and European lawmakers. “Large organizations that have influence and access to lots of people need…
From Health Leaders: U.S. counties with healthcare facilities with the greatest share of 1-star Yelp reviews had the highest death rates, and a difference of just one point—roughly one star—between counties’ average scores could indicate a mortality rate that is better or worse by dozens of lives, according to researchers at the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health. Yelp is a review website that uses a five-star rating system to evaluate businesses, with one start rating the lowest and five stars rating the highest. “Many of the facilities that provide essential care may not otherwise have standardized measures or approaches…
A research team led by CHIBE-affiliated faculty members and PIs Eugenia South, MD, MS, and Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD, MPhil, has been awarded nearly $10 million from the NIH to conduct a randomized controlled trial of concentrated investment in Black neighborhoods in Philadelphia to address structural racism as a fundamental cause of poor health. Previous research in Philadelphia has shown that life expectancy for people living in poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods, such as around Strawberry Mansion, is 20 years lower than for people living in the nearby affluent, predominantly White neighborhoods of Old City and Society Hill in the City….
From the Medical Progress: In an unprecedented effort to address the harmful effects of structural racism on health, 60 predominantly Black neighborhoods in Philadelphia will be part of an ambitious study to assess the impact of a multi-component intervention addressing both environmental and economic injustice on health and well-being, led by Penn Medicine researchers Eugenia C. South, MD, MHSP, and Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD. At the community level, the study includes tree planting, vacant lot greening, trash cleanup, and rehabilitation of dilapidated, abandoned houses. For households, the study will help connect participants to local, state, and federal social and economic…
From Philly Voice: Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania will lead a nationwide effort to learn more about why cancer patients and survivors from Black and Hispanic communities are more susceptible to developing heart disease — and how to address that disparity. Penn Medicine on Monday announced that its Cardio-Oncology Translational Center of Excellence was awarded $2.9 million from the American Heart Association to fund the project, which will be carried out over the next four years by 30 researchers around the country. With a scarcity of evidence in cardio-oncology, the team hopes to “define how the sociologic construct of…
From The Philadelphia Inquirer: Health-care professionals have been wrestling with various inequities in their field, with varying results. One success story is a five-year effort by the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania to enroll more Black patients with cancer in clinical trials. The trials give more Black patients access to the latest cancer treatments — and promise wider benefits, too. In 2014, Black residents comprised 19% of the 12-county area around and including Philadelphia. And 16.5% of cancer patients were Black. Yet at Abramson, only 12.2% of patients in cancer treatment trials were Black. After the five-year…
