PISC Publications and News Features

Millan AbiNader of the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) leads Penn’s participation in the Survivor Link + Public Health AmeriCorps program to provide financial support for SP2 students to build capacity in public health agencies, promote evidence-based interventions, and educate communities about intimate partner violence (IPV). Great news came recently as the new program was awarded a second year of funding.

“In the first year of Survivor Link + Public Health AmeriCorps, members engaged in 46,502 hours of service and trained 1,559 people across 188 agencies to more effectively respond to IPV.”

Leigh Ann DiFusco, a Penn Injury Science Center postdoc in the School of Nursing, wrote a blog post for CHOP’s Center for Injury Research & Prevention about her portfolio of research – factors that make driving more difficult or risky for teens and young adults with congenital heart disease (CHD).

“Like their peers without CHD, driving may be critical for educational, employment and social purposes during adolescence and adulthood; however, the effects of CHD on daily living may impact driving abilities in different ways. Some adolescents with CHD may need more time to process or prioritize information, react less quickly to sudden changes on the road, or have problems moving their body in order to correctly operate a motor vehicle. Others may be more impulsive or have conditions such as ADHD, and their attention span might be different.”

Healthcare Innovation featured the Warm Handoff project.

“Our findings indicate that the screening and prompts help clinicians to recognize patients and increasingly initiate important care for them,” says Maggie Lowenstein.

“There is a huge group now eligible to prescribe buprenorphine, which could really expand access to treatment,” Lowenstein said. “But that only happens if people actually recognize and treat opioid use disorder. That’s where our findings come in.”

Visit the Warm Handoff project page for more details.

Congratulations to Katie Hunzinger of the Perelman School of Medicine and Kevin Rix of the School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine for completing their postdoctoral fellowships at the Penn Injury Science Center and beginning their next chapters as assistant professors! Katie remains local at the Department of Exercise Science at Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Rehabilitation Sciences, while Kevin returns to his alma mater at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (School of Public Health Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science and School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics).

Elinore Kaufman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke on Louisville NPR member station WFPL about the difference in public response to the recent mass shooting compared to the area’s chronic gun violence.

“It’s interesting, I used to say the mass shootings are getting all the attention, it’s going to really warp our policy. But honestly, all the attention that mass shootings derive result in very, very, very little change — essentially, no change.

If we really focus on the root causes of violence? We’re going to be talking about things like wealth inequality, like generational poverty, housing and schools, social supports, all of those things that we as a society have systematically deprived Black communities and other communities of color from for a long time. These aren’t simple policy solutions, but they are powerful. And they have all kinds of other benefits, of course, beyond firearm violence.”

A powerful voice in the violence prevention world of Philadelphia was lost with the recent passing of Khalif Mujahid Ali. The Penn Community Violence Prevention team aims to carry on the legacy of one of its founding members and Khalif’s longtime partners look to continue his Beloved Care Project.

Listen to Khalif’s story at the Penn Medicine Listening Lab.

The Trainee Learning Lab at the Penn Injury Science Center is a featured CDC ICRC Success Story for bringing together graduate and undergraduate students across the country (many from fellow Injury Control Research Centers) to discuss injury science and methodology in a virtual setting since 2020.

Trainees discuss articles with one another and then as a group with the author to build skills in critical review and make connections with peers and mentors.

“It is a great opportunity to connect and work with students and researchers across the country.”

Participants have found a rich, collaborative environment in the Trainee Learning Lab, with opportunities for networking and for advanced professional development where they can “consider new ideas without feeling intimidated like [they] often do in other settings,” as one trainee remarked.

John MacDonald outlines seven key facts about crime and criminal offenders in Vital City to explain why politically popular criminal justice reforms tend to fail.

Elinore Kaufman and Rodney Babb, of the Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program, participated in the Story Slam focusing on firearm injury and prevention as a public health issue, co-hosted by Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians (ACP) and WHYY.