Some people may not consider painting a picture a traditional component of health care. To take that notion further, some may not consider murals an important part of a healthy community. But, despite those expectations, nearly thirty patients at 11th Street Family Health Services of Drexel University and many more members of their community have come together to help individuals be healthier and to make their communities stronger, through creating public art. They will dedicate and celebrate their artwork, entitled "A Healing Home," On October 16.

Two new treatment methods under investigation at Drexel University aim to help people reduce binge-eating behavior. One is a smartphone app designed to alert peopleat times when they are at risk for binge behaviors, among a comprehensive suite of other features. Another treatment is a new, evidence-based approach to small-group behavioral therapy.

Due to a complex and vicious cycle of biological and behavioral factors, dieters and weight loss researchers know, the more weight you’ve lost, the harder it is to keep it off. But eating disorder research has largely overlooked this influence, and Dr. Michael Lowe, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, has published a flurry of research studies showing that needs to change.

Through their desire for social change, ten women from Camden, N.J. have opened a lens on hunger, homelessness, health and a broad swath of issues related to poverty. Their photos and interview-based testimony, collected as part of the “Witnesses to Hunger” project based at the Center for Hunger-Free Communities at Drexel University School of Public Health, will be on public display in Camden for the first time this month.

Two newly published studies show precisely how stark the challenge is for young adults on the autism spectrum to find their first jobs and take the first steps toward independent living. The researchers emphasize the need to strengthen services to help adolescents and young adults and their families with transition planning.

Drexel food safety researchers have helped develop a new educational campaign to raise awareness that washing raw poultry prior to cooking risks spreading bacteria, without any benefit of removing or killing them.

Drexel University has received a grant for a five-year study of medical marijuana and its impact on drug use and physical and psychological health among young adults in Los Angeles. It is the first large-scale NIH project funded to directly investigate medical marijuana use among young adults aged 18 to 26.

Researchers from the Drexel University School of Public Health say that health care organizations have an untapped opportunity to use data analysis methods on their own administrative data as a “springboard to problem identification” at the leading edge of preventing medical errors.

A subtle change to hospital data collection policies could make a big difference in preventing occupational health and safety hazards, according to workplace safety researchers at the Drexel University School of Public Health.

Dr. James Connell, who joined Drexel last year as the clinical director of the A.J Drexel Autism Institute, shared with DrexelNow some of the latest developments at the institute since its launch last year.