Health

Talking to Kids about Weight: What the Internet Says and Why Researchers Are Wary

Researchers from the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University systematically reviewed numerous independently published guidelines for having conversations with children about weight status to analyze their content, consistency, actionability and scientific support. They recommend future guidelines unify their messages for caregivers and health care professionals and be better supported by scholarly data.

Director of Student Health Services Janet Cruz, MD, seated, received the COVID-19 vaccine administered by College of Nursing & Health Professions Assistant Clinical Professor Kim McClellan, EdD.

Drexel Medical Professionals Among the First to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

On Dec. 18, two members of Drexel’s COVID-19 response team received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination — with one administering the vaccine to the other.

Successful Pilot Integrates PrEP and Syringe Exchange Services

A new study shows that implementing PrEP distribution within a community-based syringe services program gets the medication into the hands of women who inject drugs — a population disproportionately impacted by HIV. The results, from researchers at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, were recently published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

SEPTA and Drexel Team up to Battle COVID-19

Researchers from Drexel University will be working with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) on a partnership aimed at enhancing efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on public transportation. Through a recently formed partnership, the institutions are pursuing a federal grant for research into risk assessment, mitigation and communication strategies that will help keep riders safe and healthy.

Wrist worn fitness tracker sitting atop a notebook, pen and magazine. All items are siting in front of a lap top.

Does Sharing Health Data Help Maintain Weight Loss?

Research from the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University suggests that health counselors having access to self-monitored health data would improve a person’s weight loss maintenance.

The Spinal Cord Research Center of Drexel University College of Medicine was named in memory of Professor Marion Murray, PhD (1937-2018), the founder and director of the Center. Photo courtesy Itzhak Fischer, PhD.

Resiliency, Mentorship and $10 Million in Grants: Drexel Neurobiology & Anatomy in 2020

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the department’s tried-and-true strategies remained strong enough to yield record-breaking levels of research funding.

Drexel’s Interdisciplinary Battle Against COVID-19

From administering COVID tests to conducting case investigation and contact tracing, the University has relied on a cross-college battalion of faculty, professional staff and students to protect Dragons against the coronavirus, and in turn, protect the surrounding community.

$9 Million Gift from Philanthropists Dana and David Dornsife to Establish Center on Racism and Health at Drexel

A $9 million gift from Drexel University alumna Dana Dornsife and her husband David to the University’s School of Public Health will help launch a new Center on Racism and Health, recruit and retain faculty experts on racial inequities in health and endow the deanship for public health. The longtime philanthropists, widely known for their humanitarian efforts, are the largest single benefactors in the University’s history, having donated more than $70 million. The School of Public Health was named in their honor after a $45 million gift in 2015.

Image of text: National Autism Indicators Report, Health and Health Care November 2020 including the logos for the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute and the Life Course Outcomes Program

National Autism Indicators Report: The Complex Health and Health Care of Individuals with Autism

In the recently published sixth report in the National Autism Indicators Report series, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute highlight a holistic picture of what health and health care look like across the life course for people on the autism spectrum.

Sellers and Realtors Working Together May Make More Homes Smoke-free and Easier to Sell, Drexel Study Says

Even in a strong market, tobacco smoke residue in a home may discourage buyers from considering a property, according to a survey of 329 realtors in four Philadelphia-area counties published this month in the journal Tobacco Regulatory Science.

The cover of "Pandemics for Babies." Photo courtesy Sourcebooks Kids.

They Wrote the Book on ‘Pandemics for Babies’

Inspired by their public health backgrounds and their young son, two Drexel alums (one now a Drexel professor) authored two children’s books about pandemics and germ theory.

The word medicaid written on a puzzle piece being placed in the larger puzzle

Drexel Study: Medicaid and Adults on the Autism Spectrum

Using administrative data from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX), researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute found a substantial increase in the percent of adults receiving services for autism in the Medicaid population from 2008-2012.

A photograph from 1918 or 1919 showing newborns being cared for in the Barton Dispensary, which WMCP temporarily closed during the 1918 pandemic. Photo courtesy Legacy Center Archives, Drexel College of Medicine.

In Their Own Words: The Front Lines of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Faculty, staff and students of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, which later grew into Drexel’s College of Medicine, worked heroically in the fall of 1918 to treat influenza patients, including themselves — as documented in the few reports remaining from that time.