Publications
Browse our collection of featured publications showcasing groundbreaking research
from DBEI experts in biostatistics, epidemiology, and informatics.
Publication
Congratulations to Dr. Anne Marie McCarthy on Her Radiology Publication, “Radiomic Parenchymal Phenotypes of Breast Texture from Mammography and Association with Risk of Breast Cancer”
May 28, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Anne Marie McCarthy on her recent publication in Radiology, highlighting how advanced imaging techniques can uncover subtle breast tissue patterns linked to cancer risk.
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Congratulations to Dr. Rui Xiao on Her Nature Publication, “Zebrafishology, study design guidelines for rigorous and reproducible data using zebrafish”
May 26, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Rui Xiao on her Nature publication offering new guidelines to support rigorous and reproducible research using zebrafish, a key model in biomedical science.
Announcement
In the Media
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Congratulations to Dr. Mingyao Li on Her Nature Publication, “Spatial Transcriptomics Reveals Human Cortical Layer and Area Specification”
May 23, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Mingyao Li on her recent publication in Nature, which maps early human brain development using spatial transcriptomics. The study reveals that cortical layers and areas are specified earlier than previously thought, offering new insight into how the brain takes shape.
Announcement
In the Media
Publication
AIDS Article Authored by Penn Researchers, “Association of HIV status with infections complicating abortion in Botswana”
May 21, 2025
Penn researchers have published new findings in AIDS showing that HIV status may influence the risk of infection following abortion. The study focuses on patients in Botswana and underscores the importance of improving reproductive health care and equity for people with HIV.
Announcement
In the Media
Publication
Congratulations to Dr. Sean Hennessy on His Publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology
May 19, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Sean Hennessy on his recent publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology, which uses a new statistical method to better understand the real-world effects of testosterone therapy. The study offers valuable insights into balancing its potential benefits and risks in clinical care.
Announcement
In the Media
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Congratulations to Dr. Joshua Baker on His Review, “Metabolic Consequences of Rheumatoid Arthritis”
May 15, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Joshua Baker on his invited review explaining the connection between rheumatoid arthritis and metabolism, and how this link affects patient care amid new obesity treatments and improvements in arthritis management.
Announcement
In the Media
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Congratulations to Dr. Jordana Cohen on Her Editorial, “Rethinking Confirmatory Testing in Primary Aldosteronism”
May 13, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Jordana Cohen on her editorial in Annals of Internal Medicine, where she highlights important considerations around diagnostic testing for primary aldosteronism and its impact on patient care.
Announcement
In the Media
Publication
Income Differences Explain Racial Disparities in IBD Care, Study Finds
May 1, 2025
A new study led by James Lewis, MD, MSCE, finds that racial and ethnic gaps in IBD care are closely tied to socioeconomic factors—highlighting the need for more equitable access to treatment and specialist care.
Announcement
In the Media
Publication
Visual Impairment, Age-Related Eye Disease, and Sleep Dysfunction in Older Adults
May 1, 2025
Sleep issues are common in older adults–but vision problems may be part of the cause. A new study by Alan Y. Huang, Joshua R. Ehrlich, and Ali G. Hamedani finds that those with visual impairments are more likely to use sleep medications, highlighting a connection between eye health and sleep quality.
Announcement
In the Media
Publication
Widespread Statistical Problems with Dietary Trials
April 30, 2025
Flawed study designs in nutrition research may be leading to misleading advice about healthy eating. DBEI’s Mary E. Putt, ScD, and co-authors warn that many popular dietary trials are too short and poorly structured to give reliable results-putting future nutrition guidelines at risk.
Publication
Electronic Nudges Improve End-of-Life Care Discussions in ICUs
March 27, 2025
Penn researchers, including Drs. Halpern and Harhay, found that electronic nudges improved end-of-life care discussions in ICUs, increasing hospice discharges and comfort-care orders without shortening hospital stays.
Press Release
Publication
From Nudge to Habit: Penn Study Finds Lasting Gains in Seatbelt Use
March 20, 2025
Penn Medicine researchers, including M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS, found that small financial incentives using connected car data significantly increased seatbelt use—even after rewards ended—offering a low-cost, scalable strategy to improve driver safety nationwide.
Press Release
Publication
AI ‘Scribe’ Reduces Clinician Workload, Improves Patient Interaction
February 24, 2025
Kevin B. Johnson, MD, MS, and Penn Medicine researchers conducted a study demonstrating how an AI-powered scribe technology reduces clinician workload, enhances patient interactions, and decreases after-hours documentation, improving efficiency and easing physician burnout.
In the Media
Publication
Rising Temps, Rising Risks: How Climate Change Impacts Diabetes
February 19, 2025
Rising temperatures pose serious risks for people with type 2 diabetes, increasing the likelihood of heat exhaustion, blood sugar fluctuations, and cardiac issues. Charles Leonard, PharmD, MSCE, FISPE addresses these health threats with Yale Climate Connections.
In the Media
Publication
New Report Examines the Risks of Co-Prescribing Opioids and Benzodiazepines to Veterans
February 14, 2025
A new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report, involving DBEI experts Brian Strom, MD, MPH and John Farrar, MD, PhD, finds that co-prescribing opioids and benzodiazepines to veterans increases the risk of death, highlighting critical implications for veteran health care.
Press Release
Publication
Using AI to Uncover Hospital Patients’ Long COVID Care Needs
January 16, 2025
In a new study, Yong Chen, PhD and colleagues at Penn Medicine, used AI and latent transfer learning to analyze long-COVID data, identifying four patient sub-populations with distinct care needs, improving hospital resource allocation and tailoring treatment for diverse patient populations.
Press Release
Publication
AI Tool Analyzes 30K Data Points Per Medical Imaging Pixel in Cancer Search
January 15, 2025
Mingyao Li, PhD and her Penn Medicine colleagues developed an AI-powered tool called MISO (Multi-modal Spatial Omics) that can detect cell-level characteristics of cancer by looking at data from extremely small pieces of tissue—some as small as the width of five human hairs.
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New Framework for Health Policy Evaluation: Target Trial Emulation Enhances Accuracy in Nonexperimental Studies
October 9, 2024
In Annals of Internal Medicine, Nicholas Seewald, PhD, introduces a framework for target trial emulation, enabling researchers to evaluate health policies with the rigor of clinical trials in nonexperimental studies.
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Dr. Michael Harhay Highlights the Growing Impact of Bayesian Statistics on Clinical Research
September 15, 2024
Michael Harhay, PhD, MPH, co-authors “Bayesian Statistics for Clinical Research” in The Lancet, comparing Bayesian and frequentist methods and highlighting the growing accessibility and impact of Bayesian analysis in medical research.
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Dr. Mingyao Li Explores the Transformative Role of AI in Spatial Omics Research in Nature Methods
August 15, 2024
Dr. Mingyao Li’s article in Nature Methods discusses how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing spatial omics, enhancing integration of diverse data and accelerating biological discoveries for improved health outcomes in biomedical research.
Press Release
Publication
Penn Medicine Study Shows High Pregnancy Weight Gain Tied to Higher Risk of Death in the Following Decades
October 24, 2023
Excess weight gain during pregnancy increases long-term death risk from heart disease and diabetes, a Penn Medicine study finds, highlighting the need for better prenatal weight management and preventive care.
Press Release
Publication
Pregnancy Complications Tied to Higher Risk of Death As Long As 50 Years Later
March 16, 2023
Pregnancy complications like preterm birth and high blood pressure increase long-term death risk, a Penn Medicine study finds, highlighting the need for preventive care decades after childbirth.
Publication
False Alarm? Critical Antibiotic Combination Used for Millions of Patients May Not Carry a Previously Reported Risk
July 1, 2022
Patients come to a hospital nearly 36 million times each year in the US, and antibiotics are often part of the picture: One large study showed that clinicians prescribed them […]
Publication
Making the EHR Into a Benefit, Not a Burden
July 1, 2022
In 1991, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine declared that computer-based patient records were an essential technology for health care. The new records would not only support patient […]
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Masking Policies for Covid-19: What Does the Science Say?
February 1, 2022
Masking policies during Covid-19 have inspired plenty of political debate, but scientific evidence about the policies’ effects has been very limited. This isn’t surprising, given that it is not practical […]
Publication
Innovative Text Messaging Plus a Nursing Team: Dramatic Covid Results Hint at Broader, Equitable Potential
February 1, 2022
At the start of the pandemic, professionals working in health systems across the US realized that if a sizable portion of the many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 went to hospitals, […]
Publication
With Climate Change, More Cases of Kidney Stones
January 1, 2022
In addition to making events such as catastrophic flooding more frequent, climate change will negatively affect human health in many other ways. Prior research has demonstrated, for instance, that high […]
Publication
The Delicate Balance of Pregnancy Research
December 1, 2021
“Pregnant women CAN drink coffee – it could even slash risk of disease for mum and baby,” proclaimed a headline in the English paper The Sun about a recent study […]
Press Release
Publication
Moderate Amounts of Caffeine Not Linked to Maternal Health Risks
November 18, 2021
Low to moderate caffeine intake during pregnancy may lower gestational diabetes risk without increasing risks for preeclampsia or hypertension, a Penn Medicine study finds, offering reassurance to pregnant coffee drinkers.
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Turning the Tables on Diseases that Spread Spatially
October 1, 2021
Many human diseases start out with single cells, which establish the problem by spreading out. Spatial transcriptomics, a groundbreaking method, allows scientists to take advantage of that activity, measuring all […]
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Achieving a Healthy Weight: More Intensive and Tailored Individual Strategies May Be Best
September 1, 2021
Given rising rates of obesity in the U.S. and the many associated health problems, researchers have tested various strategies for weight loss. Both financial incentives and environmental changes — such […]
Publication
Breast Cancer Diagnosis in the ‘Between’ Year: Body Mass Index Matters
July 1, 2021
Although mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by 15 to 20 percent, the diagnosis in many cases — approximately 15 percent of all breast cancers — occurs after a patient has […]
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Patients with Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: Adding to the Options for Relief
July 1, 2021
While many studies have looked at how to limit patients to a short course of opioids, few have examined the other side of the issue: Are there some patients for […]
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Harmonization of cortical thickness measurements across scanners
February 15, 2018
With the proliferation of multi-site neuroimaging studies, there is a greater need for handling non-biological variance introduced by differences in MRI scanners and acquisition protocols. Such unwanted sources of variation, […]