jon epstein
@jonepstein1
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Cardiologist and stem cell biologist. Interim Dean at Penn Medicine. Retired Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast. Views are my own, not Penn’s
Philadelphia, PA
Joined October 2013
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Nocturnal animals have a trick to see in the dark. They package DNA in rod photoreceptors in a peculiar way to maximize light transmission. It’s an epigenetic trick providing clues to how the genome is normally organized in 3D
@JonEpsteinLab
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A few thoughts on why I’ve stayed in academia to pursue biomedical research.
First, I don’t believe it is a “better” career than many others. We need great teachers, Pharma and biotech researchers, government and NGO workers, etc. All can be great jobs. 1/7
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Three cheers for these awesome Penn scientists at the National Academy of Sciences President’s dinner. They are role models for excellence.
@PennMedicine
@theNASciences
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"I just walked into Jon's office and said, 'We can do this,'" Weissman said. Yup, that’s what happened. Collaborative science is the best. It’s the secret sauce at Penn.
@PennMedicine
@WeissmanLab
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Huge crowd turned out for the last minute flash mob celebration for Kati Kariko and Drew Weissman
@PennMedicine
to celebrate the Nobel Prize. A shot in the arm for all basic scientists.
@kkariko
@WeissmanLab
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I am so honored to be asked to serve in this role and to work with my friend and visionary
@PennMedicine
CEO
@kevinbmahoney
Very grateful, along with so many, to J. Larry Jameson for serving as interim President of
@Penn
Meet
@jonepstein1
, the new interim dean at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine via
@phillyinquirer
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Responding to third round of reviews of a scientific manuscript. 2 reviewers say publish; no comments. 3rd reviewer now complains we “speculate” in the discussion. And editor sends it back to us for revisions! 6 month process. Not a single result has changed. Broken.
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My mom is 96 and rose to the challenge and isolation of COVID with courage and grace. “What can you do?” Having survived the depression and the Holocaust, she waited patiently for her vaccine, and can only wonder why everyone isn’t taking it. Happy Mother’s Day.
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Since no business as usual, what are Penn scientists doing?
-working with
@JMRothberg
to make home COVID test kit
-3D printing face shields to keep workers safer
-screening FDA approved drugs for activity against virus
-starting multiple clinical trials
-vaccines
-much more!
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If you were building a new academic research lab building, what would you do differently from the existing standard? What’s the coolest new lab design you’ve seen?
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We’re going to Phase 1 on June 1 at Penn, and we are going to do it safely. We know from our own studies that PPE and distancing and hand washing works. Everyone is responsible for our communal health. Keep your lab mates safe!
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David Allis. 1951-2023. NAS. AAAS. Lasker Award, Wiley, Gairdner, Japan, Breakthrough, Albany, and March of Dimes Awards. The Histone Code. And a really nice guy. Trained a generation. Remembering with respect.
@RockefellerUniv
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Penn has treated me well over many years but this one takes the cake! An 85 pc socket set arrived in recognition of my 25 years of service on faculty. So much better than a clock or a bowl! I’m very excited and grateful for so much more (especially my colleagues)
@PennMedicine
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About 2500 people are still dying each day in the US from COVID. Is that a lot? Annualized, that equates to over 900,000 per year. That’s more than die from Alzheimer’s (by a lot!), or cancer, or heart disease. Or any single cause. 2500/day is A LOT. Keep your masks on.
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COVID-SAFE, Penn’s low cost saliva test that uses LAMP amplification and molecular beacons today received CLIA approval as a lab developed test (LDT). Thanks to Arupa Ganguly and a great team effort! Testing thousands every week.
@bushmanlab
@PennMedNews
@robbysikka
@FloodlampB
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So nice to see the NEJM highlight our work using mRNA and LNPs to generate CART cells in vivo. Thanks to our great collaborators
@carlhjune
@WeissmanLab
@JonEpsteinLab
@DevBioAcademic
@PennMedicine
and others.
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Why is the NYT scaring the very sickest patients awaiting bone marrow transplant for cancer and other blood disorders? Not a shred of evidence for this. Dying of cancer will change your personality though.
If you donor’s DNA fills your blood, does it change your personality?
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So exciting to see Kati Kariko and Drew Weissman recognized with the Lasker Award!
#PennProud
@PennMedicine
@Penn
Congratulations Drew and Kati!
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Many scientific journals are adapting to COVID crisis by adapting editorial policies. Accepting papers without requiring new experiments because they can’t get done right now. Maybe this will be a lasting change and the endless cycle of revisions will be broken!
#SilverLining
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I have a joke about endowments but you can’t use it.
I looked for a joke about this years’ job market, but it doesn’t exist
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While Penn is further enforcing social distancing to protect our community and stem the spread of COVID-19, we are stepping up efforts on many fronts to enhance testing, find therapies, and make a vaccine. Let’s fight back and make a difference!
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Today, I’m turning 60, and still trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
#sixtyisthenewforty
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An early birthday cake from the lab today, celebrating 25 years at Penn and the best lab team ever. Thanks so much!
@JonEpsteinLab
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I stand with all those who hope and yearn for a day when no one can be acquitted for taking an assault rifle to a protest and killing others.
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An honor to welcome Tyrese Maxey to Penn Medicine today, and looking forward to the Penn Medicine partnership with the 76ers to improve healthcare disparities in our region.
@PennMedicine
@TyreseMaxey
@sixers
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Anniversary dinner tonight. 36 wonderful years. Lamb with mint tzatziki sauce, grilled asparagus, potato latke and avocado vinaigrette. Served with a Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon
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If you wonder why it’s important to fund academic medical research and the NIH, one example is the work of Drew Weissman at UPenn that led to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced preliminary results that suggested their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent effective. Here’s what we know, and don’t know, about the vaccine.
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CAR Ts applied in a fibrin glue after resecting tumors to kill residual cancer cells. Another exciting approach from
@carlhjune
@PennMedicine
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Congratulations to Maris Bartolomei and Celeste Simon for the well-deserved and incredible honor of being elected to the National Academy is Sciences. That makes 5 women in Penn’s Cell and Developmental Biology Dept!
@PennCDB
@PennMedicine
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Very proud and honored to join
@EJohnWherry
to honor
@kkariko
at Penn today for the Matis Family IFI Investigator Award. We are all
#PennProud
!
@Penn_IFI
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Looks like more people than at Trump’s inauguration.
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I want to express my huge pride and thanks for my lab members (and all labs) who have stuck to science, made discoveries, published, submitted grants, started a company all amidst a pandemic, stress, family challenges, racism, far from home, with safety + concern for each other
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@bradylabupenn
Congratulations to Dr. Donita Brady upon her promotion to Associate Professor of Cancer Biology with Tenure at UPenn. Proud to be your colleague.
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Last weekend, I sold my 1964 Triumph Spitfire that I got 42 years ago. No time to work on her anymore, but proud I kept her running all these years (well, most of the time). They don’t make them quite so pretty anymore.
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Congratulations to Dr. Joel Rurik
@DevBioAcademic
on his very successful thesis defense and a well earned PhD. All he did was to show us how to make CAR T cells in vivo.
@JonEpsteinLab
@CAMBUpenn
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Honored to be at the Franklin Institute tonight (masked) to see Drew Weissman and Kati Kariko receive Franklin Medals for their fundamental work leading to mRNA vaccines.
@PennMedicine
@TheFranklin
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Saddened by the death of Min Min Lu tonight who built one of the best histology labs in the country
@PennCVI
, coauthored over 85 papers through >2 decades, trained a generation of technologists, dedicated to rigor, shared new methods freely, many used worldwide. 💕 to MinMin
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My wife went to get a mammogram at Penn Medicine Radnor today. 4pm appointment. Out by 4:11 (in her car). Results at 4:28 (normal, thankfully). Thank you Penn Medicine
@PennMedicine
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“There are bad things happening in Philadelphia”. Well, maybe bad for you.
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Paul, proudly wearing his Penn tie. The world will miss you.
@MichaelParmacek
@PennMedicine
@PIH
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Driving back to Philly from NIH today via Lancaster County. Just had to follow the rainbow.
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If a black man had been kneeling on the neck of a white man, would 3 police officers have stood by and done nothing? Who would be dead in that case?
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Best regards to Amy Gutmann, our US Ambassador to Germany and the Penn President who led us from excellence to eminence. Penn has thrived under her presidency and has never been more prominent or well positioned for future impact. Ben would be proud.
@Penn
#benfranklin
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Great quote from
@EJohnWherry
“We do not end the pandemic by giving vaccinated people boosters. We end the pandemic by vaccinating unvaccinated people. That’s still the giant source of fuel in the fire; vaccinated people are barely a wet log.”
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Congratulations to Drew Weissman and Kati Kariko for winning a Breakthrough Prize for their life saving work.
#Pennproud
@PennMedicine
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Today is my mom’s 98th Birthday, and a great reason to give thanks. Shown here in 1943. Happy Birthday mom!
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I’ll be wearing my mask for a bit longer inside and on public transport given the case counts at Penn and in the region. Got my second booster and happy to see serious infections remaining low for now, but I’d rather avoid the risks of long Covid.
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Excited to see our work led by Cheryl Smith
@csmit_
and Andrey Poleshko published showing a new class of genomic elements marked by H3K9me2 (“KODs”) containing lineage specific enhancers at the nuclear periphery
@JonEpsteinLab
The nuclear periphery is a scaffold for tissue-specific enhancers
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Vaccinated, and going out today to celebrate with no mask! Grateful to Drew Weissman and Kati Kariko for believing in their ideas for decades (when others didn’t) and developing the best vaccines ever.
@PennMedicine
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John Trojanowski and Virginia Lee made numerous seminal discoveries in neurodegeneration research: tau in Alzheimer’s tangles, alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies, TDP43 in ALS. His H-index was 246! So many contributions. My thoughts are with Virginia and the family.
@PennMedicine
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Well, Phillies lost 10-1, but I got my name on the Jumbotron and celebrated my birthday with friends. Thanks to those who surprised me.
#youngatheart
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Delighted to join a great UPHS team with the very best leader
@kevinbmahoney
. Thanks for the opportunity.
So pleased to announce the appointment of
@jonepstein1
as the Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Upenn Health System. Jon has been my close colleague and he is absolutely the right leader to continue our relentless pursuit of excellence. Congratulations, Jon!
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A multivalent nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine against all known influenza virus subtypes | Science
@PennMedicine
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I’m planning to recruit a postdoc and technician with experience in immunotherapy and an interest in developing therapies for fibrotic diseases using CARTs! DM me if interested.
@PennMedicine
@JonEpsteinLab
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COVID vaccine mRNA technology offers hope for heart disease treatment
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Lunch for my bride on our 34th wedding anniversary. Shrimp stew made with shallots, mushrooms (chanterelle and button), jalapeño, Madeira, tomato (roasted first on the grill), wild rice and shrimp with lobster reduction and chicken broth, finished with a bit of cream.
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So here is why many doctors and scientists worry about basing EUA approval for convalescent serum on the Mayo data. It might be a good treatment, but the data so far is weak. This hype will make it harder to enroll patients in randomized trials, which we need. 1/6
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Penn’s Dept of Cell &Developmental Biology has FIVE female NAS members. 5. 🖐🏻. How special is that?
@PennCDB
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My wife had her annual mammogram this morning at 7AM
@PennMedicine
back in her car by 7:10, and had her (normal) results by 8:30AM. Go Penn Medicine Radnor! Don’t forego your routine care and screening!
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Spinach, prosciutto and ricotta ravioli tonight, with fresh vodka sauce (tomato, mushroom, onions, garlic, vodka, a little cream, fresh oregano) topped with Parmesan and fresh basil. Served with a Vermentino.
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Let me know what you think of COVID-SAFE, a low cost Covid saliva test we developed at Penn using RT-LAMP and molecular beacons for surveillance testing.
@PENNWaytoHealth
@bushmanlab
@miteshspatel
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Oh, we’ve got plenty of these! This one was for an article about tissue specific chromatin domains (LADs). Too cutesy I guess.
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Last night, it was fresh tagliatelle with lobster reduction sauce, lobster, Maine crab and scallops with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil.
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Fresh linguine tonight, with a lobster reduction, wild mushrooms, shallots, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, capers, and fresh lobster claws (and knuckles). Served with a Pinot Noir.
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Bibimbap tonight! Delicious go-chu-jang sauce with apple, garlic, onion, Mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce and a touch of organic sugar. Granite bowls on the burner to get that socarrat on the rice (I know, that’s Spanish not Korean). The egg is key. Served with a Pouilly-Fuisse.
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Here’s to our health care workers: doctors, nurses and staff, who go fearlessly foreword every day, like so many first responders, to help those in need. Thank you for your service.
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My wife’s birthday tonight, and she requested short rib ravioli with mushroom sauce. Spinach ravioli (with a green pasta) for the non-meat eaters. It was an all day affair.
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Great lecture today from Dan Barouch at the BIDMC - the Frank Epstein Lecture named for my dad who loved medicine and doctoring (and reading to grandchildren).
@BIDMC_Medicine
This week's Medical Grand Rounds will be the Frank Epstein Memorial Lecture shared by Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Virology & Vaccine Research
@BarouchLab
. His talk is entitled "COVID-19: Developing a Vaccine in a Pandemic" - join us!
📅 Thurs Jan 20
🕗 8 am
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“Moderna’s original work rests on earlier discoveries by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania who have received funding for their research from the National Institutes for Health.”
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Joe Biden with Francis Collins, NIH Director, and Amy Gutmann, Penn President, listening to doctors. Long before coronavirus, listening to doctors.
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In PA, it’s too late to mail your ballot and be confident it will be counted. Deliver it yourself or vote in person. Late ballots will likely be challenged after election and Supreme Court will decide if they count. Please RT
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The remarkable speed of vaccine development is a tribute to decades of basic science discovery and investment, providing an all new way to make a vaccine with mRNA. The implications for making all sorts of other medicines are profound.
@PennMedicine
The F.D.A. has authorized Pfizer's vaccine, paving the way for millions of health care workers and nursing homes to begin getting immunized for a virus that has taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States.
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So excited to have Nicolas Plachta opening his lab at Penn next door to mine! His insights and imaging are mind blowing. The kind of innovative scientist who pioneers new fields.
Research published in Nature identifies keratins as cell fate determinants in the early mammalian embryo.
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Fresh ravioli tonight, filled with ricotta, spinach and fried Italian speck. Sauce with carmelized onions, shallots, leaks, with shiitake and cremini mushrooms, garlic, fresh oregano, a touch of Sherry, reduced, then a little cream, Fontina and Parmesan. Served w/ a Pinot Gris.
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Some reviewer comments just in time for Xmas:
“This manuscript is not only written in excellent English, it also has a great didactic structure and is fun to read.”
Well, I bet not as fun to read as your review was! Thanks.
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My husband,
@danrader333
, who never visits Twitter, won a big (lifetime achievement) award this week.
We learned about it in an email from a friend sending congrats.
Good job, Dan! We're proud of you!
You'll hear about our Twitter celebration in an email from a friend. 😂💕😂
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I’d almost forgotten what leadership and grace sounded like. Thank you President Obama.
Congrats to the high school Class of 2020, as well as to the teachers, coaches, and most of all, parents and family who’ve guided you along the way. Thanks for letting me be part of your big day!
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But academia is relatively unique. You get to study mostly whatever you want. You are surrounded by smart, imaginative trainees and colleagues, and if you achieve tenure, you basically have a job for life! 2/7
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Bibimbap tonight, served in hot granite bowls. Marinated rib steak, salted and sautéed Korean cucumber, carrots, mushrooms, squash, scallions, snow peas, egg, garlic and ginger with gochujang/apple/onion/lemon/soy/garlic/sesame oil sauce. Served with a Sauvignon Blanc. Sizzling.
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You’re disgusting. What an embarrassment.
Roses are red, violets are blue, Dr. Fauci lied to you.
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone except Fauci!
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Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods
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“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation.”
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Great choice!!!! Congratulations Carl!
@carlhjune
@PennMedicine
Penn Medicine’s Carl June, MD, has won the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his work in CAR T cell therapy. T cell therapy marked a transformative moment in medicine & opened new possibilities for personalized therapies for patients worldwide. Congrats, Dr. June!
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But we do have to ensure academia is a viable path for all who want to give it a try and find it a good fit so that the opportunities are equitable. It doesn’t mean that salaries will be comparable to every other career path though, because comp is not the only variable. 5/7
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Guess what I got for Xmas? My own pasta roller. Mushroom and Ricotta ravioli with Parmesan, Gruyere and Fontina Mornay (and a splash of brandy).
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This just so cool. The immune system is one of our senses, wired to the brain like the others, monitoring our internal environment. Like smell, vision, hearing, taste and touch, it helps to keep us safe.
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Such an honor to work with a team of professionals in a time of crisis, all pulling together. Housekeeping, security, animal care specialists, facilities, AV, IT, EHRS - the whole team. Simply a privilege.
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COVID-SAFE, Penn Medicine’s low cost saliva test that uses LAMP amplification and molecular beacons, has now enrolled 4000 participants for weekly testing with a 0.08% positivity rate over the past week. Keeping the workplace safe.
@PENNWaytoHealth
@PennMedEVDCSO
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This is so cool. Transformational Pavilion opened today!
@PennMedicine
You’ve never seen a hospital like this. And you’ve never seen a hospital... LIKE THIS. Take a soaring journey through our revolutionary hospital, the Pavilion. Now open.
Thanks
@johnlegend
for the
#dronetour
!
@skycandystudios
@nurkfpv
@FosterPartners
@kevinbmahoney
#pennpavilion
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Here is a story well worth the read. Learn CPR if you aren’t trained already, and take note of where the AEDs are located at work and when you travel.
@kevin_volpp
@PennMedicine
@AHAScience
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“It was insane to feel the love of the professors and my advisers, when I was going through tough times in the classroom,” he said.
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For me, academia has been a wonderful career that I wouldn’t have traded. Fin.
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We need more of this.
Philadelphia police officers take a knee with protesters outside City Hall
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Tortollini tonight, filled with Ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, and fried Prosciutto in a mushroom, scallion, Fontina and Parmesan cream sauce with farm fresh spring peas, some fresh Thyme and Cayenne pepper. Served with a Muscadet Sevre et Maine.
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The private sector pays more for a reason. They have to. (Believe me, they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to). You just have to weigh the pros and cons for your situation and desires. And there is no single right path. 6/7
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