Medical Alumni Weekend Programming - 2011

Simulation, team-based training, standardized patients, virtual specimens and slides… come hear what we teach and how we prepare Penn’s medical students to become the doctors of tomorrow.

This year will see the opening of Penn Medicine’s new Translational Research Center—the first of its kind specifically designed to physically unite researchers and clinicians under one roof. Learn how researchers at the TRC will work to speed clinical trials to our patients and tackle the most difficult diseases of our time.

In 2009, Dr. Richard Besser went from being Acting Director of the CDC during the flu pandemic to being the Chief Health and Medical Editor at ABC News. He provides a unique perspective on how he worked to use the media to promote health during the pandemic and how he now applies that same focus at ABC News.

Members of the Class of 1961 discuss their experiences as physicians and share stories of how the medical profession has changed since their days at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Drs. John Trojanowski and Virginia Lee brief us on their progress towards understanding the causes of brain aging and how these findings will translate into improved diagnoses, earlier interventions, and improved care for people of all ages. Learn strategies we can use that might delay the onset of such devastating neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related disorders, as well as tips for promoting healthy brain aging and memory.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act places great emphasis on controlling the cost of expanding health insurance coverage by using evidence about what works and what does not. But the health care system is faced with an aging population and the appearance of many new and expensive technologies. How must we cope with the reality of limits in our health care system, and is an evidence-based medicine approach likely to succeed - or will we have to come face-to-face with the reality of rationing?

The Scheie Eye Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology are at the forefront of personalized medicine, preserving vision in aging eyes and curing blindness in the young. Learn about the newest innovative technologies and cutting edge translational research that can maximize eye health.