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UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Tuesday October 15, 2019 Volume 66 Number 9 www.upenn.edu/almanac $3 Million Stand Up 2 Cancer Grant to Support Therapy Trial Penn Medicine: $22 Million from A new $3 million grant to support a clini- three receptors, hor- NIH HEAL Initiative to Address cal trial evaluating a combination therapy to mone therapies and the National Opioid Crisis prevent triple-negative breast cancer from re- drugs that target the The nation has been grappling with the opi- curring will be led in the clinic by Angela receptors are not ef- oid epidemic for years—and the city of Phila- DeMichele, the Alan and Jill Miller Professor fective treatments. delphia has been hit hard by the crisis. While in Breast Cancer Excellence in the Abramson TNBC is aggressive data is showing slight declines in overdose Cancer Center (ACC) at the University of and can spread after deaths, the opioid crisis remains a public health Pennsylvania and co-director of the ACC’s treatment with radia- emergency. Efforts to stem the epidemic have 2-PREVENT Translational Center of Excel- tion, chemotherapy or included prescribing fewer painkillers, provid- lence. The grant was awarded by Stand Up 2 surgery. ing free naloxone trainings across the city, of- Cancer (SU2C) in partnership with Genentech, “Currently, wom- fering recovery programs in emergency depart- and will be administered by the organization’s en with triple-neg- ments and launching dedicated research efforts scientific partner, the American Association for ative breast cancer to examine the cause and impact. Cancer Research (AACR). have a high risk of The National Institutes of Health (NIH) an- Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a tu- recurrent, metastatic Angela DeMichele nounced awards from the Helping to End Ad- mor type in which cancer cells lack hormone epi- disease after they are initially treated,” said Dr. diction Long-term Initiative (NIH HEAL Ini- dermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), estro- DeMichele, who also serves as the co-leader of tiative), which was launched in April 2018 to gen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors the ACC’s Breast Cancer Research Program and improve prevention and treatment strategies (PR). Because the cancer cells test negative for all for opioid misuse and addiction and enhance (continued on page 3) pain management. Through this initiative, Penn Medicine has been awarded five grants totaling Gregg Semenza: 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine more than $22 million to apply scientific solu- Penn alumnus Gregg Semenza (M’82, Gr’84) was among a trio of re- tions to reverse the national opioid crisis. searchers jointly awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medi- New Strategies to Prevent and Treat cine for research on how oxygen availability affects cells. He shares the Opioid Addiction prize with William Kaelin, who runs a research laboratory at the Dana- A team lead by Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and is also a professor at Harvard Medi- David Mandell, pro- cal School, and Peter Ratcliffe, who runs an independent research group fessor of psychiatry at Oxford University, where he also serves as a professor. and director of the Dr. Semenza graduated from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine in Center for Mental 1982 and from the School of Arts and Sciences with a PhD in genetics in Health, Kyle Kamp- 1984. He became a faculty member at Johns Hopkins Medicine in 1990, man, professor of where he currently serves as the director of the Vascular Program at the psychiatry and di- Institute for Cell Engineering. He is the tenth Penn person to have won rector of the Charles the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine, more than any other category. O’Brien Center for Gregg Semenza (continued on page 5) the Treatment of Ad- dictions, and Hillary Michael Gamer: British Academy Global Professorship R. Bogner, associate Michael Gamer, professor of English in British Library. professor of family- Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, has been se- His most recent medicine and com- David Mandell lected as a Global Professor by the British Acad- book, Romanticism, munity health, is re- emy, which comes with a prize of £749,100 (ap- Self-Canonization, ceiving a $11.2 million grant from the initiative. proximately $920,000). and the Business of Their team will study the treatment of opi- Global Professorships are given to senior Poetry, was pub- oid use disorder (OUD) and psychiatric disor- scholars undertaking innovative, curiosity-driven lished in 2017, and ders in the primary care setting with a collabor- research in the humanities and social sciences. he also contribut- ative care model. The collaborative care model Global Professorships are four-year grants ed to Interacting places licensed clinical social workers specially for research in the UK and require a British host with Print: Modes of trained in mental health care in primary care of- university to act as sponsor; Dr. Gamer’s spon- Reading in the Age fices. These experts will work with 39 primary sor will be the School of English and Drama at of Print Saturation. care practices in Philadelphia, their primary care Queen Mary University of London. While there, He is the recipient physicians and psychiatrists to proactively iden- Dr. Gamer will research and document every of several teaching tify, assess and direct patients to treatment op- performance, review and contemporary com- Michael Gamer awards. tions as needed during their appointments. mentary of melodrama in Britain before 1843. Paul K. Saint-Amour, the Walter H. and Le- (continued on page 2) His project will explore how melodrama’s stage onore C. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities effects, including pantomime and immersive and professor and chair of the English depart- soundscapes, created new theatergoing expe- ment, noted that “Michael will be on leave from INSIDE riences for audiences and how the same tech- 2 Council Agenda; Penn Dental Chief of Division of Penn for all four years—from January 2020 Restorative Dentistry niques influenced printed genres. through December 2023. It’s very unusual for 3 Nominations for University-Wide Teaching Awards; At Penn, Dr. Gamer was a 2017-2018 Price Penn faculty to be away for so many consec- Director of Summer Mentorship Program Mellon Research Fellow at the Price Lab for utive years; that Michael was given the green 4 Honors & Other Things Digital Humanities, where he created a digital 6 Energy Week @ Penn; Penn’s Way Raffle Prizes light to do so is a testament to the importance of and Winners; National Retirement Security Week database of the 18th- and 19th-century play- this grant and to his value to the University as 7 Update; CrimeStats; Drug-Free Workplace; bills held by the Kislak Center for Special Col- teacher, scholar and citizen.” UPPD On-Site Assessment for Accreditation lections, Rare Books and Manuscripts and the 8 Charles Addams: The Addams Family’s Ties to Penn ALMANAC October 15, 2019 www.upenn.edu/almanac 1 Penn Medicine: $22 Million from NIH HEAL Initiative to Address the From the Office of the University Secretary National Opioid Crisis (continued from page 1) Transitioning to XR-NTX requires motiva- Clinical Research in Pain Management tion and detoxifica- University Council Meeting Laura M. Dember, tion, which are ma- Agenda professor of medicine jor hurdles for those Wednesday, October 23, 2019 in renal-electrolyte with an OUD. De- 4 p.m., Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall and hypertension and toxification with lo- I. Approval of the Minutes of September 11, epidemiology, was fexidine—a medica- 2019. 1 minute awarded a $5.5 mil- tion approved by the II. Follow Up Comments or Questions on lion grant from the Food and Drug Ad- Status Reports. 5 minutes NIH HEAL Initiative. ministration for opi- III. Presentation by the President, Provost, Penn will serve as oid detoxification and other administrators on the State of the Uni- the Scientific and Re- about one year ago— versity. 60 minutes (presentation 30 minutes, search Data Center for does not have much discussion 30 minutes) the Hemodialysis Opi- effect on the achiness IV. New Business. 5 minutes oid Prescription Ef- and other symptoms V. Adjournment fort (HOPE) consor- of withdrawal that George Woody tium. The center will Laura M. Dember lead some patients to provide scientific and drop out of treatment. The study will test wheth- David Hershkowitz: operational leadership for the design, implementa- er pregabalin—a medication shown in studies tion and analysis of a randomized clinical trial of to suppress many of those withdrawal-related Penn Dental Chief of Division of behavioral and pharmacologic interventions to re- symptoms—can be safely combined with lofex- Restorative Dentistry duce pain and opioid use among people with kid- idine to improve the success of detoxification Penn Dental Medicine recently welcomed ney failure receiving maintenance hemodialysis. and transition to XR-NTX treatment, as com- David Hershkowitz to The trial will be conducted at eight clinical centers pared to lofexidine alone. the School’s full-time that are separately funded by the HEAL initiative. faculty as associate J. Richard Landis, professor of biostatistics, Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids professor of clinical John Farrar, associate professor of epidemiology, dentistry and chief of and Dr. Kampman are co-principal investigators. A team led by Dylan Tisdall, research assis- tant professor of ra- the division of restor- Dr. Farrar was also awarded a $931,000 ative dentistry. His ap- grant from the NIH diology, and Allyson Mackey, assistant pointment was effec- HEAL Initiative. tive October 1. The Hospital of the professor of psychol- ogy, was awarded a As chief of the di- University of Penn- vision of restorative sylvania and six ad- $550,000 grant from the initiative.