In December 2009, 30 students at a high school in South Philadelphia, mostly recent Asian immigrants, were beaten up at school by their peers. Several had to be hospitalized. The federal government later alleged that school administrators had...
Doctors typically wait until smokers are ready to quit before prescribing pills to help them do it. But a new study has found that even for those who are not ready to stop smoking immediately, medicine taken over time can substantially improve...
In 2004, I cofounded a child sexual abuse prevention organization in Iceland. I moved my family there and ran this project for two years. Then I moved my family back to the U.S. and participated with the organization through the web and by...
David J. Morris, a former Marine infantry officer and a reporter in some of the most violent regions of the Iraq war, blacked out while watching a movie and ran out of the theater, only to regain awareness of himself in the lobby as he anxiously...
The senior-living and affordable-housing worlds are preparing for a "silver tsunami." Where will all the Baby Boomers live out their golden years? Will more age in place than in previous generations? The coming decades will see major...
A bill for an act 1.2relating to education; requiring school districts to adopt a policy on recess 1.3for elementary school students;amending Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 1.4121A.215. 1.5BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF...
Many mental health therapists use treatments that have little evidence to support them. A new multi-institution study led by Penn Medicine has found that an organization's culture and climate are better predictors of the use of evidence-based...
Bereavement — how one responds and adjusts to the death of a loved one — is a very individual matter. It is natural to experience a host of negative reactions in the weeks and months following the loss of a loved one: among them,...
Members of the Zambrano family began arriving here three decades ago, picking apples in nearby orchards. Over time they have become part of the fabric of this harvesting town, growing to more than 50 and settling in tiny candy-colored homes,...
For more than a year, members of Congress have been doing a lot of talking about the need to broadly reform harsh federal sentencing laws, which are a central factor in the explosion of the federal prison population. It’s an overdue...
LAST month, three ethicists from the University of Pennsylvania argued in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the movement to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill has been a failure. Deinstitutionalization, they wrote, has in...
The Obama administration often touts the health benefits women have gained under the Affordable Care Act, including the option to sign up for coverage outside of open enrollment periods if they're "having a baby." But advocates complain that...
When I first attended an ACES presentation by Dr. Felitti in the mid 2000-aughts, the data was not so much astounding as revelatory. As he ticked off the 10 adverse childhood experiences one-by-one, mental pictures of their...
To paraphrase a beloved children's book, trees are nice—they give us oxygen, filter air pollutants, and absorb rainwater. Plus, research shows that trees in urban areas slow down traffic, foster civic pride and identity, and improve...
I had intended to discuss President Obama’s plans for personalized precision medicine with my patient Barbara last week, but she missed her appointment. Or, more accurately, she arrived two hours late, made the usual giant...