PSC News

David Mandell dismisses link of violence with autism and says, “What little research we do have suggests that [autistic] people are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.”

Daniel Polsky is part of a 16-member Penn Health Policy Workforce workgroup, formed a year ago, that is exploring how the human infrastructure of health care delivery can be better organized, motivated and managed.

Matthew McHugh was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing at the 39th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC this October.

Dennis Culhane comments in the Washington Post on the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program.

Mark Pauly discusses “concierge medicine” on Minnesota Public Radio.

Kevin Volpp and David Dinges are quoted in US News & World Report about their study on medical interns taking “protected power naps.”

In Forbes, Kevin Volpp says, “We need serious rethinking about what happens when medication is dispensed.”

Daniel Polsky discusses the uncertainty of health-care reform's details.

David Asch and Kevin Volpp have studied "low value" medical services to help consumers make better decisions.

Dan Polsky is a member of the 15-person study committee that produced the just-released Institute of Medicine framework for assessing the value of community-based prevention.

Matthew McHugh found that hospital surgery deaths fell for patients treated in magnet hospitals recognized for their high-quality delivery of care.

Samuel Preston and Ph.D. candidate Andrew Stokes are featured on Philly.com for their demography research in relation to Americans’ health.

Katrina Armstrong comments on how to make health care more efficient in an article in TIME.

Caryn Lerman and Joseph Kable have been awarded a $2 million grant through the National Cancer Institute initiative called “Provocative Questions,” which will allow them to study how the brain’s cognitive control system can be enhanced to improve decision-making processes that contribute to risky behaviors.

Matthew D. McHugh's research on "Nurses' Assessment of Hospital Quality" is discussed in the Penn Nursing's Science in Action blog.

Kevin G. Volpp was among six professors from Penn to be elected to the Institute of Medicine for 2012.

Eduardo Fernandez-Duque's research with Owl Monkeys and his work with students this Summer is discussed in the Penn News.

Kevin G. Volpp provided an update on the "Way to Health' automated research infrastructure and patient engagement system at the Penn-Carnegie Mellon University Roybal Center Retreat.

Daniel E. Polsky is quoted in a Knowledge @ Wharton Today article entitled "The Dangers of Blocking Medicaid Expansion."

According to research co-authored by Linda Aiken, older black patients are three times more likely than older white patients to suffer poorer outcomes after surgery, including death, when cared for by nurses with higher workloads.

Mark Pauly and his colleague Howard Kunreuther have written a new book Insurance and Behavioral Economics on what Pauly calls a “rogue’s gallery of insurance anomalies.”

Olivia Mitchell comments on employees older than 65.

Ning Hsieh has won the 2012 Best Graduate Student Paper Award at the Mental Health Division of the Society of the Study for Social Problems for her paper: "Sexual Orientation, Social Support, and Mental Distress: A Study of the Middle-Aged US Population."

Mark V. Pauly is quoted in a Knowledge@Wharton article on the "The Soda Tax Gamble: Will It Really Make Us Healthier?"

Angela Duckworth's research is highlighted in the Slate article, "How Children Succeed."

Jason Schnittker comments in the Wall Street Journal on the impacts of not polling prison communities.

Jerry Jacobs comments on a study about the satisfaction levels of scientists despite competitive pressures and long work hours.

John M. MacDonald has won the 2012 David N. Kershaw Award For Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Public Policy Analysis and Management from the Association of Public Policy and Management's (APPAM). More »

Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde's PURM student was featured in a Penn News story on Penn's no-loan financial-aid packages.

Kevin Volpp and David Asch discuss lessons the health care profession can draw from the decline of the Eastman Kodak Company.

Armstrong and colleagues are mentioned in the news article "Study: Regular patient/clinician interaction can help increase follow-up cancer screening."

Dirk Krueger and Jesús Fernández-Villaverde discuss the state of the European economy in SAS Frontiers.

Olivia Mitchell shares her views on the opt-out version of the traditional 401(k) retirement plan in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Frank Furstenberg commented on former Penn State president Graham Spanier in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Alison Buttenheim is cited for her views on intentionally unvaccinated children in Science Daily.

New PSC Working Paper: Jacobs, Jerry A. and Rebecca Henderson. 2012. "Interdisciplinarity in Recently Founded Academic Journals." PSC Working Paper Series, PSC 12-06.

Jerry Jacobs is cited in Inside Higher Ed for contributing to a report about the sociology job market.

Angela Duckworth discusses attributes that help scholars succeed in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Camille Z. Charles has been named the innaugural chair of the new Africana Studies Department in the School of Arts and Sciences.

New PSC Working Paper: Kohler, Iliana V., Philip Anglewicz, Hans-Peter Kohler, John F. McCabe, Ben Chilima and Beth J. Soldo. 2012. More »

In an article on a study examining the links between care and nurse burnout, Linda Aiken says, "It is costing hospitals more money not to spend money on nursing."

Mitchell is quoted in an article on retirement entitled "What's Driving Americans to Retire Abroad? Money -- or Lack of It" in Knowledge@Wharton.

Annette Lareau Named President-elect of the American Sociological Association. Following a year of service as president-elect, Lareau’s term as president will begin in August 2013. In the meantime, she will chair the 2014 Program Committee that will shape the 2014 ASA Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, see the Penn Almanac for more.

Jere R. Behrman has been appointed to the National Research Council (NRC)-National Academies of Science (NAS) Committee on Population (CPOP) for three years. CPOP conducts scientific assessments of major population-related issues and provides a forum for the discussion and analysis of important public policy issues related to population. This was mentioned in the PENN Almanac.

Mark Pauly, Bendheim Professor and professor of health care management in the Wharton School, has been named a recipient of the American Society of Health Economists’ (ASHEcon) 2012 Victor R. Fuchs Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jere R. Behrman has been awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Chile at a special ceremony at the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile, on 13 December 2011. This was mentioned in the PENN Almanac.

Jere R. Behrman has been awarded a Bill and Linda Gates Foundation Grant for a two-year multi-country multi-institutional interdisciplinary study on “Early child growth and development in four countries: Young Lives.” The study is investigating the determinants of and the impacts of child growth recovery and child growth faltering after one year of age on child schooling success and cognitive and non-cognitive skill attainment in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. More »

Olivia Mitchell comments on "rethinking the definition of retirement" in "When Downsizing for Retirement Makes Dollars and Sense."

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is one of a group of Spanish economists calling for a new government in Spain.

"Don’t Shut the Golden Door," an op-ed on the beneficial impacts of immigration by John MacDonald and Robert J. Sampson has been published in the New York Times. More »

Penn researchers David A. Asch and Kevin Volpp say automated strategies to engage patients at home are key to improving health outcomes.

Kevin Volpp says, “Changing the environment and changing some of the behavioral defaults embedded in the workday increases the likelihood that people will make healthier choices.”

New PSC Working Paper: Madden, Janice. 2012. "Performance-Support Bias and the Gender Pay Gap among Stockbrokers." PSC Working Paper Series, PSC 12-04. [This paper was recently published as: Madden, Janice. 2012. "Performance-Support Bias and the Gender Pay Gap among Stockbrokers." Gender & Society 26(3): 488-518.]

Janice Madden's research on the "Performance-Support Bias and the Gender Pay Gap among Stockbrokers" has recenlty been featured in several news venues including Huffington Post, The Fiscal Times, More »

New PSC Working Paper: Kohler, Hans-Peter. 2012. "Copenhagen Consensus 2012: Challenge Paper on "Population Growth."" PSC Working Paper Series, PSC 12-03.

David Mandell says in the LDI Health Economist, that varying state rules about "essential health benefits" may complicate Affordable Care Act implementation.

In a New York Times op-ed, Frank Furstenberg says the current crop of college grads' failure to launch may not be a bad thing.

Linda Aiken discusses the nursing industry and access to care in health-care facilities on NPR's Morning Edition.

Olivia Mitchell discusses retirement saving plans with the WHYY Health & Science Desk.

John MacDonald comments on research about the “crime-fighting ability of trees.”

The PSC, as a member of the Association of Population Centers, is a signatory on a letter from The Census Project to Senators Inouye and Cochran, expressing concern about the elimination of the American Community Survey.

Two studies led by Theodore Schurr reveal new information about the migration patterns of the first humans to settle the Americas.

Past Chair, Camille Z. Charles, has been appointed as a member of the Faculty Senate Leadership.

Character's Content, a feature article on Angela Duckworth, has been published in the Gazette.

The LDI Health Economist convened a panel of four University of Pennsylvania health care experts, including Mark Pauly, to explore the latest developments on the issue of physician income.

Linda Aiken has been selected for the inaugural Dean’s Award for Exemplary Citizenship for her more than 25 years of service to Penn Nursing.

Kevin Volpp comments on competitive online games in the workplace to improve health.

John MacDonald sheds light on the Trayvon Martin case and the impact it’s making on the public.

An article written by Doug Ewbank, Haidong Wang, Kathy Jedrziewski, and John Trojanowski is one of the top 25 most downloaded articles in Alzheimer's & Demen More »

Mark V. Pauly was recently interviewed by Knowledge@Wharton on the topic of the Individual Mandate provision in the Affordable Care Act.

Jake Blumgart reviews Michael Katz's Why Don't American Cities Burn? on the Huffington Post.

PSC alumnus Evelyn Patterson is the ASA 2012 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship in Population.

Mark Pauly comments on urging insured patients to question the need for tests.

Please see the list of PAA 2012 Participants here: Penn, PSC, and PARC Researchers @ PAA 2012.

Kevin Volpp comments on employers linking health-insurance policies to medical tests.

An in-depth audio Q & A with Jere Behrman is featured in SAS Frontiers.

Theodore Schurr's study of the connection between Native Americans and the Altai population is featured in SAS Frontiers.

Dennis Culhane, along with John Fantuzzo, is leading an interdisciplinary effort to study the educational well-being of children in assisted-housing programs.

Jerry Jacobs says many people are unaware of what is involved in a faculty member’s job.

A consortium of investigators from 13 countries led by Linda Aiken found that nurses who reported better working conditions in hospitals and less likelihood of leaving also had patients who were more satisfied with their hospital stay and rated their hospitals more highly.

Daniel Polsky is cited in a Washington Post op-ed for his study about uninsured Americans who started to receive Medicare at age 65.

David Mandell has found that mothers of children with autism earn less than mothers whose children have other health issues.

Frank Furstenberg comments on young people staying at home with parents during difficult economic times.

Olivia Mitchell is quoted about advancing financial literacy in USA Today article, "Challenge for our (ripe old) age."

The Penn Almanac announced that Dr. Dennis Culhane, The Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Welfare and Dr. John Fantuzzo, The Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations have received $1.275 million from the MacArthur Foundation to conduct a multi-site study of the educational well-being of children in assisted housing programs.

Victoria Rich of the Perelman School of Medicine and Matthew McHugh of the School of Nursing discuss the perception of nursing professionals.

Eduardo Fernandez-Duque's reserach on Owl Monkeys is disussed in a National Geographic video entitled, "Owl Monkey Fathers Know Best," and he was also interviewed in Penn News Today about his research.

Michael Katz uses a social lens to examine urban violence and discusses his work in SAS Frontiers.

David Mandell discusses ongoing research which finds minority children are diagnosed with autism later in life than white children.

Mark V. Pauly is the 2012 winner of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, funded by the Baxter International Foundation and administered by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. The Baxter International Foundation established this Prize to recognize its longtime CEO, William Graham. The prize award includes $50,000. Dr. Pauly will be honored in May.

Olivia Mitchell answers questions about financial literacy in this Reuters column.

Olivia Mitchell comments on more women becoming statisticians in the article, "In a calculating, chaotic world, statisticians are almost cool."

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers were profiled in a NYT article about the "economics of family life."

Mark Pauly comments on his stance about the idea of health-care mandates.

Kevin Volpp is cited in this New York Times op-ed for helping conduct an experiment to urge the employees at a health-care management company undertake a health risk assessment.

PSC Alumnus Jennifer Lundquist's research on racial and gender disparities in the military is highlighted in this NYT Economix blog by Nancy Folbre.

Frank Furstenberg comments on his research studying the connection between education and family economic status.

Congratulations to Jessica Ho! She has been named as a Dean's Scholar for the Academic Year 2011/12.

Penn Launches Work and Family Commons Open Access Research Repository, with Jerry Jacobs as the executive officer.

Matthew McHugh of the School of Nursing comments on the positive effect of hiring more registered nurses to care for patients.

Hyunjoon Park and coauthor Soo-yong Byun's work on SAT Preparation published in Sociology of Education has been covered by Inside Higher Ed and has recently been featured in the Penn News.

Olivia Mitchell shares her advice on saving for retirement.

Theodore G. Schurr's research and recent paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics on the link between Asians and Native Americans is discussed in Penn News.

David Mandell comments on engaging children in physical activities to support a healthy lifestyle.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has appointed Jere R. Behrman as the Economics/Social Science member of the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) for three years.

The Winter 2011-12 PSC Information Services Newsletter is now available.

Janice Madden was interviewed in Episode 2 of the documentary "Third and Long: African Americans in Pro Football 1946-1989."

The PSC's website has been named INED's "site of the month" for January 2012.

Now available: Greenwood, Jeremy, Nezih Guner, Georgi Kocharkov and Cezar Santos. 2012. "Technology and the Changing Family: a Unified Model of Marriage, Divorce, Educational Attainment and Married Female Labor-Force Participation." Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, PSC Working Paper Series, PSC 12-01.