Penn Almanac * April 23, 2019 * vol 65 * Issue 32

The Division of Chemical Toxicology of the American Chemical Society (ACS) has given Trevor Penning, the Thelma Brown and Henry Charles Molinoff Professor of Pharmacology and the director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, the 2019 Founders’ Award. Dr. Penning will be honored at the ACS annual meeting in San Diego in August with a symposium in his honor.

He is also a professor of biochemistry and biophysics and of obstetrics/gynecology. Dr. Penning has performed research in the areas of chemical toxicology and environmental science with over 500 publications. He studies the role of aldo-keto reductases (AKR) in hormone biosynthesis as it relates to prostate and breast cancer, as well as the development of inhibitors for AKR enzymes as chemical probes and therapeutics.

Dr. Penning is cited for providing outstanding and sustained service to the ACS for his many professional volunteer positions, such as chair of chemical toxicology division, a member of the executive committee and an ACS symposium organizer and regular speaker. He has also been a member of the Cancer Etiology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health and a senior editor for Cancer Research for Population and Prevention Science, as well as a member of two working groups at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which re-assessed the cancer-causing properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and diesel exhaust.

Anil Vachani, MD, FCCP, Director of the CEET Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core, was awarded a Distinguished CHEST Educator (DCE) designation for 2017 by the American College of Chest Physicians.  The DCE designation honors members that have shown great commitment, involvement, and leadership in CHEST education programs and activities, and recognizes their achievements and long-term contributions to the design and delivery of CHEST education.

Penn Medicine Pharmacologist Given Founders’ Award from American Chemical Society

Ian Blair, Director of the CEET Affinity Group in Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Stress Injury, Director of the CEET Translational Biomarker Core, and Director of the Penn Superfund Research and Training Program has won the 2017 Founders’ Award from the Division of Chemical Toxicology of the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes Dr. Blair’s “outstanding contributions to the field of chemical toxicology,” in particular, his work on biomarkers, which identify people at risk for certain diseases, increasing chances of successful treatment.

The following article submitted by the lab of Ian Blair was selected by Chemical Research in Toxicology as a Most Read Article (most full-text article requests 2011-2017)

Trevor Penning, Director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, has been recognized as one of the most highly prolific authors for the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

An article from Environmental Health Perspectives explores how environmental exposures may influence age at menopause. Samantha Butts, MD, MSCE, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is quoted on evidence suggesting women who smoke begin menopause an average of 1–2 years earlier compared to nonsmokers.

Read more…

Sarah Tishkoff, PhD, a member of the Gene-Environment Interactions  Affinity Group of the CEET, was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. NAS election is considered one of the highest honors accorded an engineer or scientist in the United States.

Dr. Tishkoff is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor in Genetics and Biology. She studies human genetic diversity, specifically that of African populations, blending field, lab and computational approaches. Her work has not only elucidated African population history but also how genetic variation affects traits such as disease susceptibility or ability to metabolize drugs.

Congratulations Sarah!

University of Pennsylvania Almanac
April 25, 2017, Volume 63, No. 32

Professor Richard (Rich) Pepino, lecturer in Earth & Environmental Science (EES), School of Arts & Sciences and Deputy Director, Community Outreach & Engagement Core, Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), Perelman School of Medicine, and his partners in the School District of Philadelphia are this year’s recipients of the Netter Center Faculty-Community Partnership Award.

The Netter Center for Community Partnerships Faculty-Community Partnership Award is an annual award to recognize outstanding Faculty-Community Partnership projects in West Philadelphia/Philadelphia. The $5,000 award is split evenly between the faculty member and the community partner to develop and advance existing partnerships. The faculty member and community partner will be honored at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 9, 5-5:30 p.m., room 108, at the ARCH Building. This is the second presentation of this annual award.

Mr. Pepino has spent the last 11 years teaching academically-based community service (ABCS) courses that help students contribute to the solution of significant environmental public health problems in Philadelphia. He has partnered with public schools in West/South Philadelphia—Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP), Lea and Comegys Elementary Schools, and Sayre and West Philadelphia High Schools—to develop projects that simultaneously enhance community environmental health literacy and environmental health education for K-12 and college students. Penn students in his courses collaborate with school teachers to educate students about environmental health risk factors, such as lead poisoning, asthma triggers, and indoor air quality. The Philadelphia school students then engage in outreach projects to bring what they have learned to their families and communities. Through these projects, he has further leveraged partnerships with various government and city agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Philadelphia Department of Health, and Philadelphia Air Management Services, as well as Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He has also mentored numerous Penn students who pursued additional research projects that built on their ABCS coursework.
Mr. Pepino and his partners have improved the quality of life in the community and the quality of learning and scholarship in the University through collaborative problem-solving, kindergarten through college. Their work reaffirms Ben Franklin’s belief that: “The great Aim and End of all Learning… is service [to society].” This partnership exemplifies the Netter Center’s efforts to develop courses that integrate research, teaching, learning and service in a meaningful and impactful way.