April 2 Update: From the Chair

Dear Members of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Community,

It seems that your creativity knows no bounds. I have heard from many about the creative and inspiring ways in which you are coping with this new situation. I have received photos of dinner plates, you are sewing your own masks at home, and there has even been some talk of turning "Coltrane and David at Work" into a meme...

Our colleague Luellen Fletcher, Associate Director for Path BioResource Administration and Operations, wrote a poem "Coltrane and David at Work," which I added to the informative, creative, illuminating, useful or random links and tips on the webpage here.

One of our colleagues passed on the CHOP report by Lou Bell and Joe St. Geme, so that her 9th-grader could use it for her biology homework. (The report is still available in my March 31 update.)

Another colleague forwarded encouraging news from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Their COVID-19 projections can be filtered by state.

Sarah Herlihy, the Research & Development Coordinator of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory, shared an important resource on the growing scientific literature on COVID-19, curated and maintained by Ju-Yoon Yoon. It is available behind the UPHS firewall on this internal SharePoint site.

A reminder that the first Coronavirus Symposium by the Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens will be held on Friday, April 3, from 11am- 5pm. The morning lecture will be an overview of coronaviruses and the outbreak for the general public. The afternoon sessions will be on coronavirus science from Penn and elsewhere. More information is available here.

And the Haldar lab published their latest paper on "Tumor-Derived Retinoic Acid Regulates Intratumoral Monocyte Differentiation to Promote Immune Suppression" in Cell Press last month.

Yes, life does go on, and I invite you to continue to share with me your work, your creative efforts, or your thoughts. Thank you all!

But today I also want to focus on some others among us: the ones we do not hear from. The ones whose lives are punctured by grief, by worries about their livelihood or their children's and families' needs, or the ones that are simply too busy to save lives or to keep the lights on to even have time to think, let alone reflect. 

Please know that Penn Medicine is there for those who worry about managing basic needs for themselves and their families during this challenging time. Know that we have instituted emergency grants to support the members of our team who are most in need of help. The team can be reached via email at EmployeeAssistanceFund@PennMedicine.upenn.edu. More detailed information is available on this internal SharePoint site.

We will be there for them, too, and all of our efforts and accomplishments are part of our ways to support them. This is what solidarity means. We are here for each other.

Please continue to take care of yourselves and each other.

David Roth
Chair, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine