Lunchtime Seminar Series

FOCUS sponsors a Lunchtime Seminar Series that covers topics related to:

• women's health research
• professional development for academic physicians
• current medical issues ("hot topics" in health care)

This interactive one-hour format provides School of Medicine faculty with diverse perspectives on a variety of medical and career development topics; offers opportunities for faculty presentations to Penn colleagues from multiple departments and with various areas of academic expertise; and promotes networking within the School of Medicine, the Hospital, and across the University. The Seminar Series is popular and well-attended by men and women faculty.

Sessions on women's health research are presented by multidisciplinary speakers with expertise in a variety of women's health issues including, e.g., breast cancer, hormone replacement, osteoporosis, depression, obesity, lung cancer, and multiple sclerosis. The portion of the Series devoted to professional development includes such topics as time management, conflict resolution, negotiation, managing a laboratory, balancing work and family, presentation skills, financial planning, mentoring, writing for publication, and "promotion 101." Finally, a host of timely, controversial medical topics are presented in what is essentially a "Grand Rounds" for the Medical School. These sessions include such topics as concerns about the avian flu epidemic; the complexities of coping with medical malpractice; how to reduce the number of uninsured while balancing cost issues; the effects of sleep deficit; and autism spectrum disorder, to list a few.

Presenters generally include faculty from the School of Medicine as well as from other Schools across the University. Speakers may include anthropologists, bioethicists, economists, lawyers, medical historians, sociologists, psychologists, as well as physicians and researchers, all of whom offer fresh perspective to a broad range of medical and professional development topics.

2013 - 2014 Current Seminar Series

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 (Wednesday), 12:00 - 1:00 PM, Location: Smilow Center for Translational Research Building, 8th Floor South Tower Seminar Room --SCTR 08-146AB (3400 Civic Center Blvd.)

Kevin G.M. Volpp, MD, PhD
Staff Physician, Philadelphia VA Medical Center
Director, Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, Leonard Davis Institute
Co-Director, Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation
Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
Professor of Health Care Management at Wharton School

Behavioral Economics and Health

Dr. Volpp will describe ways in which behavioral economics differs from standard economics in delineating ways in which people are predictably irrational and the implications for intervention design before talking about choice architecture and the use of defaults, health incentives and benefit design, and the use of wireless devices and behavioral economics engagement strategies through automated hovering.

BIO: Dr. Volpp’s work focuses on developing and testing innovative ways of applying insights from behavioral economics in improving patient health behavior and affecting provider performance. He has done work with a variety of employers, insurers, health systems, and consumer companies in testing the effectiveness of different behavioral economic strategies in addressing tobacco dependence, obesity, and medication non-adherence. These studies have been funded by the National Institutes of Aging as well as the National Heart Lung, Blood Institute; the National Cancer Institute; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders; the CDC;VA Health Services Research and Development; the US Department of Agriculture; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Hewlett Foundation; the Commonwealth Foundation; the Aetna Foundation; Mckinsey; CVS Caremark; Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield; Humana; Aramark; and Discovery (South Africa).

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