About Our Team
Anne Cappola
Executive Director
acappola@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Anne Cappola, MD, ScM, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Executive Director of the Penn Medical Communication Research Institute (PMCRI), Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine, and Director of the CTSA-funded Center for Human Phenomic Science at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cappola heads PMCRI, which advances medical and health communication research by hosting annual symposia on various topics in medical communication and facilitating and funding research in medical information delivery by interdisciplinary teams within Penn. In the summer of 2020, Dr. Cappola and colleagues completed a trial to determine the effects of alternative communication strategies on patients’ rescheduling of visits and procedures canceled due to COVID-19, a trial that involved faculty from the School of Medicine and the Annenberg School for Communication, as well as members of the Digital Strategy and Marketing groups, the Data Analysis Center, the Institute for Biomedical Informatics, and Epic Research Support. Dr. Cappola directs an NIH-funded research program focused on the hormonal alterations that occur with aging and the clinical impact of these changes. Dr. Cappola is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Interurban Clinical Club and an Associate Editor for JAMA. She has received the Abbott Thyroid Research Mentor Award from the Endocrine Society, the American Thyroid Association’s Van Meter Award, and the American Statistical Association Outstanding Statistical Application Award. She is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Karthika Cohen
Director of Research and Operations
karthika.cohen@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Karthika Cohen, MS, MA, has a background in scientific research, publishing, and journalism. Karthika has over two decades of experience in breaking down complex topics for a wide variety of audiences, having overseen peer-reviewed publications in the medical, healthcare, and computational science fields. She has also written about a range of topics in science and technology for mainstream publications such as the Atlantic, HuffPost, The Guardian, Scientific American, and WHYY's Billy Penn. She has conducted research in both the life sciences and journalism as part of her education and training, and is the author of several peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Karthika has a Master of Journalism degree from Temple University and a Master of Science degree in Microbiology from Colorado State University.
Jennifer John
PMCRI Research Fellow
jennifer.john@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Jennifer John recently graduated with distinction from Stanford University, where she majored in Human Biology with a concentration in women's health. She pursued an honors thesis on abortion misinformation among young adults that was awarded the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. She additionally received the Joshua Lederberg Award for Academic Excellence in Human Biology and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She previously conducted research on social media content about reproductive health at the National Institutes of Health and served as a research assistant for the Virality Project, where she analyzed misinformation narratives about COVID-19 vaccines. Her writing on misinformation, social media, and health has appeared in Slate and the MIT Technology Review.
Enjoli Barnes
Administrative Assistant
enjoli.barnes@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Enjoli Barnes is an Administrative Assistant in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania with over five years of experience and an extensive background in a variety of office administration duties. She is also the co-chair of the division's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative whose mission is to build a strong foundation of inclusion and acceptance among its diverse patient population and multi-faceted workforce.