HEALTH@SAS
What Forces Shape Health and Well-Being?
The most urgent challenges in health don’t begin—or end—at the bedside. They are rooted in biology, shaped by society, and filtered through history and culture. That’s why faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences are asking foundational questions:
What are the cellular and molecular processes that underlie disease? What does health mean across time and communities? How do education, environment, and family background affect health outcomes?
Across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, Penn Arts & Sciences is building the knowledge base essential to a healthier future—and to Penn’s broad commitment to health and human well-being.
Multi-Pronged, Multi-Disciplinary Explorations
Explore how health-centered research at Penn Arts & Sciences applies perspectives and approaches from multiple disciplines to deepen understanding—building the pathways to better policies, better practices, and better health.
Population Health
The health outcomes of groups of people and the factors that shape those outcomes
Determinants of Health
External and internal facets that influence a person’s health outcomes
Basic Science for Human Health
Foundational research that underpins our understanding of disease and treatments
Historical & Cultural Perspectives on Health
A deep dive into the ways health and medicine have evolved and continue to do so
Health Policy, Healthcare, & Public Health
The systems, markets, and policy that affect the type and level of available care
Global Health
Interdisciplinary, international collaborations to address health challenges around the world
Teaching the Next Generation
Penn Arts & Sciences empowers students at every level to shape the future of health. A Career Services survey showed, for example, that in 2024, some 25% of undergraduates in the College went on to medical school, with 9% more pursuing other roles in healthcare and biomedical research. Graduate students drive health-related discoveries through a range of programs, while the College of Liberal & Professional Studies offers multiple options for adult learners preparing to enter health professions.
Quick Facts
Percentage of first-year College of Arts & Sciences students who identified as being “pre-health” in an onboarding survey.
Number of students annually enrolled in the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management, a dual-degree program administered jointly by the College and Wharton.
%
2024 graduates from the College who went into a healthcare field, according to an annual Career Services survey.
Percentage of graduates of the Vagelos Scholars Program in the Molecular Life Sciences who have gone on to pursue a PhD, MD, or combined MD/PhD at the nation’s most prestigious graduate schools.
%
2024 graduates from the College who went on to healthcare-related graduate school, according to an annual Career Services survey.
Our Health Experts
More than 100 faculty, representing 16 of the 28 departments that make up the School of Arts & Sciences, are shaping new understanding of health and disease, reinforcing Penn’s strength and standing as a leader in this critical priority.
Centers & Initiatives
The School of Arts & Sciences is home to a number of hubs for interdisciplinary research that encourage collaboration with colleagues across the University and inform our understanding of health.
Faculty Bookshelf
Getting Better: The Policy and Politics of Reducing Health Inequalities
Political scientist Julia Lynch and colleagues explore successful international case studies of governments reducing health inequalities from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That
Psychology Professor Nicole Rust dives into why research on conditions like Alzheimer’s and depression hasn’t translated more effectively into better treatments.
Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice
Professor of Practice Ala Stanford describes the experiences and spirit that made her both a surgeon working within the healthcare system and an innovator when she saw that system failing.
Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America
Beth Linker, Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences, delves into the emergence of our nation’s preoccupation with posture.
Prisons and Health in the Age of Mass Incarceration
Medical sociologist Jason Schnittker and colleagues explore the paradox of healthcare and prison.
Lazaretto
David Barnes, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science, tells the story of quarantine in the early 1800s—a controversial practice at the time—and Philadelphia’s attempt to keep out yellow fever, cholera, typhus, and other diseases.