Three Penn Medicine faculty research scientists and LDI Senior Fellows — Kevin Volpp, Atheendar Venkataramani, and Shreya Kangovi  — were honored with awards at the Society of General Internal Medicine’s (SGIM) annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

A U.S. professional society whose 3,400 members are engaged in internal medicine research and teaching, SGIM publishes the Journal of General Internal Medicine. 

Eisenberg National Award

Volpp, MD, PhD, Director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) and Health Policy Division Chief in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, won the SGIM John M. Eisenberg National Award for Career Achievement in Research. 

That honor recognizes a senior scientist “whose innovative research has changed the way we care for patients and conduct research.” It’s named for the late John Eisenberg, MD, MBA, who, as Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), was such a strong advocate for research in general medicine. Volpp and CHIBE  are  internationally recognized as pioneers in the field of behavioral economics.

Community mental health

Venkataramani, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy was honored for the SGIM Best Published Research Paper of the Year, “Police killings and their spillover effects on the mental health of black Americans: A population-based, quasi-experimental study.” Published in The Lancet, the study explored how police killings of more than 300 black Americans each year may affect the mental health of the communities in which those events occur.

The Best Published Research Paper award is designed to help scientists gain recognition for works that have made “significant contributions to generalist research.”

Community health workers

Community health orkers
Shreya Kangovi, MD, MSHP, Assistant Professor in Medicine, won the SGIM award for Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year. That award honors a young scientist “whose early career achievements and overall body of work to date have had national impact on generalist research.”

Kangovi’s research has focused on designing and testing evidence-based methods for the hiring, training and management of teams of Community Health Workers — trusted individuals from low-income communities who function as health system navigators for high-risk members of their own communities. Her system is now being used by health systems across the country.