FEATURE STORIES

Celebrating Rachel M. Werner's LDI Legacy

After seven transformative years, Rachel M. Werner concludes her role as LDI Executive Director. Under her leadership, LDI expanded its national influence and advanced research that shaped key health policy debates. 

New LDI Research Program 

LDI has launched a second initiative supported by Monogram Health. It will advance studies on improving care and outcomes for patients with multiple chronic conditions. 

Temperature Extremes and Missed Pediatric Visits

Stephanie Mayne, Joniqua Ceasar, Brian Jenssen, and Alexander Fiks found an association between hot and cold weather and missed pediatric preventive care visits. 

A Smarter Path for U.S. Organ Donation

Vishnu Potluri, Elizabeth Sonnenberg, and Emily Vail studied where donor care units (DCUs) are located relative to acute care hospitals, and found 61.9% of donors were within driving distance of 34 operating DCUs.

Trump Homelessness Order and Forced Confinement

Dominic Sisti warned that the executive order expanding involuntary commitment could clash with states’ powers and worsen outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. 

ONLINE COURSE  –  FALL 2026 

LDI’s four-session virtual course returns this October to help researchers turn their expertise into compelling op-eds. You'll learn essentials of opinion writing, receive personalized feedback, and develop a polished draft ready for submission. New this year, STAT First Opinion Editor Torie Bosch joins Karl Stark and Matthew Zencey as an instructor, alongside exclusive video interviews with editors from the New York Times, Washington Post, and STAT. 

IN THE MEDIA

“A New Option for Long-Term Care Costs.” Norma Coe. New York Times

“Health Care’s AI Dividend is Real. The Fight Now is Over Who Reaps the Gains.” Kevin Mahoney. Fortune

“Study Linking Vaccines to Autism Retracted.” David Mandell. MedPage Today

“New Wharton Forecast Puts Social Security Trust Fund Depletion Later Than Official Projections.” Kent Smetters. CNBC

“Leaders Urge City to Take Action at First-Ever LGBTQ+ Health Hearing.” Aaron Richterman. Philadelphia Gay News

PUBLICATIONS

“Nursing Home Closures and Access to Long-Term Care.” Andrew R. Olenski, Rachel M. Werner. JAMA

“Study of the Utility and Impact of a Plasma P-tau181 Alzheimer’s Biomarker (SUITABLE).” Kyra O'Brien, Cameron Coykendall, Kristin Harkins, Xingmei Wang, Abigail Perelman, Megan Zhang, Jason Karlawish. Alzheimer’s & Dementia

“Partnering to Improve Pickleball Ocular Safety Awareness.” Jonathan C. Tsui, Brian L. VanderBeek. JAMA Ophthalmology

“Machine-Learning Identified Suicide Risk and Emergency Department Inpatient Admission.” Steven C. Marcus, Nathaniel J. Williams, Timothy Schmutte, Ming Xie, Sara Wiesel Cullen, Tony Liu, Lyle H. Ungar, Nick Cardamone, Mark Olfson. General Hospital Psychiatry

“Effect of Exogenous Testosterone on Cardiovascular, Cerebrovascular, and Thromboembolic Adverse Events: Results of Three Complementary Research Designs.” Tat-Thang Vo, Samrat Roy, Ting Ye, Askhan Erterfaie, Thanh Phuong Pham Nguyen, James Flory, Charles E. Leonard, Dylan S. Small, Sean Hennessy. American Journal of Epidemiology

Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics is a national leader in advancing health policy through transformative research.