Penn Genetics hosts Franklin Institute Symposium honoring Kafui Dzirasa MD PhD

SOCIAL INNOVATION: FROM BENCH TO SOCIETY. Co-sponsored by the Franklin Institute, The Department of Engineering & Genetics, and the Mahoney Institute of Neuroscience, this special event honored Kafui Dzirasa, MD PhD, as the recipient of the 2022 Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award. This symposium also featured talks by Kay Tye (Salk Institute for Biological Studies, University of California, San Diego),  Michael Platt (University of Pennsylvania) and Freeman Hrabowski III (University of Maryland). Together they covered a wide range of approaches to elucidate social interactions in experimental model systems and in humans. They discussed multi-disciplinary studies of emotions and social behavior at the molecular and neurobiological level in the mouse, how biological predispositions for social connection shape resilience to climate-induced stressors in monkeys, and about a 50-year experiment to establish the right support and empower a diverse workforce in science and engineering.