Three local med students are inaugural Brody Fellowship recipients

Med students from Penn and Drexel are the first three to receive the Philadelphia Foundation’s Brody Family Medical Trust Fund fellowships.

They’ll receive funding to study incurable diseases.
UPenn’s Patrick Arsenault will research fibrosis, the overproduction of connective tissues leading to a condition similar to scarring, which can result in a stiffening of skin and joints.

Also from Penn, Andy Johnson will research metabolic changes that might rescue dysfunctional T cells and allow them to function normally to fight chronic infections such as HIV and cancer.

And Drexel’s Daphney Jean will study the cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease.

These are the first fellowships awarded through the $5.7 million trust fund. All the applicants were screened by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.