10 Ways Thomas Jefferson University Has Impacted Society Through Innovation
If there’s one concept to associate Thomas Jefferson University with, it’s this: Innovation that redefines possible. And its students, faculty and alumni have been explorers and problem solvers for 200 years.
Here are just three of hundreds of examples in the institution’s history: In 1898, Solomon Solis-Cohen, MD 1883, became the first to use epinephrine to relieve hay fever and asthma. (His work led to the modern EpiPen.) In 1976, Robert C. Gallo, MD ’63, achieved major credit in the discovery of HIV. In 2014, fashion design students Gabriela Canosa and Cassandra Burr and mechanical engineering student Julie Mayer created an award-winning spacesuit for NASA.
Whether it’s optimizing our planet’s resources, making the world smarter or improving patient outcomes, Jefferson has always had innovation in its DNA—and that innovation has always been aimed at creating significant, positive impacts on society.
With the 2017 merger between Thomas Jefferson University, a health professions university, and Philadelphia University, today’s Jefferson now includes a collective of ideators and problem solvers in architecture, business, design, engineering, fashion & textiles, health, medicine, nursing, science and the social sciences. Together, they are reimagining what could be and then researching, prototyping and testing what their innovations ought to be.
In 2023, Jefferson researchers were awarded more than $203 million in sponsored research awards. The university boasts over 1,000 patents for new drugs, software innovations, medical devices and diagnostic tools. And, it’s a member institution of the National Academy of Inventors.
No doubt, Jefferson is a place where redefining possible isn’t just encouraged but expected.
Here are just 10 of the countless ways Jefferson students, faculty and alumni are innovating for the betterment of society. (See if you can identify another common theme.)
Secret to Our Success Innovating for the betterment of society
1. An award-winning project developed by landscape architecture professor Kimberlee Douglas with her students, Park in a Truck (PiaT) empowers communities to design, build and sustain their own green gathering spaces by transforming vacant lots into parks.
2. A recent study by researchers, collaborating with the university’s global partners and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a single dose of a common antibiotic can reduce the incidence of sepsis during labor and delivery.
3. On a mission to stay alert in a healthy way, student-athlete and business major Jordan DeCicco came up with an idea in his Jefferson – East Falls Campus residence hall room. After seeking guidance from his professors, forging partnerships with local food scientists and a whole lot of work, Super Coffee was born.
4. JeffSolves pairs second-year medical students with design students to generate creative solutions to challenges in healthcare settings. Some of their projects have included restyled nursing carts that improve efficiency, IV poles that reduce tripping hazards and a fabric sleeve designed to prevent patients from pulling IV lines from their arms.
5. Did you know that strokes are the leading cause of disability from a medical condition? Determined to find a solution to improve movement that lasts longer than typical rehab treatments, Jefferson researchers have initiated a clinical trial using a brain implant and robotic brace to test a method that could one day offer hundreds of thousands of stroke patients with long-term disability a new option for better mobility.
6. Occupational therapy adjunct professor Zach Samalonis and students in his 3D Printing and Rehabilitation course used 3D printers to create adaptive “switch jacks” for toys that allow assistive technology to activate them. With the help of a local university partner, the adapted toys were distributed to children with disabilities in the Philadelphia region.
7. Two industrial design students at Jefferson created a low-cost, waterproof prosthetic that increases ankle mobility for adaptive surfers.
8. In a recent engineering capstone project, a group of students developed a digital twin of the thermal manikin at Jefferson’s Jeff Bruner Materials Characterization Laboratory—one of the few in the US to operate a thermal manikin designed to facilitate the measurement of the thermophysiological comfort of a garment under controlled laboratory conditions. The digital twin is useful for practical purposes like system simulation, integration, testing, monitoring and maintenance, and it can be simulated for any human being. The ability to model and study the thermophysiological comfort of a diverse population is beneficial for the apparel industry, especially the developers of protective garments.
9. Thirteen teams of visual communication design and interior design students worked together to create a restaurant concept inspired by an existing Philadelphia eatery rooted in non-Western culture. The project helped them build skills, flex their design muscles and grapple with concepts like cultural appropriation in their work and fields of study.
10. Students in the College of Architecture & the Built Environment partnered with teammates at two universities in China to design and build an eco-friendly, high-functioning and energy-efficient building façade for a home in China as part of the Solar Decathlon China global competition.
Pop quiz time: What’s the unifying thread that bolstered and made possible these innovations?
The power of collaboration. In each of these examples and all other moments of discovery that happen on Jefferson’s campuses in Philadelphia and centers around the world, there exists a dynamic force of both like-minded and distinct individuals.
By intertwining expertise across disciplines, industry partners and entire universities across the globe, Jefferson’s community understands that to best serve a diverse world, you need a diverse team; one that identifies a problem, then looks at it from all angles and perspectives to come up with the best possible solution.
That’s the secret behind our unyielding dedication to innovation. That, and a lot of Super Coffee.