Thomas Jefferson University News Podcast

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the enterprise’s 1960s Airstream trailer served as a critical central command center for healthcare professionals in the field and enabled some 15,000 people to receive COVID testing. When stewardship of the Airstream shifted to the enterprise Office of Community Health & Impact in the summer of 2024, it brought about an opportunity to reinvent and redesign it in...

Every four years, the eyes of the international sports world turn to the Winter Olympics, which will take place February 6-22 in Milan, Italy. One discipline that always rides a surge of popularity is the sport of curling. Before you ask: No, the Jefferson Rams do not have a curling team but Thomas Jefferson University does have a student who has become an accomplished champion curler with Olympic...

Accompanying the start of the 2025-26 academic year at Thomas Jefferson University is the start of student athletes on our fall sports teams launching their quest for greatness. Sure, there are a lot of new faces on campus, as is the case every year, but both the men's and women's Rams soccer teams are also establishing new paths forward. While men's coach Jason Rocha was both a player and assista...

 The mere mention of the phrase artificial intelligence can elicit a wide variety of emotions, be they the joy of potential innovation, uncertainty about future impacts and everything in between. Still, it is impossible to deny that AI is already embedding itself in our collective lives in ways both big and small, which is why the enterprise has set out to embrace its positives, and keep up with t...

 With National Nurses Week Upon us from May 6 to 12, it’s a ceremonial time to recognize the amazing things that those professionals bring to the healing world. This episode of the Thomas Jefferson University News Podcast shares a story that starts with students interested in learning more about the profession and culminates with a look at a new initiative designed to further the education of thos...

Welcome to the start of Jefferson’s third century. During our Bicentennial Year, we celebrated a lot of what got Jefferson to this point but as 2024 becomes 2025, attention now turns to our future. In this episode of the Thomas Jefferson News Podcast, we look at five exciting projects underway within the University’s College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Athletics Department, College...

In an effort to fight inflation and protect the job market, the U.S. Federal Reserve central bank on September 18 announced it was cutting interest rates by half a percentage point. This was noteworthy as it represents the first rate cut since 2020, and it is not expected to be the last. In this episode of the Nexus podcast, we talk to Davinder “D.K.” Malhotra, professor of finance and director of...

In early May, the storied Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta – which is the nation's largest regular intercollegiate rowing event – will return to the region's waterways. From a competitive standpoint, last year brought a historic performance from the Rams women's rowing team . For the first time in program history, multiple boats medaled in a single Dad Vail. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, we spea...

Where in the world has Phil the Ram been? You may have noticed that the University’s loveably tough mascot hasn’t been on the sidelines or in the gyms for a good long while. Well, that’s come to an end! Today – at a pep rally for the playoffs-bound Rams’ women’s and men’s basketball teams –  Phil re-emerged from what’s been a challenging few months for our beloved horned sheep.  In this episode of...

As the Jefferson family celebrates its Bicentennial year, we thought it was the perfect time to dig through the history books and examine famous “Firsts” from the University past be they locally, nationally or internationally. To be sure, Jefferson has improved lives in the region going into its third century in so very many ways. The 10 Jefferson Firsts that we’ve highlighted for this episode set...

As the Jefferson family celebrates its Bicentennial year, we thought it was the perfect time to dig through the history books and examine famous “Firsts” from the University past be they locally, nationally or internationally. To be sure, Jefferson has improved lives in the region going into its third century in so very many ways. The 10 Jefferson Firsts that we’ve highlighted for this episode set...

In previous episodes of the Nexus Podcast, experts from across the University showcased how Jefferson trains students to focus on sustainable practices in the classroom and beyond. Those areas ranged from fashion-design students creating new garments from repurposed Converse sneakers and vintage gloves and the impacts of climate change and climate related disasters on health and healthcare deliver...

The term “urban legends” often gets thrown around when talk turns to fantastical stories that veer more toward myth than reality. When it comes to Thomas Jefferson University, though, the phrase “hidden gems” better describes a litany of interesting features of our campuses often hiding in plain sight. For this episode of the Nexus Podcast, we delved deep into Jefferson’s history – be that physica...

On June 16 and 17, the University’s Marcus Institute of Integrative Health will host its fourth annual Advances in Mind-Body Medicine conference to examine the emerging topic of how mind, body and spirit play important roles in one’s health. At the helm of the event – led by the first-ever department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at a medical school in the United States – is Dr....

In a city in the throes of a debilitating opioid epidemic, faculty and students at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have undertaken a mission of awareness and education related to combatting overdoses and saving lives. It is a daunting task that requires an all-hands response to – in a true Jefferson sense – help improve lives. From the Rams for Recovery group and the Student Opioid Res...

Sustainability is more than a catchphrase. The goal of helping future generations safely co-exist on, and with, Earth has become a way of life. It’s a tangible focus in a wide array of academic pursuits at the University as the topic itself is of utmost importance to students. With April serving as Earth Month – and April 22 deemed Earth Day – it’s the perfect time to showcase how Thomas Jefferson...

Back in March, a group of nine students from the University’s College and Architecture and the Built Environment boarded a plane for a long trek to Malawi, a landlocked nation in southeastern Africa. Under the guidance of Chris Harnish – associate professor of architecture specializing in healthcare design – they spent two weeks meeting with high-ranking government officials, industry professional...

Among the many things that set Thomas Jefferson University apart in the higher-education world is its approach of instilling the humanities – or Nexus Learning – across all undergraduate programs. This can be seen through the Hallmarks Program for General Education , Humanities and Health offerings for health sciences majors, and the JeffMD program . These skills are not only critical to employmen...

On a recent Tuesday afternoon at Raven Hub learning space, second-year students Corinn Mabry and Sofia Corcoran sat amid a group of 15 students to discuss the lofty challenge they’ve set before themselves. The duo is at the helm of a new student club dedicated to bringing a radio station ( call letters: WPHU ) back to Thomas Jefferson University. In this episode of the Nexus Podcast, Mabry, Corcor...

When the University's Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities launched in January 2021, it marked the start of a multi-college effort to advance the development of the urban environment through collaboration across the architecture, design, engineering, health and science disciplines. In April, the Institute announced the first round of Smart & Healthy Cities Fellowship Grants, which represent sing...

When people visit the University’s East Falls campus on tours, they hear about it from the RAMbassadors . When students talk amongst themselves, the topic comes up. When alumni look back on their time at the University, it's amongst the most common memories. We’re talking, of course, about Chicken Finger Thursday, which is the mouth-wateringly popular highlight of the culinary schedule. For this e...

For more than 20 years, the Thomas Jefferson University’s annual fashion show was the “hot-ticket” event for the fashion-design program. Mirroring industry trends, the end-of-year showcase has evolved into a Fashion Design Film that highlights students’ design processes, inspirations and backstories. We speak with program director Farai Simoyi, dean Michael Leonard and a pair of students who discu...

Born in Russia, Thomas Jefferson University adjunct professor Aleksandr Kvasov has spent his professional life focusing on cross-cultural conflict resolution, peace psychology and global education. In this episode of The Nexus Podcast, he offers historical context to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and discusses what it could mean in the future globally and locally. Social Channels: Facebook: https:...

At Thomas Jefferson University, a team of industrial-design students have teams up with the Center for Autism and Neurodiversity in an effort to create neurodiverse friendly chairs for the Specialty Care Pavilion. In this inaugural episode of The Nexus Podcast, we embedded with the “neurodiverse furniture” team as they conceptualized, fabricated and developed a product which could bring comfort to...