Penn developed foundational mRNA technology; Penn researchers were central to CAR-T cell therapy development. Know these innovations specifically.

For each innovation, ask: who has benefited? Who hasn't? Why? The equity analysis of Penn's own breakthroughs is increasingly integrated into its ethical curriculum.

Practice the global COVID vaccine equity argument: when a publicly funded innovation becomes a product that LMICs can't access, what obligations exist and to whom?

Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood is the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast, with fentanyl and xylazine overdoses driving a public health crisis unlike any other US city.

"Tranq dope" (fentanyl cut with xylazine, a veterinary sedative) is a Philadelphia-specific drug crisis that creates unique wound-care challenges naloxone doesn't reverse.

The supervised injection site debate: Prevention Point Philadelphia has advocated for one; the city has taken steps but federal obstacles remain. Know both the public health argument and the legal/political barriers.

The Jesse Gelsinger gene therapy death happened at Penn in 1999. The specific failures — inadequate consent, undisclosed COI, prior safety signals ignored — are the basis of present-day reform.

Know Penn's response: the new COI policies, the IRB reform, the community engagement requirements that followed.

Practice the dual-role physician scenario specifically in a Penn research context — when a Penn researcher-clinician has a financial interest in the therapy their patient might receive.

"Since 2011 I've sat on MMI panels across Canada, the USA, and the UK — scoring thousands of candidates across medicine, dentistry, PA, and nursing. Universal MMI is built on everything I've learned sitting on the other side of that table."

Traditional MMI with 9 stations. Topics include research ethics, innovation equity, urban health disparities, harm reduction, global health, and personal motivation.

Median GPA around 3.88, median MCAT around 522. Penn is among the most selective medical schools nationally.

Penn researchers Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman did foundational work on mRNA modification that made COVID-19 vaccines possible. This work was done at Penn and is now central to its research identity.

CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) therapy is a revolutionary cancer treatment developed in significant part at Penn. It is highly effective for certain blood cancers but costs $400,000+ per treatment, raising serious access and equity questions.

An 18-year-old who died in a gene therapy trial at Penn in 1999 due to undisclosed COI, inadequate informed consent, and ignored safety signals. It is one of the most consequential research ethics cases in US history and shapes Penn's current research ethics culture.

A veterinary sedative increasingly mixed with fentanyl in Philadelphia's drug supply. Xylazine is not an opioid, so naloxone doesn't reverse its effects — it causes prolonged sedation and severe skin wounds requiring wound care beyond typical overdose response.

Philadelphia does not yet have an operating supervised injection site due to federal obstacles, though Prevention Point Philadelphia has advocated for one. The debate is ongoing and clinically relevant to Penn students rotating in North Philadelphia and Kensington.

Neighborhoods like Mantua, Powelton Village, and Mill Creek directly adjacent to Penn's campus have predominantly Black populations, high poverty rates, and significantly worse health outcomes than University City. Penn's community health programs have tried to address this proximity.