An Apology Decades Too Late

Last year during Black History Month, I took the time to remind readers about the atrocities committed against people of color…citizens of the City of Philadelphia, by the University of Pennsylvania, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the now deceased Dr. Albert Kligman, MD, Ph.D.

- Lorraine Lavender-Sams

In 2021 the University of Pennsylvania made a statement in recognition of Kligman's legacy. Kligman was a long-standing member in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania prior to his death in 2010. He conducted decades of research at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison and other institutions on incarcerated populations.

https://www.med.upenn.edu/evpdeancommunications/2021-08-20-283.html

An apology was included in a statement by J. Larry Jameson, Dean of Penn Medicine. With the apology, Jameson also offered steps that Penn Medicine was making, in an attempt, to atone for the wrongs committed by Kligman. https://www.inquirer.com