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Raymond Penn, PhD

Stephen P. Peters, MD, PhD

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Siqun (Lilly) Zheng, MD

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Raymond Penn, PhD

Raymond Penn, PhD                                                  I spent most of childhood in Philadelphia and graduated, with several historical figures belonging to the Pagan and Warlock motorcycle gangs, from Upper Darby High School in 1976.  The next 4 years were spent getting a B.A. in History and M.S. in education from the University of Pennsylvania. This prepared me well for my subsequent 3 years as manager of health club, during which time I got in great shape and acquired some ambition.  In 1984 I entered a PhD program at Temple School of Medicine, published 5 papers with my mentor Tom Shaffer on the influence of prematurity and ventilation-induced injury on airway mechanics, and received my PhD in 1988 in Pulmonary Physiology.  After a short post doc in San Antonio working on a baboon model of prematurity, I spent 4 years in the Benovic lab at Thomas Jefferson University learning Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry and developing my core research interest of regulation of signal transduction in relevant cell systems.  I ultimately worked my way through the faculty ranks at Jefferson before relocating to Wake Forest University School of Medicine to work with Eugene Bleecker and Steve Peters on Functional Genomics, and with Internal Medicine Chair Tom Dubose on developing translational research. I am blessed with a beautiful wife Mary Fontana-Penn, who is an allergist, and our two daughters Elizabeth and Jacqueline who are our raison d’etre.  With a lab currently comprised of 11 wonderful scientists at different levels of training, and a home life involving getting my two girls to school and their umpteen extra curricular activities, I have no hobbies other than working out occasionally (i.e., not enough).  One day, I will read all the fiction I had intended to read prior to getting into science, and will write the definitive American novel.  Or I will live my other dream of being a golf club groundskeeper a la Bill Murray in Caddyshack.