About

Ann R. Kennedy, D.Sc., is a Professor of Radiation Oncology and a Professor of Radiation Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the biological effects of radiation, with particular emphasis on carcinogenesis, cancer prevention, and acute radiation effects. She has made extensive contributions to the field of cancer research, especially in radiation carcinogenesis, demonstrating that radiation-induced transformation can be modified by agents, and introducing the concept that radiation carcinogenesis is not inevitable and can be prevented. Kennedy's work includes identifying protease inhibitors, such as the Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) from soybeans, as effective mitigating agents for radiation-induced transformation. She led efforts to obtain FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) status for BBI, which was granted in 1992, and has held INDs for multiple clinical trials involving BBI as a preventative and therapeutic agent in various conditions, including oral leukoplakia, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, esophagitis, gingivitis, and ulcerative colitis. Her recent research has concentrated on space radiation and countermeasures for its adverse biological effects, funded by NASA and NSBRI, leading to discoveries about space radiation's impact on coagulation and the development of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in experimental animals. Her current research continues to explore radiation-induced malignant transformation, the effects of dietary protease inhibitors, and mechanisms by which carcinogenesis is suppressed. She investigates surrogate biomarkers of carcinogenesis and studies the acute risks of space radiation exposure, including effects on hematologic and immune systems, with a focus on developing agents to prevent or mitigate radiation-induced coagulopathy and DIC. Kennedy's work has significantly advanced understanding of radiation's biological effects and potential strategies for prevention and treatment.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Emergency medicine
• Computer Science
• Intensive care medicine
• Virology
• Anesthesia
• Pediatrics
• Nuclear engineering
• Physics
• Nuclear physics
• Optics
• Engineering
• Physical therapy
• Biology
• Medical physics

Selected publications

• LaNA 2023 Linking Study Results. Boston College

  2025-02-21 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access

  LaNA is an international assessment that measures foundational early reading and mathematics skills at the end of primary school. It is based on the mathematics and reading frameworks of IEA’s international large-scale educational assessments, TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), both of which engage participants from over 70 countries globally.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• TIMSS 2027 Assessment Frameworks

  2025-09-08 · 2 citations

  reportOpen accessSenior author

  TIMSS 2027 FRAMEWORKSand interactive items, enabling more precise measurement and engaging assessments tailored to a diverse global student population.These enhancements ensure that TIMSS remains a relevant and powerful tool for capturing nuanced insights into student achievement.The four chapters inside this framework highlight and contextualize many of these aspects.The TIMSS 2027 mathematics and science frameworks for both fourth and eighth grades reflect the international collaboration of IEA's work, ensuring alignment with current curricular goals and global educational priorities.Across the various aspects of the assessment design process, we emphasize not only foundational mathematics skills but also mathematical reasoning, problem-solving capabilities, and real-world applications crucial to today's learning environments.Similarly, the science frameworks now comprehensively integrate environmental literacy, underscoring its importance in addressing global challenges and fostering informed citizenship.The foundational work for TIMSS 2027 also deepens our understanding of the contexts surrounding student learning through enriched background questionnaires completed by students, parents, teachers, and school leaders.These questionnaires capture critical data attitudes towards mathematics and science, socioeconomic background, and aspects of school environment, but also digital technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence, family involvement in education, school leadership practices, and students' views on environmental issues.New topics will allow for richer insights into the learning environments that support student success.This publication is made possible by the dedicated contributions of numerous experts and organizations around the world.

  PublisherDOI

• Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

  Nature Communications · 2024 · 8 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine

  Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Future views on neuroscience and AI

  Cell · 2024-10-01 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Immunomodulatory therapy in children with paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS, MIS-C; RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

  The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · 2024 · 34 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Virology

  BACKGROUND: Paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS), also known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) emerged in April, 2020. The paediatric comparisons within the RECOVERY trial aimed to assess the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin or corticosteroids compared with usual care on duration of hospital stay for children with PIMS-TS and to compare tocilizumab (anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody) or anakinra (anti-IL-1 receptor antagonist) with usual care for those with inflammation refractory to initial treatment. METHODS: We did this randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial in 51 hospitals in the UK. Eligible patients were younger than 18 years and had been admitted to hospital for PIMS-TS. In the first randomisation, patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to usual care (no additional treatments), usual care plus methylprednisolone (10mg/kg per day for 3 consecutive days), or usual care plus intravenous immunoglobulin (a single dose of 2 g/kg). If further anti-inflammatory treatment was considered necessary, children aged at least 1 year could be considered for a second randomisation, in which patients were randomly assigned (1:2:2) to usual care, intravenous tocilizumab (12 mg/kg in patients <30 kg; 8mg/kg in patients ≥30 kg, up to a maximum dose of 800 mg), or subcutaneous anakinra (2 mg/kg once per day in patients ≥10 kg). Randomisation was by use of a web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment. The primary outcome was duration of hospital stay. Analysis was by intention to treat. For treatments assessed in each randomisation, a single Bayesian framework assuming uninformative priors for treatment was used to jointly assess the efficacy of each intervention compared with usual care. The trial was registered with ISRCTN (50189673) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04381936). FINDINGS: Between May 18, 2020, and Jan 20, 2022, 237 children with PIMS-TS were enrolled and included in the intention-to-treat analysis. Of the 214 patients who entered the first randomisation, 73 were assigned to receive intravenous immunoglobulin, 61 methylprednisolone, and 80 usual care. Of the 70 children who entered the second randomisation (including 23 who did not enter the first randomisation), 28 were assigned to receive tocilizumab, 14 anakinra, and 28 usual care. Mean age was 9·5 years (SD 3·8) in the randomisation and 9·6 years (3·6) in the second randomisation. 118 (55%) of 214 patients in the first randomisation and 39 (56%) of 70 patients in the second randomisation were male. 130 (55%) of 237 patients were Black, Asian, or minority ethnic, and 105 (44%) were White. Mean duration of hospital stay was 7·4 days (SD 0·4) in children assigned to intravenous immunoglobulin and 7·6 days (0·4) in children assigned to usual care (difference -0·1 days, 95% credible interval [CrI] -1·3 to 1·0; posterior probability 59%). Mean duration of hospital stay was 6·9 days (SD 0·5) in children assigned to methylprednisolone (difference from usual care -0·7 days, 95% CrI -1·9 to 0·6; posterior probability 87%). Mean duration of hospital stay was 6·6 days (SD 0·7) in children assigned to second-line tocilizumab and 9·9 days (0·9) in children assigned to usual care (difference -3·3 days, 95% CrI -5·6 to -1·0; posterior probability >99%). Mean duration of hospital stay was 8·5 days (SD 1·2) in children assigned to anakinra (difference from usual care -1·4 days, 95% CrI -4·3 to 1·8; posterior probability 84%). Two persistent coronary artery aneurysms were reported among patients assigned to usual care in the first randomisation. There were few cardiac arrythmias, bleeding, or thrombotic events in any group. Two children died; neither was considered related to study treatment. INTERPRETATION: Moderate evidence suggests that, compared with usual care, first-line intravenous methylprednisolone reduces duration of hospital stay for children with PIMS-TS. Good evidence suggests that second-line tocilizumab reduces duration of hospital stay for children with inflammation refractory to initial treatment. Neither intravenous immunoglobulin nor anakinra had any effect on duration of hospital stay compared with usual care. FUNDING: Medical Research Council and National Institute of Health Research.

  DOI

• COVID-19 Research Resources in PIRLS 2021

  2024-05-14

  reportOpen access

  PIRLS 2021 Encyclopedia and some key themes are also presented.Finally, the report concludes with key takeaways for researchers wishing to use PIRLS 2021 data. PIRLS 2021 and the COVID-19 PandemicThe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the field test for PIRLS 2021, which was scheduled for March and April of 2020.The field test precedes the main data collection and is an early opportunity to evaluate the psychometric properties of assessment and questionnaire items to inform revisions if needed.This was a period of rapid COVID-19 spread worldwide; 4 therefore, only 19 of the 57 PIRLS 2021 countries could conduct the field test.Despite these participation challenges, available data were used to evaluate item quality for the PIRLS 2021 reading achievement test and context questionnaires and prepare for the full-scale data collection.Additional details about data collected in the PIRLS 2021 field test can be found in Chapters 1 and 2 of Methods and Procedures: PIRLS 2021 Technical Report.The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic also necessitated significant modifications to the PIRLS 2021 data collection timeline.Originally, PIRLS 2021 data collection was scheduled for October through December 2020 for Southern Hemisphere countries and March through June 2021 for Northern Hemisphere countries.As shown in Exhibit 1, reprinted from the PIRLS 2021 International Results in Reading for ease of reference, many countries could conduct PIRLS 2021 data collection on the original timeline.However, some countries in both hemispheres were forced to delay PIRLS 2021 data collection in response to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions it exerted on their educational systems.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Materials 4 from Bowman Birk Inhibitor Concentrate and Oral Leukoplakia: A Randomized Phase IIb Trial

  2023-04-03

  preprintOpen access

  &lt;p&gt;PDF - 140K, Characteristics of Placebo. In this section, estimates are given for the molar concentrations of certain compounds in BBIC and the Masa Harina placebo in the mouth and in the body of the oral leukoplakia patients.&lt;/p&gt;

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Materials 1 from Bowman Birk Inhibitor Concentrate and Oral Leukoplakia: A Randomized Phase IIb Trial

  2023-04-03

  preprintOpen access

  &lt;p&gt;PDF - 53K, Clinical Impression from Photographs. Across study arms, 91 participants had evaluable photo pairs: 45 in the drug arm and 46 in the placebo arm&lt;/p&gt;

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Materials 6 from Bowman Birk Inhibitor Concentrate and Oral Leukoplakia: A Randomized Phase IIb Trial

  2023-04-03

  preprintOpen access

  &lt;p&gt;PDF - 59K, Analysis of Sample Size if Placebo was 30 percent. Point one: formerly studies were powered anticipating a response rate in the placebo of about 10%. Power estimates for our Phase IIB study were performed by the dose-response observed in our preceding, single-arm, Phase IIA trial(4) In the IIA study response rate (PR+CR) at the lowest dose (200CIU) was 12.5 percent (1 out of 8 participants).&lt;/p&gt;

  PublisherDOI

• Data from Bowman Birk Inhibitor Concentrate and Oral Leukoplakia: A Randomized Phase IIb Trial

  2023-04-03

  preprintOpen access

  &lt;div&gt;Abstract&lt;p&gt;Oral premalignancy serves as an ideal model for study of chemopreventive agents. Although 13-&lt;i&gt;cis&lt;/i&gt;-retinoic acid showed reversal of oral premalignancy, toxicity, and reversal of clinical response after cessation of therapy obviated its widespread use. A search for nontoxic agents with cancer preventive activity led us to evaluate Bowman Birk Inhibitor (BBI) formulated as BBI Concentrate (BBIC). We previously reported encouraging results in a phase IIa trial of BBIC in patients with oral leukoplakia with measurable clinical responses and favorable biomarker changes. On the basis of these results, we undertook a randomized, placebo controlled phase IIb trial with patients receiving BBIC or placebo for 6 months, with assessment of clinical response and change in lesion area as primary end point and an intent-to-treat analysis. One hundred and thirty two subjects were randomized; and 89 subjects completed six months on study drug or placebo. Both placebo and BBIC showed a statistically significant decrease in mean lesion area of 17.1% and 20.6%, respectively, and partial or greater clinical responses of 30% and 28% respectively. No significant difference between placebo and study drug arms was observed. Histologic review, review of photographs of lesions, and comparison of serum neu protein and oral mucosal cell protease activity also did not show significant differences between study arms. Probable reasons for these negative results were considered, are discussed, and include a placebo with non-BBIC clinical activity and reduced pharmacokinetic availability of the second batch of BBIC. This experience should be a strong cautionary note to those considering “Green” chemoprevention. &lt;i&gt;Cancer Prev Res; 6(5); 410–8. ©2013 AACR&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R37CA022704

  NIH · $3.4M · 1995

• NIH Grant T32CA009677

  NIH · $6.9M · 2014

• NIH Grant R41CA072371

  NIH · $99k · 1997

• NIH Grant R01CA022704

  NIH · $571k · 1987

• NIH Grant R01CA034680

  NIH · $602k · 1990

Frequent coauthors

• Ethel S. Gilbert

  271 shared

• Andrea K. Ng

  271 shared

• John D. Boice

  271 shared

• James A. Purdy

  268 shared

• James M. Allan

  University of Stirling

  268 shared

• Joachim Yahalom

  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  265 shared

• Louis S. Constine

  Prisma Health

  265 shared

• Ching‐Hon Pui

  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

  262 shared

Labs

• Kennedy LabPI

Awards & honors

• FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) Status for Bowman-Birk in…