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Penn Medicine
Jd~~~ CELEBRATING
ea4J of HOP E &INNOVATION
CEO's Cu 1 ~ ~
RALPH W. MULLER
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Il. to r.1Leonard and Madlyn Abramson; Bert Vogalstein, MD; Chi Van Dang; and John Glick. Vogelstein, of The Johns Hopkins University, received the inaugural Abramson Award, which recognizes key achievements made by the world's most innovative contributors in the field of oncology.
CEO, University of Pennsylvania Health System In an age when more and more aspects of ou r lives center on t he web - paying bills, learning, shopping, and searching for homes and apa rtments myPennMedicine and Well focused are two Penn -based on line options for helping to stay healthy. Our patient portal, myPennMedicine, was the very first of its ki nd in the Philadelphia area . It has brought an expanded level of access and convenienc e by allowing patients to obt ain lab results, complete forms, and request prescription refills and appointments - all from a home computer or smart phone . More than 150,000 UPHS patients are using myPennMedicine, and the number is growing all the time. Password-protected, it is secure, confidential, and available around the clock. Debuti ng in 2008, the porta l (which is tied to our Epic outpati ent electronic health record) continues to add new featu res. For example, patients can now li nk directly into our health information library. Simply clicking on a diagnosis or medication leads to authoritative information on that topic. And we'll be adding access to radiology results shortly. We know that many patients wantto use online health care tools, but few have access to such services. For example, 65 percents of respondents in a recent national survey said that having online access to the ir med ical records is important or very important to them, but only 17 percent reported having such access. Through myPennMedicine, we're addressing patients' preferences and making the ir lives just a bit easier. More important, we 're giving them the knowledge and information they need to stay healthy. Our staff benefit from myPennMedicine as well. It allows them to make referrals, report results, and handle appointments more efficiently than phone or paper-based approaches. Patient care is enhanced, as staff can close the communication loop with patients more directly. (continued on page 6)
ABRAMSON CANCER CENTER: A LOOK BACK & TO THE FUTURE Two years after President Nixon officially declared "war" on cancer in 1971, Penn formally established its Cancer Center, with Peter Nowell, MD, as its first director. Several years earlier, Nowell and colleagues had discovered the Philadelphia chromosome, which was the first direct link between a chromosomal abnormality and cancer. Nearly four decades later, Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research Programs, and his team successfully developed a therapy using engineered T-ceJls for acute and chronic leukemias. Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, director of the Abramson Cancer Center, views these two transformational discoveries as bookends of progress. Ihe first "paved the way to discover the genetic underpinnings of cancer" while the second demonstrated where this knowledge could take us. Over the ensuing years, a new culture of interdisciplinary cancer research and care began to take shape at the Cancer Center. When John Glick, MD, became director in 1985, he created an infrastructure to attract the "best and brightest scientists and phYSicians" in cancer research and care. A major turning point occurred in 1997, when Leonard and Madlyn Abramson pledged $100 million to establish the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at Penn. At the time, the Abramson gift represented the largest Single contribution for cancer research. "With the Abramson gift, we were not only able to Significantly build the strength of our research programs and shared resources, but also to improve the culture of service excellence;' said Glick, who is president of the AFCRI. Five years later, in recognition of their extraordinary generosity and support, the cancer center was renamed the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Between 1999 and 2004, the ACC recruited 90 "outstanding" faculty members. Collaborative research across the institution grew. "We had become what the NCI director called 'the role model for university-based cancer centers; " Glick said. Under Craig Thompson's directorship, translational research - bringing scientific discoveries to the bedside more quickly- became a reality. Penn's "Dream Team" played a major role in the Stand Up to Cancer initiative which changed how we treat pancreatic cancer patients. When Dang became director in 2011, he brought with him the concept of Translational Centers of Excellence, ie, bringing together teams of people - scientists, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. - to focus on specific diseases and solve prohlems.
CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE Cancer diagnosis and treatment have clearly made some great strides over the years. "Breast cancer survival rates have improved dramatically in the last 10 years;' Dang said. "And patients with chronic myeli tis leukemia can he put in remission with a single pill:' Although challenges remain, exciting possibilities exist on the horizon. Genetic cancer medicine will continue to expand. With the launching of Penn's Center for Personalized Diagnostics - a joint venture between Pathology and Lab Medicine and the ACC - special DNA sequencing will refine patient diagnoses with greater precision than standard imaging tests and blood work. This process, in turn, will help expand treatment options and improve their efficacy. (continued on page 2)