$1.3 Million from Philadelphia 76ers to Penn Medicine for Critical Support of Health-Care Workers Fighting COVID-19
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Joel Embiid, 76ers Managing Partner Josh Harris, and Co-Managing Partner David Blitzer Join Forces to Provide $1.3 Million to Penn Medicine for Critical Support of Health Care Workers Fighting COVID-19
As part of a pledge to coronavirus medical relief efforts, NBA All-Star Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, along with the team’s managing partner, Josh Harris, and co-managing partner, David Blitzer, today announced a combined contribution of $1.3 million to Penn Medicine, establishing a funding campaign for COVID-19 antibody testing of front line health care workers.
“During this pandemic, many doctors and nurses are working like soldiers on the front lines of a war and they need to be provided with as much armor as possible in this battle,” Embiid said. “COVID-19 antibody testing can help Philadelphia health care workers at this critical time, and we need to do everything possible to help those heroes who are putting their lives at risk to help us.”
“The only way for us to get through this terrible global crisis is to ensure a safe work environment for health care professionals and ultimately find a treatment for COVID-19,” said Mr. Harris, a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “We are very proud to partner with the incredible team at Penn Medicine, who are tirelessly working towards this by identifying immunity in our brave doctors and nurses. Joel has been a leader in highlighting the urgent need for this kind of testing—David and I thank him for his leadership in this area and are excited to join forces with him. Our medical workers are on the frontlines of this crisis, have been hit hardest by it and need all the help and support we can give them. We have rough days ahead, but with collective action like this, together we will make it through.”
“Penn Medicine’s commitment to protect public health during this COVID-19 crisis is nothing short of heroic,” said Mr. Blitzer, who is also a graduate of Wharton. “We proudly support Penn’s courageous and talented staff who have put their community first and are making the biggest sacrifices among us. Joel’s recognition of this crucial effort is consistent with his tremendous character, and together, we will help fight this dangerous virus.”
The pledge from Embiid, Harris and Blitzer will provide a much-needed boost for efforts to quickly identify health care workers who may have immunity to the new virus.
“We are enormously grateful to Joel Embiid, Josh Harris, and David Blitzer for stepping up in a time of great need with forward-thinking philanthropy—helping us to understand COVID-19 through the lens of precision medicine,” said University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann. “We will take this new and powerful knowledge about how our bodies react to the virus and use it to protect our healthcare heroes, sharing these lessons with the City of Philadelphia and across the world.”
The gifts will support new experimental serology tests that detect antibodies to determine if a person has ever been infected with the virus—identifying staff and providers that might have immunity. The team research effort is being led by Scott Hensley, PhD, an associate professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Antibody testing allows us to determine if our health care workers have been exposed to the virus and who might be immune, allowing us to prioritize care to reduce risk to them and to patients. It will also be critical in another Penn-designed clinical trial that is being conducted to see if the plasma collected from individuals who have recovered from an infection can be successfully used to treat sick patients,” said J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “This antibody testing will be a critical component of several other Penn projects designed to combat and prevent this disease, all of which have come to the forefront of our institution’s priorities.”
The generous support of Mr. Embiid, Mr. Harris and Mr. Blitzer will enable Penn Medicine researchers to immediately scale testing to 1,000 health care workers in the region. With additional support as the funding campaign continues, the research team hopes to increase testing to include more health care workers, and others, such as police officers and EMS workers, on the front lines of the pandemic.
“Learning more about how to determine who is immune to COVID-19 is important for our efforts to better equip hospitals with the knowledge needed to safely deploy their staff to care for patients as the epidemic continues,” Hensley said.
Serology tests require deep expertise in immunology. Penn has the largest single-institution immunology community in the nation, numbering more than 200 experts who have harnessed the immune system to develop groundbreaking approaches to fight HIV and other infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and heart disease. Their work has included the first FDA approvals for CAR T cell therapies for pediatric and adult blood cancers, and vaccine research that’s paving the road to functional cures for HIV.
Join Penn Medicine’s fight against COVID-19 by donating here: https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/fund?program=MED&fund=604702
$1 Million from Philadelphia Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie to Penn Medicine Research to Fight COVID-19
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie recently announced a $1 million contribution to Penn Medicine to establish the COVID-19 Immunology Defense Fund, laying the foundation for the world’s foremost experts to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The funds will support both an emerging research program to test frontline health-care workers for potential immunity to COVID-19, as well as provide flexibility for Penn Medicine’s researchers—who have overseen the world’s most seminal advances harnessing the power of the immune system to fight disease—to develop real-time research protocols to battle the disease.
The contribution provided by Mr. Lurie offers the opportunity for Penn’s leaders to address critically emerging needs as the pandemic evolves. Top priorities range from developing rapid diagnostic testing, to finding drugs that work against the virus, to developing potential vaccines. Serology tests will be deployed across multiple research studies, including for health-care workers and recovered COVID-19 patients, helping scientists to determine if a person has antibodies against the virus, which could help to enhance hospitals’ knowledge about which staff may be immune to the disease. These critical projects will enhance understanding of how to protect frontline health-care workers and drive knowledge to advance options for treatments and vaccines in the crucial months ahead.
“We are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that is affecting all of us in so many ways,” said Mr. Lurie. “Every passing day brings new stories of heartbreaking tragedy, inspirational courage and hopeful innovation. We can and will get through this, but only if we work together, care for each other, and focus our attention and resources towards sustainable strategies. There are so many individuals and organizations who are making daily sacrifices, and we are incredibly thankful for their dedication and bravery. We must continue to support these efforts in every way that we can, while also seeking a solution that will help us move forward.
“We have reached a critical point in our fight against COVID-19 in which testing for antibodies is absolutely essential both to protect our frontline workers in the short term and to develop treatments and vaccines that will save lives and help defeat the virus,” continued Mr. Lurie. “With that in mind, I am proud to offer my support to Penn Medicine’s research efforts by establishing the COVID-19 Immunology Defense Fund. This fund will aid Penn’s multi-disciplinary approach in immunology, merging research in diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine development. Researchers from those three areas will work hand-in-hand and rely upon one another to create an immediate and lasting impact both locally and worldwide.”
Armed with the largest single-institution immunology community in the country, Penn has notched a string of US Food and Drug Administration approvals for immune-based therapies in the past three years. Penn’s best-in-class infrastructure—from well-established bench-to-bedside pipelines, to high-level biosafety facilities, to test treatments with live virus—has led its immunologists to international renown for the discovery, development and deployment of critical treatments in cancer, heart disease infectious and autoimmune diseases.
“In a time of national crisis, this is the kind of extraordinary partnership that can open doors and discover new pathways to address the profound challenges before us,” said University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann. “I am personally grateful to an exceptional civic leader and a great friend, Jeffrey Lurie, for giving us the tools to fight back against this pandemic in a way that may not only benefit our city and country but also the world.
“This gift will help support the more than 200 experts at Penn who have harnessed the immune system to develop groundbreaking approaches to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases to focus their collective expertise to fight COVID-19,” said J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “We have decades of experience in understanding the immune system’s response to disease, and even how to enlist the immune system to actively fight disease in patients’ own bodies. This generous support will allow our team to rapidly expand its efforts to learn more about how to treat and prevent COVID-19.”
As the Philadelphia community faces the uncertain times to come, Mr. Lurie’s gift empowers and inspires scientists to continue developing ways to help the Philadelphia community and people around the globe.
“When we band together, our defense gets stronger,” Mr. Lurie said. “I ask that you join me in supporting the COVID-19 Immunology Defense Fund and help the dedicated immunologists at Penn Medicine defeat this virus.”
Eric Stach: Director of Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter
After an extensive and competitive search, Eric Stach has been named director of the Laboratory of Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM), effective July 1, 2020.
A pioneer in the development of advanced in-situ and operando imaging and characterization techniques, Dr. Stach is well-known for his collaborations at Penn, nationally and internationally. His experience in leading large research programs, his skills at crossing disciplinary and organizational boundaries and his high visibility in the materials science community make him an ideal leader to take the LRSM into the future.
“I am very pleased that Eric will be the next director of the LRSM,” said Dawn Bonnell, Henry Robinson Towne Professor in MSE and Vice Provost for Research. “In addition to his scientific insight and demonstrated leadership, he is an outstanding citizen of the Penn community. He has had a significant impact on our campus in just three years, and I am certain that he will advance the essential research, educational and innovative work of LRSM in the years ahead.”
Dr. Stach is professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and faculty chair of the Nanoscale Characterization Facility in the Singh Center for Nanotechnology. Prior to joining the Penn faculty in 2017, he was at the National Center for Electron Microscopy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a professor at Purdue University. He is also co-founder and chief technology officer of Hummingbird Scientific, a nanotechnology firm that develops advanced instrumentation for nanoscale characterization and serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society.
Dr. Stach will succeed Arjun Yodh, James M. Skinner Professor of Science in the department of physics and astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences, who has provided outstanding leadership to the LRSM for 11 years.
The LRSM was established with the support of the National Science Foundation in 1960 as one of the nation’s first interdisciplinary materials research centers and, for 60 years, has been a world-renowned institute for materials research at Penn. With well over 50 active members, it facilitates collaborations among faculty from more than 11 departments in several Schools and promotes links to partners across industry, government, academe and society at large. The LRSM supports faculty, students and post docs in different disciplines to push the frontiers of discovery. LRSM programs have consistently been recognized as making seminal contributions to fundamental science, notably including a Nobel Prize for conducting polymers.
Dr. Stach received a bachelor of engineering degree from Duke University in 1992 and a PhD in materials science and engineering from University of Virginia in 1998. He also holds an MBA from the State University of New York, awarded in 2018 and an MSMSE from University of Washington in 1994.
Rae Chaloult, Reema Malhorta: PVP Associate Directors
Penn Violence Prevention (PVP) has completed two searches for associate directors.
Rae Chaloult joined the PVP staff April 1 as associate director. Her focus will be on training and curriculum development, advising peer education groups and building campus partnerships. Ms. Chaloult came to Penn from Michigan State University, where she served as a prevention specialist for faculty, staff and graduate students. She previously worked at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Colorado, Boulder. She earned a bachelor’s degree in legal philosophy and sexual violence and a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Michigan State.
Reema Malhorta will start May 1 as associate director focused on serving and supporting graduate and professional students. She will come to Penn from Drexel, where she serves as education and prevention specialist and deputy Equal Opportunity/Title IX Coordinator. At Drexel, her work includes creating a sexual violence peer education program, chairing the University’s Gender Inclusive Committee and serving as the University’s transition coordinator. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in women’s, gender and sexuality studies from the University of Connecticut, and she graduated with her MSW and certification in violence against women and children from Rutgers University.
“We are very excited to welcome our newest associate directors to the PVP team,” said Malik Washington, PVP’s director. “Rae and Reema will help lead PVP’s efforts in critical areas including the expansion of peer education, engagement with grad and professional students, training for faculty and staff, curriculum development, program evaluation and more.”
Penn Violence Prevention was created as a standalone department in 2014 to engage the campus community in education and training to prevent sexual violence, relationship violence, stalking and sexual harassment. Since then, PVP has developed programming to transform attitudes and behaviors, support students who have experienced harm, and repair the long-term impact of violence and harassment. PVP works closely with campus partners such as the Penn Women’s Center, LGBT Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Health Service, Graduate Student Center, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Office of Student Affairs, Student Intervention Services, as well as faculty and staff from all 12 schools and additional cultural centers.
PVP normally occupies a central office on Locust Walk as part of the Division of the VPUL. These hires bring PVP’s full-time staff to four, reflecting Penn’s continuing commitment to preventing interpersonal violence.