The Founders Associate Professorship in Cardio-Oncology

Established by Joan Thalheimer in 2016, this Chair represents one of the many ways she and her late husband John have supported the emerging science of cardio-oncology at Penn.  

The Thalheimers first supported education and research in cardiovascular medicine with John Thalheimer serving on the Cardiovascular Institute Leadership Council. As a member of the Abramson Cancer Center Director’s Leadership Council, Joan Thalheimer became inspired by the work of the Abramson Cancer Center’s Joseph Carver, MD, one of the founders of cardio-oncology. As cancer patients are living longer, many survivors are more likely to experience adverse cardiovascular effects from the cancer therapies that may have initially saved them. Cardio-oncology seeks to understand the connections between cancer treatment and cardiovascular symptoms and to provide cancer patients with less harmful options.  

In 2019, Joan Thalheimer created the Founders Associate Professorship in Cardio-Oncology to support the work of a leading physician-scientist in merging cancer care and cardiovascular health. In 2021, she built on this gift by establishing the Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology at Penn. Today, the Thalheimer Center has become a world leader in preventing, detecting and treating the effects of cancer therapy on the heart. 

Joan Thalheimer was born and raised in Boston, MA, and is a graduate of Tufts University. John Thalheimer (1934–2016) escaped from Nazi Germany with his family in 1936. He graduated from Lehigh University and became the owner and chairman of the family business, Thalheimer Brothers, Inc., one of the largest processors and recyclers of nonferrous scrap metal in the world. Joan and John were married for 53 years and raised two daughters.  

With her avid interests in history, art, and architecture, Joan has volunteered as a guide of the historic houses in Fairmount Park for more than 30 years. In addition to the Abramson Cancer Center, the Thalheimer family supports the Philadelphia Museum of Art and educational programs in the region and beyond.  

Current Chairholder

Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE

Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE is the Founder’s Associate Professor of Cardio-Oncology and a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. She leads a highly active NIH- and AHA (American Heart Association)-funded clinical translational research program in cardio-oncology with the fundamental goals of advancing actionable science to improve the cardiovascular care of cancer patients.   

Dr. Ky leads multiple cohort studies focused on determining individual patient risk through detailed phenotyping of the social determinants of health, clinical and biologic markers, and imaging-derived measures of cardiac function as well as clinical trials focused on mitigating cardiovascular risk. She serves as the Director of the Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology, Director for the Penn Center for Quantitative Echocardiography, and the Founding Director of the Penn Translational Cardio-Oncology Center of Excellence.  

Dr. Ky is an invited member of many cardio-oncology expert consensus and research groups focused on advancing the understanding of cardiovascular disease in the growing cancer population. These groups include the NIH, the FDA, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association. and the European Society of Cardiology. She is a standing member and Co-Chair of the NIH Clinical Integrative Cardiovascular and Hematological Sciences Study Section and inaugural Chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) Cardiotoxicity Subcomittee. She is the inaugural founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): Cardio-Oncology and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation Research Committee. Dr. Ky is a recipient of the International Cardio-Oncology Society Thomas Force Leadership Award and ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Award.