News

Breast Cancer Research Foundation Awards Luncheon

Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, director of the Abramson Cancer Center, was honored with the Jill Rose Award for Scientific Excellence for his outstanding contributions to the field of breast cancer immunotherapy and pioneering work to develop vaccines to...

The surprising connections between fish and human immunity

In a new Q&A series that shines a light on the people and ideas driving discoveries across Penn Vet, J. Oriol Sunyer discusses how studying the evolution of the immune system reveals surprising connections between fish and human immunity and...

Penn Expanding Research in Immunology — A Field Recently Honored with a Nobel Prize

Immunologist E. John Wherry, director of Penn’s Institute for Immunology & Immune Health and the Colton Center for Autoimmunity, spoke with The Philadelphia Inquirer about the university’s growing leadership in immunology—a field newly recognized with a 2025 Nobel...

Penn Medicine’s growing cancer system builds seamless care experience

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center marked the next step in expanding seamless cancer care across seven hospitals and a growing outpatient network. Abramson Cancer Center Director Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, says the strategy...

BCMA CAR T Access Disparities Persist Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Patients With Myeloma

A Penn Medicine-led study revealed significant disparities in access to CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma among racial and ethnic minorities, despite similar treatment outcomes, highlighting the need for collaborative approaches to achieve equitable access.

The research, led by...

New Vaccine Shows Promise in Treating Deadly Allergies, Scientists Say

A novel mRNA vaccine prevented food and seasonal allergens from spurring on life-threatening immune reactions and anaphylaxis in mice, according to new research from Penn Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center. Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor...

33rd Annual Jay Sigel Invitational Benefits Cancer Research at Penn Medicine

Last week, the Jay Sigel Invitational honored the memory of the late golf legend while raising funds for cancer research. Now in its 33rd year, the golf tournament has raised over $5.2 million for prostate and breast cancer research at...

How Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Will Use Jeffrey Lurie’s $50M Gift for Autism Research

In June, Philadelphia Eagles Owner and CEO Jeffrey Lurie donated $50 million to Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to establish the Lurie Autism Institute. Daniel Rader, MD, interim director of Lurie Autism Institute, said that he’s enthusiastic...

mRNA Nobel Laureate Debunks Claims About COVID Vaccine Safety

As political claims and misinformation about COVID mRNA vaccines continue amidst new guidance from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Nobel Prize winner Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research, detailed key pieces of...

Told He Would Die, He Found His Own Cure and Now He’s Saving Others

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, an associate professor of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, survived multiple life-threatening episodes of Castleman disease while he was a student in the Perelman School of Medicine by identifying a drug already on the market...

What Happens If Vaccine Mandates End in Florida?

Despite the urging of medical experts and decades of data on the efficacy and safety of childhood vaccinations, a new plan in Florida would remove vaccine requirements for children to attend schools. Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family...

Beneath the Surface: Navigating the Rapidly Changing World of Dermatology

Not only is technology leading to new dermatologic treatments and breakthroughs, it’s also helping clinicians stay abreast of the latest research. Joel Gelfand, MD, the James J. Leyden, M.D. Endowed Professor in Clinical Investigation and medical director of the...

Jeffrey Lurie Has Built the Eagles into a Model NFL Franchise

In addition to leading the Philadelphia Eagles through two Super Bowls championships, the team’s chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie has also made a philanthropic splash, including donating $50 million to fund a new joint venture at Penn Medicine and Children’s...

Proof That COVID Vaccines Work Is Easy to Find

President Trump recently questioned the effectiveness of COVID vaccines, but research demonstrates they continue to have a significant impact. Between late 2023 and August 2024, the vaccines prevented more than 107,000 hospitalizations and nearly 7,000 deaths in the United States....

As mRNA Falls Out of Favor for HHS, Are Cancer Vaccines Next?

One of the most promising avenues toward new cancer treatments are vaccines, but oncologists worry that research into them will hit federal resistance, given the Health and Human Services Department’s actions to cancel grants and contracts for mRNA vaccine research....

A Blood Cancer Treatment Targeting Proteins The Blood Doesn’t Need

Although healthy blood cells can do without—and produce almost no—ARHGAP45 proteins, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells depend heavily on them for their growth and survival, according to new work from Junwei Shi, PhD, of Cancer Biology, and colleagues. A...

Ancient antibiotic clues

César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and School of Arts & Sciences led a team of researchers harnessing artificial intelligence to uncover hidden compounds in Archaea, some of Earth’s most...

Penn Spinout Interius BioTherapeutics to be Acquired by Kite Pharma

A University of Pennsylvania spinout that is developing a faster and cheaper way to modify immune cells to fight cancer will be sold to Kite Pharma, a unit of Gilead Sciences Inc., for $350 million. Cofounded by Saar Gill, MD,...

Cutting mRNA Research Could Be Our Deadliest Mistake Yet

Thanks to pioneers like Nobel Laureates Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research, and Katalin Karikó, PhD, an adjunct professor of Neurosurgery, the United States has been at the forefront of mRNA vaccine development,...

America Needs More Organ Donors

In a guest essay, James Markmann, MD, PhD, vice president of Transplant Services and the William Maul Measey professor in Surgical Research, highlights a concerning decline in Americans registering as organ donors. With more than 106,000 people awaiting transplants...