History

John M. and Joan F. Thalheimer have been known to support many philanthropic endeavors in the Philadelphia region and beyond throughout their lives. Their most notable benefactors include institutions such as John’s alma mater, Lehigh University (’55), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the University of Pennsylvania. John graduated from Lehigh University and became the owner and chairman of the Thalheimer Brothers, Inc., one of the largest processors and recyclers of nonferrous scrap metal in the world.  The pair first began supporting education and research in cardiovascular medicine with their leadership positions; John served on the Cardiovascular Institute Leadership Council and Joan serves as a member of the Abramson Cancer Center Director’s Leadership Council.      

Inspired by the work of the Abramson Cancer Center’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Joseph Carver, MD, FACC, Joan Thalheimer established the Founders Associate Professorship in Cardio-Oncology in 2019 to support the work of a leading physician-scientist in merging cancer care and cardiovascular health. This Chair represents one of the many ways she and her late husband John have supported cardio-oncology at Penn. The founding member to hold this endowed professorship is the current director of the Thalheimer Center, Dr. Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE. Dr. Ky is currently the Founders Professor of Cardio-Oncology, the Founding Director of the Penn Translational Cardio-Oncology Center of Excellence, Director of the Penn Center for Quantitative Echocardiography, the inaugural ECOG-ACRIN Cardiotoxicity Subcommittee Chair, and inaugural Editor-in-Chief of JACC: CardioOncology. She leads a highly active NIH (National Institutes of Health)- 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 is the Principal Investigator of multiple cohort studies focused on determining individual patient risk, through detailed phenotyping of the social determinants of health, clinical, biologic markers, and imaging-derived measures of cardiac function, and clinical trials focused on mitigating cardiovascular risk. 

In 2021, Joan built on her gift to the Cardio-Oncology program by establishing the Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology at Penn. Dr. Joseph Carver was chosen as the founding director of the Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology and currently serves as Director Emeritus. Dr. Carver is a pioneer in the field of Cardio-Oncology and first established Penn's Cardio-Oncology clinical fellowship program, the first of its kind in the world. He is currently the Bernard Fishman Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the Chief Operating Officer of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chief of Staff of the Abramson Cancer Center.    

Supported by the Abramson Cancer Center and the Penn Heart and Vascular Center, the Thalheimer Center is home to some of the best clinicians, physician scientists, and researchers in the rapidly growing field of cardio-oncology. Through the leadership of both Dr. Carver and Dr. Ky, the Thalheimer Center has become a global leader in preventing, detecting, and treating the effects of cancer therapy on the heart.