Monumental medical breakthroughs
There’s a reason the best minds in medicine choose Penn Medicine as their home. Penn Medicine is known for developing the first cell and gene therapies that cure cancer and reverse blindness, inventing mRNA vaccine technology that quelled the COVID-19 pandemic, discovering key insights about the immune system and health, and more. By working across disciplines, our researchers dive deep into the causes of disease and health factors, leading to the best treatments and preventative approaches. Our faculty from dozens of institutes, centers, and departments work in multidisciplinary teams spanning 11 other schools at the University of Pennsylvania, including experts in informatics, bioengineering, and health.
Tomorrow’s cures, today
Penn Medicine is a globally recognized leader in advancing science and patient care through groundbreaking discoveries. Our innovative research is paving the way for the next generation of lifesaving therapies. The fundamental and discovery science, along with clinical research conducted in our laboratories and hospitals, is enhancing care for a wide variety of medical conditions. Ninety Penn Medicine researchers are members of the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in medicine. With one of the highest number of patents and FDA approvals of any academic medical center in the nation, our team reaches new heights every day.
Learn more about our research efforts and FDA approvals.
An integrated research mission
At Penn Medicine, our mission to transform patient care is driven by groundbreaking research and a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to discovery. Here, scientific innovation, clinical excellence, and education come together to advance and improve patient care. Our culture fosters seamless collaboration across our various schools and departments, creating a dynamic environment where researchers and clinicians work side by side to translate discoveries into lifesaving treatments. Through integrated research institutes, specialized centers, and multidisciplinary programs, we uphold the highest standards of excellence and efficiency in research while embracing a culture of continuous learning and a shared purpose. In this cooperative setting, we achieve breakthroughs, and each breakthrough is a step toward a healthier future, powered by teamwork and our unwavering commitment to unraveling the mechanisms of disease and advancing patient care.
“If you have a good environment where people feel like sharing, you get much better progress than if you have a lot of people doing secret projects.”
CAR T cell therapy
Outsmarting cancer requires every tool at our disposal. CAR T cell therapy is a pioneering cancer treatment built from the work of Penn Medicine’s Carl June, MD. The first FDA-approved cellular therapy to treat lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma, CAR T is now being investigated for treatment of other diseases, including glioblastoma and solid tumors.
“Together we make up a tremendous center of gravity for autoimmune research and innovation.”
Immune Health ®
What if we could predict and prevent chronic disease and autoimmune conditions? Or predict, based on how your own immune system works, which medicines will work best for your treatment? Penn Medicine’s Institute for Immunology and Immune Health, led by E. John Wherry, PhD and Allie Greenplate, PhD works tirelessly to translate knowledge of the immune system into leading-edge strategies to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease in some of the most complex areas of medicine.
Our work toward cracking the code of the immune system to provide a new way of understanding every type of disease is built on Penn’s longstanding leadership in understanding the science of immunity and innovations in harnessing the immune system through CAR T cell therapy. The Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Penn, established with $60 million in gifts to turbocharge research on autoimmune diseases, complements these efforts.
“Better understanding the molecular biology in which a normal cell becomes a cancer cell is key to understanding the best way to intercept it,”
Cancer interception
Treating cancer is one thing, but what if we could stop it in its tracks? In the realm of disease diagnosis, timing is everything. Research leaders like Susan Domchek, MD, Katherine L. Nathanson, MD, and Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil are moving quickly in the burgeoning field of cancer interception to halt and reverse the progression of cancer.
Much of this work begins with inherited cancer risk, such as people carrying BRCA gene mutations. Our researchers are testing preventative vaccines to stop early pre-cancers before breast cancer is even detected. They are also working toward improved genetic and molecular testing for identifying individuals at risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer, and research breakthroughs in intercepting pancreatic, ovarian, and colorectal cancers.
“We’re working on every imaginable infectious disease."
mRNA vaccines and treatments
Two Penn Medicine researchers, Katalin Karikó, PhD, and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, invented the revolutionary mRNA technology that supported Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023. This discovery has since opened the floodgates for additional vaccines and has the potential to eradicate countless other diseases, even cancer.
Today, the Penn Medicine Institute for RNA Innovation, led by Weissman, counts more than 550 members—scientists relentlessly pursuing new vaccines and treatments built on the mRNA platform. Because the low-cost technology is also a potential boon for global health, our teams are also partnering with people in low- and middle-income countries to build 18+ manufacturing facilities for mRNA vaccines around the world.
Penn Medicine research innovation by the numbers
As Penn Medicine continues leading the charge in research, the numbers speak for themselves. As the recipients of more than $969 million in annual research funding, Penn Medicine and the Perelman School of Medicine consistently rank among the top academic medical centers in the nation for research awards. From vaccine doses administered and clinical trials, to leading-edge research in immune health and global partnerships to expand access to care, these figures highlight the impact and scale of our work in pioneering the future of medicine.
- 7,060+ faculty and research staff
- 4,590+ students, postdoctoral trainees, residents and fellows
- 28 basic science and clinical departments
- 35 interdisciplinary centers and institutes
- 47 departmental centers
- 913 faculty with funding for sponsored clinical research
- 2,320 clinical research studies underway
- 151,426 patients enrolled in active clinical research studies