America’s oldest hospital and the future of brain science

In 1751, Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond opened Pennsylvania Hospital with a promise to provide compassionate care to people in need—including patients with mental ailments. At a time when mental illness was viewed through a lens of superstition or moral failing, Pennsylvania Hospital’s Dr. Benjamin Rush argued that patients were not possessed but suffering from diseases of the mind. His ideas helped lay the foundation for modern psychiatry and cemented Pennsylvania Hospital’s reputation as a leader in treating disorders of the mind and brain.

As America’s first chartered hospital celebrates its 275th anniversary, it remains deeply connected to that mission. But while history is woven into the institution’s identity, its experts keep a steadfast focus on the future.

That mindset has helped Pennsylvania Hospital—affectionately known as “Pennsy”—become a modern hub within Penn Medicine’s larger network for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Clinicians and researchers across neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry collaborate to tackle some of the most complex disorders affecting the brain and nervous system, including Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

“We have a community of multidisciplinary clinicians and researchers who work together in a way that’s hard to do at many other places,” said Alicia Gresham, MBA, the CEO of Pennsylvania Hospital.

Those partnerships come at an exciting time as brain science is entering a dramatic new era, said Frances Jensen, MD, FACP, FANA, FAAN, FAES, the Arthur Knight Asbury, MD, Professor in Neurology and chair of Neurology at Penn Medicine. In the last decade, important advances have been made in areas including movement disorders, stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and migraine.

“Neurology and the clinical neurosciences are the fastest growing areas of biomedicine, and will play a central role in health care in the 21st century,” Jensen said.

At Penn Medicine, those fields aren’t just growing—they’re converging in ways that better reflect the future of medicine. Increasingly, experts from across disciplines are coming together to provide a more holistic, integrated care experience for patients with neurological disorders, from practical supports to transformative new treatments. Meanwhile, advances in neuroscience are breaking down the old-fashioned walls between neurological and psychiatric illnesses. And a more unified approach to brain science is growing in their place.

“We’re now a world leader in developing entirely novel, out-of-the box approaches to treat these disorders, thanks to this fabulous collaboration between neurosurgery, neurology and psychiatry,” said Daniel Yoshor, MD, the Charles Harrison Frazier Professor of Neurosurgery and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Penn Medicine.

And that new future is unfolding inside the walls of America’s oldest hospital.

Neurology and neurosurgery expertise at Pennsylvania Hospital doesn’t stop at the brain. As the home of the Penn Spine Center, Pennsylvania Hospital serves as the locus for spine care across Penn Medicine. Under the leadership of Director John Shin, MD, MBA, neurosurgeons are applying a new understanding of spine geometry to treat spinal deformities and pioneering advances in minimally invasive procedures. Shin and his colleagues are also at the forefront of using augmented reality navigation, enabling spine surgeons to visualize and navigate the intricate structures of the spine for greater precision and improved safety.