“Patients first at the nation’s first”: It’s the motto that Pennsylvania Hospital’s dedicated staff live by every day, and it illustrates our longstanding commitment to keeping an eye toward our past, even as our services expand, our footprint grows, and our clinical and support teams work together to create a better patient experience. PAH’s dual focus on preservation and innovation is most evident when our facilities are undergoing construction, but initiatives like the launch of the Franklin-Bond Speaker Series also shed light on this balance.
Named after the hospital’s two founders — scientist, inventor, and statesman Benjamin Franklin, and pioneering physician and surgeon Dr. Thomas Bond — the Franklin-Bond Speaker Series offers an exclusive intellectual and social experience by providing an “insider’s view” of PAH’s groundbreaking biomedical research and patient care advances. The series launched in April 2018 with a lecture on the developments in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and last fall, a multidisciplinary panel came together in the Pine Building’s historic medical library to explore the comprehensive “one-stop-shop” spine center that will soon be serving our patients. After touching on PAH’s ongoing preservation efforts, the panel turned its focus from our history to our future, and their diverse areas of expertise ensured a riveting conversation. As we move toward an annual format, our aim is to continue fostering robust discussions about the nexus between innovation and healing
I believe that Franklin and Dr. Bond would appreciate the need for experts in different fields to work together, pool their knowledge, and develop solutions to the problems of our time. It’s my hope that individuals interested in our scientific and clinical advancements, as well as in PAH’s historic collections, will attend future speaker sessions, join the conversation, and further our ongoing commitment to honoring the collaborative, innovative legacy of our founders.
Read more about the history of Franklin and Bond’s partnership in this month’s issue of System News.