PHILADELPHIA –- A $50 million gift from philanthropists Jerome and Anne Fisher will support a new eight-story biomedical-research center at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to the growing field of translational medicine, which emphasizes an accelerated pace for converting laboratory discoveries into medical therapies.
Slated to open in 2010, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Smilow Center for Translational Research (SCTR) will be adjacent to Penn’s two new state-of-the-art outpatient-care facilities that will begin operations this year and in 2009. Together, the three facilities will reconfigure the Penn medical campus to tightly align medical research and care and to enable Penn to offer the most advanced treatments for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other serious health conditions.
“All of us at the University of Pennsylvania are enormously grateful to Anne and Jerome for this incredibly generous and transformational gift which will further position Penn at the forefront of bench-to-bedside medicine,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said.
“The Fishers’ long and steadfast commitment to Penn has profoundly impacted the University, and this significant gift continues their legacy of supporting eminence in areas that become signature strengths of Penn, such as the Fisher Program in Management and Technology and the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library.”
“Anne and I love Penn,” Jerome Fisher said, “and we have long felt that investing in this world-class university is investing in the future of humankind itself. We are especially pleased to be able to make a contribution that will impact advances in health care, something which touches everyone’s life.”
This most recent Fisher contribution to Penn is the largest capital gift to the University’s “Making History” fund-raising campaign. It is one of the largest gifts in the history of Penn and the second largest gift to PENN Medicine. A professorship in hematology and oncology named in honor of the Fishers’ daughter, Jodi Fisher, is also included in this donation.
Translational research is an example of Penn’s interdisciplinary efforts to address some of the most pressing health issues facing society today, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Each of the eight floors of the Anne and Jerome Fisher Smilow Center for Translational Research (SCTR) will be the size of a football field. The 400,000-square-foot structure will dramatically increase Penn’s research space.
Through its imaginative design and its connections to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center and other centers of patient care, the facility will provide an innovative home for the research engine that keeps PENN Medicine at the leading edge of medical care.
The Center will dramatically increase Penn’s research space and enable the recruitment of additional top scientists in key strategic areas. The Center will accommodate the research and office-based activities of 100 principal investigators and 900 additional staff.
“This generous gift by the Fishers will have a far-reaching impact on our institution by transforming PENN Medicine into one of the world’s leading centers of translational medicine,” Arthur H. Rubenstein, dean of the Penn School of Medicine and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, said. “This new research center makes possible an unprecedented level of focused scientific exchange among researchers, clinicians and educators from which will emerge important new medical knowledge and treatments.”
“The ultimate beneficiaries of the Fishers’ gift are patients in the region, in the nation and from around the world,” Ralph W. Muller, chief executive officer of the Penn Health System, said. “The new research center provides Penn the ability to further link its twin strengths of basic research and patient care by enabling its physician scientists to convert biomedical insights into prevention, treatments and cures.”
Jerome Fisher, founder and chairman emeritus of the Nine West Group Inc., is a 1953 graduate of Penn’s Wharton School and has grandchildren who are Penn alumni. He and his wife have been active supporters of Penn for many years.
Their previous gifts to Penn, totaling more than $14 million, include renovations to two other landmark buildings at Penn, the Fisher Hassenfeld College House and the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library. They also helped establish the Fisher Program in Management and Technology and the Anne Fisher Graduate Fellowship that provides endowed financial aid for graduate fine arts students.
Anne Fisher served on the Board of Overseers for the Graduate School of Fine Arts, now known as the School of Design, from 1992 to 2002, and in 1999 was awarded the Dean’s Medal in Landscape and Architecture.
Jerome Fisher served on the Wharton School’s Undergraduate Executive Board and Board of Overseers in 1992-2004. In addition, he was a University trustee from 1996 to 2000, and both served as members of the College House Advisory Board from 2000-2001. Jerome Fisher has been a member of PENN Medicine’s Board of Trustees since 2006 and is an honorary emeritus trustee of the University.
The international firm of Rafael Viñoly Architects PC is designing the center to incorporate innovative features that will support the collaboration of researchers across disciplines. Viñoly’s portfolio includes courthouses, museums, athletic facilities, laboratories and arts centers.
“Making History: The Campaign for Penn” has a goal of $3.5 billion to be raised by June 30, 2012. More than half of that amount has been raised thus far.
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PENN Medicine is a $3.5 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn's School of Medicine is currently ranked #4 in the nation in U.S.News & World Report's survey of top research-oriented medical schools; and, according to most recent data from the National Institutes of Health, received over $379 million in NIH research funds in the 2006 fiscal year. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals — its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, rated one of the nation’s “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S.News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center — a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.