PHILADELPHIA — Penn Medicine announced today plans to begin the second part of an expansion project that will transform and modernize the advanced care services provided at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) campus. In addition to the recently announced Penn Center for Specialty Care, the new Advanced Care Hospital Pavilion will provide the infrastructure and programmatic support needed for PPMC to become Penn Medicine’s Level-I Regional Resource Trauma Center. With the completion of the expansion project – slated for January 2015 – the Trauma Center at Penn Medicine will transfer from its current base of operations at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
“This project will provide the PPMC campus with the facilities and clinical programs to better serve Philadelphia and adjoining communities as a tertiary center while significantly increasing Penn Medicine’s overall care capacity,” said Michele Volpe, CEO, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. “We look forward to partnering with local community groups and are thrilled to have the enthusiastic support of everyone involved. Working together to accommodate construction and relocation of programs will help us to create a seamless transition while maintaining the highest standards of patient care for which we are known.”
The new 178,000 square foot advanced care pavilion building will feature overall upgrades and enhanced capacity for emergency, surgical, trauma and critical care patients at PPMC. This will be coupled with a second helipad, ensuring rapid access to state of the art resources for all critically ill patients. The project also includes an expansion and significant renovations to the current structure.
Renovations will upgrade the capacity and efficiency of the emergency and radiology departments. In addition to added emergency bay and operating room capacity, a new state-of-the art trauma resuscitation area will be dedicated to the evaluation and stabilization of critically injured patients. The project will also facilitate improvements in centralized patient flow. A new concourse will be created to provide a location for family, patients, and staff to gather and provide an exceptional thoroughfare for way finding. The exterior of the PPMC campus will also be developed to feature a landscaped green space in the 38th Street courtyard to provide an additional aesthetic element to the PPMC campus and the surrounding community.
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.