PHILADELPHIA—This week, Penn Medicine unveiled a new digital art collaboration with five local and national artists—from Philadelphia to Los Angeles—that paints a picture of support and gratitude from the community for healthcare workers and their incredible dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These lively, creative pieces will be displayed on digital screens across Penn Medicine, as well as on the health system’s social media feeds (including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), and on the social media accounts of the participating artists: Manuela Guillén, Rachel Breeden, Perry Sosi, Faith Henke, and Haley Weaver.
The project begins with a piece from Manuela Guillén, a Philadelphia artist and educator who was born in Miami to Cuban-Salvadoran immigrant parents.
“This illustration is made to honor the healthcare workers in and around Philly,” Guillén said. “As a teacher and as someone who also works with the community, this type of work requires you to pour a lot of energy into others and sometimes leave very little for yourself. This artwork shows the public expressing their compassion and appreciation to healthcare workers by symbolically pouring flowers to them.”
The campaign can be followed on Penn Medicine’s social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) as well as via the hashtags #phillyheARTsyou, #ThankYouHealthcareWorkers and #healthcareheroes.
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.