Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System

In 2017, Penn Medicine made history by pioneering the world’s first FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy for blood cancer. Now, our researchers are using that same cellular breakthrough to revolutionize transplant medicine. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM Group), a pioneering clinical trial led by Dr. Ali Naji has successfully enabled "highly sensitized" kidney disease patients to receive previously improbable transplants. By utilizing dual CAR T-cell therapy to "reset" the immune system, the team cleared away the harmful antibodies that had blocked donor matches for years. For Philadelphia resident Andrew Boyd, who had a near-0% chance of finding a match, this innovation meant another chance at life. From inventing cellular immunotherapy to redefining the boundaries of organ transplantation, we continue to lead. Because being first then means putting patients first now.

New research from Penn Medicine Cancer suggests an intriguing new link between GLP-1 medications and breast cancer prevention. Presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting and published in JCO Journals, a retrospective analysis of more than 110,000 women led by Elizabeth McDonald, MD, PhD, found that those taking GLP-1 medications were about 30% less likely to develop breast cancer. While observational, the study adds to a growing body of evidence exploring how these widely used weight-management and diabetes medications affect pathways associated with cancer development. "Ultimately, we want to find better options to prevent breast cancer," says Dr. McDonald. "It’s been encouraging to see the survival rates for breast cancer improve over recent decades, and we’d love to see the same gains in prevention.” Next up: Dr. McDonald and her collaborators are working to launch a multisite clinical trial to formally assess whether GLP-1 medications can lower breast cancer incidence for high-risk individuals.

As AI becomes more integrated into cancer care, patients are increasingly turning to online resources to understand how these tools may impact research, diagnosis, and treatment. But are those resources meeting patients’ needs? New research from Penn Medicine Cancer, presented by Internal Medicine Resident Pearl Subramanian, MD at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, found that publicly available information about AI and cancer care is often limited, difficult to understand, and frequently omits potential risks of AI use. The study’s findings, from senior author, Hematology-Oncology Fellow Henry Litt, MD, and his team, offer a clear call-to-action for health systems, cancer centers, and oncology organizations: develop higher-quality, patient-friendly educational resources that are accessible, readable, and transparent about safety considerations. As AI adoption accelerates, ensuring patients have trustworthy information will be critical to informed care and decision-making. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e3H2cSJD

Behind every major scientific breakthrough, there’s a pioneer who refused to back down. Meet Dr. Virginia Lee. For decades, Dr. Lee has been rewriting the rule book on neurodegenerative disease. Her discovery of the key proteins involved in brain degeneration completely transformed the scientific community's understanding of Alzheimer's. Now at 80, she’s passing the pipette. While her time in the lab is rare these days, her legacy is booming at Penn, inspiring a whole new generation of brilliant minds to find a cure. 🎥: 6abc WPVI-TV Philadelphia

Penn Medicine Cancer researchers will share updates on GLP-1s and breast cancer, AI, CAR T cell therapy, and more at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Get the details: http://spr.ly/6049B8HM7X

For 25 years, Stacey Peeples has served as the lead archivist and curator of Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation's first chartered hospital. Her office in the historic Pine Building is packed with everything from Benjamin Franklin’s handwritten notes to antique surgical kits. Ironically, Stacey wanted nothing to do with hospitals growing up. Today, she's celebrating the hospital's 275th anniversary by opening a brand-new museum, meticulously curating eight galleries that showcase the evolution of healthcare. “We must be good stewards of what we have,” she said, because it allows us to trace the progression of patient care and guide us toward advancing it. “It’s the idea: when you know better, you do better.”

Congratulations to the Penn Medicine Against ALS team on being named a Discovery Award winner by the Longitude Prize on ALS, receiving $135,000 to accelerate our search for a cure. As one of only 20 teams selected globally from nearly 100 elite applicants, our multidisciplinary team is leveraging a powerful AI ecosystem to map how TDP-43 drives gene dysregulation across both sporadic and genetic forms of the disease. This recognition is deeply personal for our team. Founded by Yentli Soto Albrecht, PhD, who carries the same genetic mutation that claimed her father’s life, Penn Medicine Against ALS is driven by an urgent mission to eliminate this disease. By combining the expertise of clinicians, biologists, and AI leaders across Penn Medicine, we are utilizing tissue-specific large language models and deep learning to identify ten new therapeutic targets for rapid experimental validation.

We are proud to announce the grand opening of the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, housed within our historic Pine Building. Following last week's ribbon-cutting ceremony, the museum is now officially welcoming visitors to explore the legacy of the nation’s first chartered hospital. “For people to have any interest in history, it needs to be told as a story,” says Stacey Peeples, Penn Medicine's curator-lead archivist. From the restoration of our 18th-century Apothecary to interactive "living" records of the staff and tradespeople who built our foundation, this museum is more than a collection of artifacts—it is a tribute to the people who shaped American medicine. “It’s been here for a very long time, and there are reasons for that. A lot of it has to do with the people,” Peeples said. “This all started by wanting to help others. It all goes back to the idea of compassion.”

To allow people to return home from the hospital more quickly and recover with care from home care nurses and remote monitoring by physicians, Penn Medicine started a Hospital at Home program. Buoyed by federal reimbursement changes for at-home care, the effort also helps free up space at the hospitals for patients in need of more complex care. Penn Medicine’s deep experience with various community and home services gave the Hospital at Home team confidence to start the program, said Christina O’Malley, MHA, head of Digital and Emerging Care Transformation.