Advancing the Future of Medicine through Research

Pioneering Breakthroughs that Shape the Future of Healthcare

At Penn Medicine, the future of healthcare is being reshaped by cutting-edge research that is pushing the boundaries of medical science. Through initiatives in precision medicine, immune health, and cancer interception, Penn Medicine is not only treating diseases but revolutionizing how we diagnose and prevent them. As an academic medical center, Penn Medicine is leading the way in re-imagining what is possible in medical science, improving outcomes for patients, and advancing the future of medicine.

Technology Investment in Research Initiatives

• Through data migration to our Lab Information Management System, data for all studies can be tracked in one system. Future researchers do not have to re-create samples or re-perform analyses that were already conducted by previous lab members.
• Tech Supported growth of Penn Med BioBank Diversifies Sample Collection for Research
  • Pen Medicine has a large-scale Biobank with hundreds of thousands of patient samples that allows our researchers to perform their studies. As the Biobank size increases, both the number and diversity of samples are available for research.
  • Research benefits thrive when samples are plentiful and diverse. Our research technology team helped to achieve these results by using our EHR to consent patients and allow our clinical partners to place requests for research blood draws from consented patients. This functionality now exists in four Penn Medicine locations and is expanding. Due to the ease of consenting, a large and sustained quantity of patients consented into the Biobank.
  • Standardization enables Penn Medicine to support additional studies by using technology tools to create consistency and streamline research.

Cancer Interception

The goal of interception is to catch, or intercept, cancer cells as they begin to develop into pre-cancers or very early cancers, and halt or reverse that process. “Interception is not prevention per se, and it’s not therapy. Can we intercept those precursor lesions before they become cancer? If we can do this successfully, it will be a whole new space to impact the burden of cancer. There’s a whole host of technology that is allowing us to find these needles in the haystack,” says Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and the John H. Glick Abramson Cancer Center Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine.

Using Technology to Expand the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health Program (I3H)

• CIO 100 Award winning project in 2023.
• I3H Newsletter
• Immune Health: The Next Frontier in Personalized Medicine
• Enhanced Research and Faster Insights: By integrating I3H onto the Lab Information Management System, Penn Medicine has expanded its immunology research, allowing quicker, more accurate study results that could lead to new treatments and better health outcomes.
• Convenience for Participants: Information Services developed a new mobile application, SpeciTracker, which enables patients to participate in studies from home, minimizing the need for travel and ensuring critical sample collection at optimal times, especially after infection or vaccination.
• Technology Expansion Increases Equability in Research
  Imagine creating an equitable solution to provide at home research services such as blood draws. That is exactly what the LIMS and AppDev teams created to support Immune Health specimen collection. This app allows collections at home, at critical time points giving Immune Health a wealth of diverse data and the opportunity to learn more about various diseases.
• Efficient Operations, Focused on Science: By automating sample tracking and data management, researchers spend more time on science and less on admin work, leading to potentially faster discoveries that benefit patients.