PHILADELPHIA— Three studies led by faculty from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were selected for this year’s Clinical Research Forum's Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards. Each year, the Clinical Research Forum releases its list of the 10 studies which best exemplify how the United States’ investment in research benefits Americans’ health and well-being. This is the third time since the Top 10 list was first established that three Penn-led papers have been featured. In addition, three others were among those selected for the Top 20 finalists.
“We know that when it comes to translational research that can leave the lab and make a difference in the real world, Penn has always been a leader,” said Emma Meagher, MD, senior vice dean for Clinical and Translational Research. “Seeing so much of the work done by our researchers recognized in this way is extremely gratifying, and it shows that our teams are revolutionizing care for patients across the world both today and for generations to come.”
The Clinical Research Forum is a Washington D.C.-based organization established in 1996 to advocate for and guide clinical research done through academic centers and their researchers. The top 10 papers are chosen by the Clinical Research Forum’s board of directors after an annual open submission process.
The Penn-affiliated work honored this year is:
- “Gene Editing for CEP290-Associated Retinal Degeneration”
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and led by Tomas Aleman, MD, the Irene Heinz-Given and John LaPorte Research Professor in Ophthalmology, this paper detailed a clinical trial using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing agent that restored some sight in a group of patients, including two children, who were born with a form of blindness caused by the mutation of a single gene.
- “FOXO1 is a Master Regulator of Memory Programming in CAR T Cells”
A Nature paper reported the study of principal investigator Evan Weber, PhD, an assistant professor of Pediatric Oncology, and detailed how researchers found that FOXO1, a protein, could improve the survival and potency of CAR T cells, opening the door to potentially using them in more and harder-to-treat cancers.
- “Diversity and Scale: Genetic Architecture of 2068 Traits in the VA Million Veteran Program”
Scott Damrauer, MD, the William Maul Measey Associate Professor of Surgery II, an associate professor of Genetics, and an active surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, served as principal investigator on this study—published in Science—that analyzed genetic data from more than 600,000 participants in the Million Veteran Program biobank and discovered 26,049 associations between specific genetic variants and different physical traits or health conditions.
More Penn accolades
In addition to the 10 award winners, the Clinical Research Forum annually releases a list of 10 other papers that had been finalists, which included three additional Penn studies:
- “Default Palliative Care Consultation for Seriously Ill Hospitalized Patients: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Trial”
Katherine Courtright, MD, an assistant professor of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, led a team that published in JAMA Network on work that showed making palliative care consultations a default order (which could be overridden by patients' physicians) more than doubled the rate at which these conversations took place.
- “A Randomized Trial of Behavioral Interventions Yielding Sustained Reductions in Distracted Driving”
A nudge study led by Jeff Ebert, PhD, director of Applied Behavioral Science at the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that demonstrated how “gamifying” strategies and the potential of cash incentives could reduce cell phone usage and make a real impact in distracted driving.
- “Benralizumab Versus Mepolizumab for Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis”
A study comparing two treatments for vasculitis led by Peter Merkel, MD, chief of Rheumatology and a professor of Epidemiology, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers found that benralizumab, a newer treatment, worked as well as the already established treatment, mepolizumab.
Meagher serves as the vice chair of membership and member engagement on the CRF board. She took part in the selection process of papers but recused herself from evaluating or voting on any of the Penn-affiliated papers. Arthur Rubenstein, MBBCh, who served as Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System from 2001 to 2011, is a CRF board member as well and also recused himself from evaluating or voting on papers with Penn ties.
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 (UPHS) 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 $580 million awarded in the 2023 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts,” Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries that have shaped modern medicine, including CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System cares for patients in facilities and their homes stretching from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. UPHS facilities include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, chartered in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Penn Medicine at Home, GSPP Rehabilitation, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.9 billion enterprise powered by nearly 49,000 talented faculty and staff.