The Pavilion, a leading-edge hospital that is Penn Medicine’s vision for the future of patient-centered care, will soon be the newest addition to its world-class medical campus.
Every facet of the Pavilion will be able to adapt to—and lead in—developments in health care delivery. The entire building, down to the wires in the walls, has been designed for maximum flexibility and adaptability—as health care evolves, so, too, will the Pavilion.
As construction on the Pavilion continues, some thoughtful philanthropic partnerships are helping to make this architectural marvel a reality.
The Dietz & Watson Bridge will serve as a connector between the Pavilion and the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, seamlessly bridging inpatient and outpatient care.
Elsewhere through the medical campus, the Dietz & Watson Foundation is also supporting breast cancer research—fueling progress at the 2-PREVENT Translational Center of Excellence and novel imaging at the Yetta Deitch Novotny Breast Imaging Center.
Back at the Pavilion, the Deena, Arthur, and David Ira Goldstein Family Consultation Room will provide space for family members and caregivers to gather privately, or to meet with their loved one’s care team.
More than just a named space on the Neurosurgery Unit, the Brennan Family Foundation’s gift will support collaborative research to drive more personalized, effective therapies that address not just a patient’s illness, but also their quality of life.
The Board of Women Visitors of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has made a gift to name the Pavilion’s Emergency Department waiting area—a vitally important gateway and triaging location that will welcome thousands of patients every year to Penn Medicine.
The Barbara J. and James K. Boese Communication Center will be more than just a nurses’ station. This critical access point, discerningly located to be close to patient rooms, will provide a spot for families to connect with staff.
“The Pavilion represents the very best of Penn Medicine: forward-thinking medical innovation paired with our Quaker spirit of providing the best care for all,” says Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “It’s going to change—and save—lives, and we couldn’t be more grateful to our compassionate donors who are helping the Pavilion come together.”
In May 2019, crew members and supporters of Penn’s Pavilion celebrated the traditional construction topping-off ceremony by signing the last beam before it was placed.
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“The Pavilion at HUP will be a hospital for 21st century medicine—and beyond. Designed for change and unparalleled patient care, it will deliver comprehensive treatment with a personal touch.”
— J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, Dean, Perelman School of Medicine
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The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Every gift to Penn Medicine and its students makes a difference—especially when they inspire a chain reaction of generosity.
Paying it Forward: A Surgeon Gives Back
When scholarship donor Adil Esmail, MD’96, GME’02, arrived at Penn to enter medical school, it was his first experience away from home. As an undergraduate at UCLA, he had lived with his parents, who had emigrated from Tanzania when Esmail was 12. Fortunately, he remembers fondly, the school was a “highly welcoming” place where he found an encouraging community of colleagues and faculty.
“Everyone at Penn was so kind,” says Esmail, an orthopaedic surgeon who practices in Southern California, where he lives with his wife, two children, and a growing contingent of pets.
“We weren’t treated like students, we were treated like family,” he recalls about his alma mater where he spent ten years—four in medical school, five in an orthopaedic surgery residency, and one in research on the rotator cuff. “Obviously, everyone was very high achieving, but I never felt a super competitive atmosphere—it was always really supportive.”
The close-knit network he found at Penn also included mentors, such as Marvin Steinberg, MD’58, a foremost expert on the hip who literally wrote the book: The Hip and Its Disorders, a seminal resource.
Esmail also cites the influence of former Penn faculty member Pedro Beredjiklian, MD. “He was one of my teachers and played an integral role in my decision to become a hand surgeon,” he says.
For Esmail, support also came in the form of scholarship; he was one of Penn Medicine’s first “Gamble Scholars,” a recipient of a tuition-free medical education through the 21st Century Scholars Program created by Anne and Walter Gamble, MD’57. Like many Gamble Scholars, he became friendly with the generous and unassuming couple, who even attended his wedding.
“Having been so fortunate to receive the scholarship, I always felt the need to represent the honor well,” says Esmail, who believes it helped push him to succeed and earn membership into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, one of medicine’s most elite distinctions.
“I saw the scholarship as a loan, not a gift,” says Esmail, who, in turn, has made a point of giving back to the school, through regular contributions to his Medical Class Scholarship Fund and the Gamble Scholarship Fund. He has also made arrangements in his estate for Penn Medicine, and helped organize his 20th Class Reunion.
The support that Esmail found at Penn, which he calls “one of the best schools anywhere,” made a profound impact on his journey in medicine—an experience he’s glad to help pass on to the next generation.
GivingPages: Crowdfunding Support for the Penn Medicine Causes You Care About
“I feel I am still here to tell the story others may not live to share,” says Katherine Miller. “Although my future with this condition is uncertain, I have resolved to bring this issue to as many people’s attention as possible.”
If there is a particular person or project at Penn Medicine you would like to bolster support for, Penn GivingPages are an easy way to raise impactful research funds—making a real difference for a cause that’s important to you.
Located at givingpages.upenn.edu, GivingPages are an online social fundraising tool that lets you describe your cause, demonstrate your goal in easy-to-view graphics, add video, and e-mail your contacts. They are a quick, accessible, and powerful way to further research and care efforts at Penn Medicine while also telling your story—or the story of someone you love.
“I feel incredibly blessed,” says Jonathan Peterson. “Blessed by the love of my family and friends and blessed by the resources of a world-class cancer research and care facility like the Abramson Cancer Center, leaders in the research and development of groundbreaking drugs and new therapies and protocols.”
One patient using GivingPages to tell her story and make an impact is Katherine Miller, who has inspired friends and family to raise more than $55,000.
At 23, Miller experienced a life-threatening heart rhythm caused by arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). ARVC is often responsible for sudden cardiac events that take the lives of otherwise active, healthy young people. Francis E. Marchlinski, MD, the Richard T. and Angela Clark President’s Distinguished Professor of Cardiology at Penn Medicine, was the one who discovered Miller’s ARVC.
Miller, grateful for the care she received at Penn Medicine, used Penn’s GivingPages to set a fundraising goal to help Marchlinski and the cardiac electrophysiology team detect ARVC earlier and improve outcomes. (See and contribute to it here: givingpages.upenn.edu/keepthebeat)
Another grateful patient who raised more than $25,000 through GivingPages is Jonathan Peterson—who, after being diagnosed with stage III head and neck cancer, was successfully treated by Bert W. O’Malley Jr., MD, the Gabriel Tucker Professor and Chair of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery. To show his gratitude—and to celebrate his 55th birthday—Peterson set up a GivingPage to raise funds for innovative research in head and neck cancer at Penn.