Vaccines in the Vanguard

RENAMESRECORD-SETTING MEDICALPERELMANS’ SCHOOL $225 MILLION GIFT SPRING 2011 VACCINES IN THE VANGUARD Dean Rubenstein Leaves His Mark: 10 Years of Success A Little Program That Flourished: “Bridging the Gaps” Gaps and Transformations sicians may be seeking out employ- firm was still Lewis & Engstrom. When ment arrangements that compensate I became editor of the magazine for the The cover article of our Winter them in other – nonfinancial – ways,” Spring 1998 issue, I was very happy 2010/2011 issue was about a study by such as greater flexibility and “family- to have so talented and experienced a Penn Medicine investigators to find friendly attributes.” designer to lean on. strategies to achieve greater equity for “The Pyramid Problem,” in The Al was a graduate of the Philadelphia women in academic medicine. The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 9, Museum School of Industrial Art (now study – “Transforming Academic Cul- 2011), looks not at women M.D.s but the University of the Arts) and a veteran ture” – is supported by a grant from the at women Ph.D.s working at American of the Korean War. During his career National Institutes of Health. Women universities. Unfortunately, the situa- as an artist and designer, he created are overrepresented in the lower ranks. A tion sounds familiar. According to Mary award-winning publications, logos, 1995 study found that only 5 percent of Ann Mason, the author, “We measure and communication materials for some women had achieved the rank of full gender equity in three important ways: of the most prominent foundations and professor while 23 percent of men had. representation on the faculty, pay, and educational institutions in Philadelphia, Ten years later, another study found that family formation. Put simply: There including The Annenberg Foundation, women held 11.5 percent of the full are far fewer women than men at the The Pew Charitable Trusts, and LaSalle professorships – at the same time that top of the academic hierarchy; those University. He also designed labels and women now made up half the students women are paid somewhat less than packaging for Dock Street, the Philadel- in medical school. men, and they are much less likely phia beer, which he mentioned one day As reported in the article, Penn in- than men to have had children.” Women when I happened to raise a bottle of vestigators are testing interventions to made up 23 percent of full professors. Dock Street Bohemian in his presence. correct this rather extreme imbalance. As Mason also points out, not all tenure- With much of the credit going to Al, I suspect other medical schools will be track jobs are of equal weight, and Penn Medicine received the Pepperpot, paying attention if the interventions are women are least well represented at the highest award, in the magazine successful. But as a few articles that doctoral-level institutions. The pyra- category for both 2009 and 2010 in have appeared elsewhere since the Penn mid, she argues, “is unlikely to change the annual competition run by PRSA Medicine piece suggest, fixing the pay its shape without serious structural Philadelphia, the local chapter of the gap and position gap in the medical transformation.” Public Relations Society of America. profession will not be easy. An article in Transformation is precisely what the In addition, the cover of the Spring Health Affairs (February 2011) exam- Penn Medicine investigators are trying 2010 issue of Penn Medicine, illustrating ined the starting salaries of physicians to achieve. an article on autism research, won finishing their training programs in New two awards: an American Graphic York State from 1999 to 2008. The It is my sad task to report that Albert Design Award from Graphic Design sample size was 8,233 physicians. Even Lewis, principal in the design agency of USA; and the Gold Medal in the Visual while avoiding “confounding variables,” Lewis & Nobel Design, died on April 13, Design and Print category, from the the investigators demonstrated that after a two-year battle with pancreatic 2010 CASE District II Accolades Award “the gap in starting salaries between cancer. Al was busy working on the Program. One of my favorite Penn male and female physicians existed design and layout of Penn Medicine up Medicine covers appeared in 2005. For throughout the ten-year survey period, to a week before his death. That was that issue, Al found a local artist, Wally despite the fact that proportionately not a surprise to those who knew him, Neibart, to bring to life our somewhat fewer women were entering the lower- because his dedication and attention crazy idea for illustrating an article on paying primary care fields.” In 2008, to detail were remarkable. Al began Penn’s Weight and Eating Disorders the male physicians newly trained in designing Penn Medicine with its very Program: it showed the familiar pair New York State earned on average first issue, back in Fall 1987, when the from Grant Wood’s American Gothic, $16,819 more than comparable female with substantially more poundage! physicians – a wider gap than there Al will certainly be missed. Graham was at the start of the study period. Perry, who worked very capably with The authors of the study do suggest Al on Penn Medicine for several years, one possible explanation: “female phy- designed this issue. Cover photograph courtesy of Bruce L. Levine, Ph.D. Magnetic beads (false yellow color) are coupled to monoclonal antibodies against CD3 and CD28 on T lymphocytes (false color orange). CD3 and CD28 are molecules involved in activating T lymphocytes. SPRING 2011 / VOLUME XXII NUMBER 4 2A 'MOMENTOUS' GIFT -- 4A DECADE OF SUCCESS AND A NEW NAME By John Shea Raymond and Ruth Perelman have After 10 years as dean of the School of made a $225 million gift to rename Medicine and executive vice president of the School of Medicine. It is the largest the University of Pennsylvania for the single gift ever given to the University of Health System, Arthur H. Rubenstein steps Pennsylvania and creates a permanent down from what he once called a “job endowment for the school. made in heaven.” His faculty, colleagues, and professional organizations agree: he filled the role with distinction. 24VACCINES IN THE VANGUARD By Jessica Stein Diamond At Penn Medicine, physician-scientists are creating new DNA vaccines that hold great promise for fighting disease more effectively, with fewer side effects. Less like a drug in a bottle or a vaccine in a vial, they are “more like a next-generation blood transfusion.” But the new vaccines are expensive, and funding can be hard to find. 11A NOVEL IMMUNE THERAPY 1A QUIET2 LITTLE REVOLUTION FOR PANCREATIC CANCER By Jennifer Baldino Bonett By Holly Auer and Rabiya Tuma Bridging the Gaps, a unique community- Departments Penn researchers have discovered a health program with grass roots at Penn, novel way to treat pancreatic cancer – has reached 20 years. And it shows no signs by activating the immune system to of slowing down. The program connects Inside destroy the “scaffolding” of the cancer. students from academic health centers in Front EDITOR’S NOTE Cover The investigators believe their findings Pennsylvania and, more recently, in New Gaps and Transformations could lead to quicker, less expensive Jersey with community agencies to provide development of cancer drugs. health-related supports and education. 3 VITAL SIGNS From Students to Doctors New Chair of Path & Lab 30 DEVELOPMENT MATTERS Thank You, Dean Rubenstein 34 ALUMNI NEWS Progress Notes and Obituaries THE LAST WORD TRAILBLAZERS, INVENTORS, ISLET CELL TRANSPLANTATION: Inside 19 22 Back Forward Thinking AND TEACHERS A PATIENT’S PERSPECTIVE Cover By John Shea By Andy Gordon Britton Chance and Christian Lambertsen, Andy Gordon, living with diabetes, entered a both alumni of the medical school and long- clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania. time members of its faculty, died in recent Islet cells taken from a donor pancreas months. They were among Penn’s most would be transplanted into his liver. If the honored and admired professors, and their procedure was successful, the new islets achievements had an impact on the world would begin to produce the insulin his own Staff outside academe. body did not produce. JOHN R. SHEA, Ph.D. Editor GRAHAM PERRY, NCS Studios Design / Art Direction ADMINISTRATION SUSAN E. PHILLIPS Senior Vice President for Penn Medicine is published for the alumni and friends of Penn Medicine by the Office of Public Public Affairs Affairs. © 2011 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Address all correspondence to John Shea, Penn Medicine, 3535 Market Street, Suite 60 Mezzanine, University MARC S. KAPLAN of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3309, or call (215) 662-4802, or e-mail Director of Communications [email protected]. Visit Penn Medicine’s web site: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/publications/PENNMedicine/ The School of Medicine Receives a ‘Momentous’ Raymond Perelman is president and chairman of the board of RGP Holdings Gift – and a New Name Inc., a privately held holding company The Perelmans’ $225 million gift is the largest that includes many manufacturing, min- single gift to the University of Pennsylvania. ing, and financial interests. He also serves as a Penn Medicine trustee. On the evening of May 10, an e-mail care.” At the same time, the gift will en- “Ruth and I believe the future of medi- message from President Amy Gutmann courage efforts to make Penn a global cine depends on the ability to produce reached Penn alumni with a message that model of a comprehensive academic med- world-class clinicians and researchers, could hardly be believed: Raymond and ical center that integrates innovative re- the hallmarks of Penn and a Penn educa- Ruth Perelman were contributing $225 Photograph by Daniel Burke by Photograph million to Penn’s School of Medicine, the largest single gift ever given to the Uni- versity and the largest single gift to name a medical school in United States history.

Load more