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Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children named one of the ten best children’s hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic States. “Despite the many challenges from the ongoing pandemic, our outstanding staff has risen to the occasion, continuing to provide exceptional care to families from across the country and around the world. We are proud to be ranked among the nation’s best and to offer skilled, compassionate and equitable care every day.” Nemours President and CEO R. Lawrence Moss, MD Wilmington, DE (June 15, 2021) - Nemours Children’s Health, providing pediatric care at nearly 80 sites in five states, is proud to once again be recognized among the nation’s best. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE, in four pediatric specialties in the new 2021-22 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings published online today. Orthopedics ranked No. 14 in the nation. Nemours duPont Hospital for Children was also named one of the ten best children’s hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic States. In addition, Nemours’ pediatric partner, Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, FL, achieved rankings in two specialty areas that are staffed solely by Nemours pediatric specialists. “Patients and families trust the information provided by U.S. News and World Report to help make informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions,” said Nemours President and CEO R. Lawrence Moss, MD. “Despite the many challenges from the ongoing pandemic, our outstanding staff has risen to the occasion, continuing to provide exceptional care to families from across the country and around the world. We are proud to be ranked among the nation’s best and to offer skilled, compassionate and equitable care every day.” The Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children’s ranked specialties include: Cancer Gastroenterology & GI Surgery Neurology & Neurosurgery Orthopedics Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children has been ranked among the nation’s best children’s hospitals in each year it has participated in the survey. “Coming off a year as challenging as any we’ve ever experienced makes achieving these important rankings even more gratifying,” said Mark Mumford, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive, Nemours Delaware Valley Operations. “This is a true testament to the trust families have in us and our continued commitment to providing the highest quality of care to all the children we serve.” Ranked specialties provided by Nemours Children’s Health physicians at Wolfson Children’s Hospital include: Diabetes & Endocrine Disorders Orthopedics “We at Nemours Children’s Specialty Care are proud to partner with Wolfson Children’s Hospital to provide the highest quality care for children,” said Gary Josephson, MD, chief medical officer of Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Jacksonville. “This recognition honors the dedication, expertise and teamwork that goes into providing excellent care for the children and families we serve.” The Best Children's Hospitals methodology factors objective measures such as patient outcomes, including mortality and infection rates, as well as available clinical resources and compliance with best practices. To calculate the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings, U.S. News gathered relevant data from children’s hospitals in early 2020 and from pediatric physicians and other healthcare organizations in 2021; because of the pandemic, data collection from children’s hospitals was not repeated in 2021. For more information, visit Best Children’s Hospitals for the full rankings and use #BestHospitals on Facebook and Twitter. ### About Nemours Children’s Health Nemours Children’s Health is one of the nation’s largest multistate pediatric health systems, including two free-standing children's hospitals and a network of nearly 80 primary and specialty care practices across five states. Nemours seeks to transform the health of children by adopting a holistic health model that utilizes innovative, safe, and high-quality care, while also caring for the health of the whole child beyond medicine. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org. The Nemours Foundation, established through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to the children, families and communities it serves. About U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report is a digital news and information company that empowers people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. Focusing on Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars and News, USNews.com provides consumer advice, rankings and analysis to serve people making complex decisions throughout all stages of life. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

MAPay’s healthcare payment solutions, built on Algorand’s blockchain network, has the capacity to transform Bermuda’s healthcare system and move $800 million in traditional healthcare payments to the blockchain. VOORHEES, N.J., June 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — MAPay, a global healthcare technology firm with a focus on decentralized payment networks, today announced it will introduce its own stablecoin on Algorand to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system, starting in Bermuda. With key healthcare partnerships in the US and beyond, MAPay will use Algorand’s blockchain as the backbone for its forthcoming advancements in the healthcare sector. Traditional healthcare payment systems are slow, cumbersome, and riddled with unnecessary expenses. By leveraging an advanced blockchain, MAPay is creating efficiency across key players in the system including insurance companies, government health providers, and banks by eliminating intermediaries that have hindered the settlement process and driven up expenses for all involved parties. In addition to providing an open, public infrastructure, Algorand’s technology is a high performing Layer-1 that enables immediate transaction finality, security required in the healthcare space, and advanced smart contracts that expand future potential. Through this collaboration, MAPay will provide Bermuda with a country-wide deployment plan to lower transaction costs of healthcare encounters through the MAPay network, which will run on Algorand. MAPay will also implement a patient-driven data exchange aimed at providing medical interoperability, population health management, and better overall outcomes. “Our relationship with Algorand is a global-game changer in healthcare commerce and data exchange,” said MAPay CEO Michael Dershem, aka Dersh “Not only is our tech in alignment, but just as important, if not more so, our collective management vision and passion is spot-on.” “MAPay has delivered on their promise to make Bermuda their global headquarters and attract world-class partners to the island. When I first met Team MAPay in 2018, they clearly communicated the positive impact that blockchain-enabled solutions could have in addressing the inefficiencies in healthcare payments; both locally and cross-border. This vision was very inspiring,” said Kevin Richards, former manager at the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), who now leads Bermuda Asset Management (BAM) “To see it come full circle with a launch partner like Algorand is extremely exciting and delivers on BAM’s goal of enabling economic diversification through transformational technology. Bermuda’s innovative regulatory framework for digital assets continues to attract transformational projects and places us at the center of what could power a global change in the way healthcare payments are transacted in Bermuda and around the world.” “An opportunity exists to eliminate a major portion of the claim processing and transaction costs associated with our global cross-border care. By working with MAPay, we will be improving legacy international payment dysfunction while providing real-time transactions and clinical data visibility,” says Edgar Vesga, the CEO of Philadelphia International Medicine. “We have a shared vision with MAPay on how friction can be eliminated from payment and settlement systems in an efficient, secure and transparent manner where all involved parties benefit from immediate transaction finality and simple to use services,” said W. Sean Ford, COO at Algorand. “MAPay is at the forefront of creating a completely new model for healthcare payments and we look forward to seeing them redefine successful financial infrastructures on Algorand.” MAPay already received accolades and recognition for its novel patent-pending payment technology. The firm is working in collaboration with leading organizations focused on interoperability and payment as a service models; including large pharma, insurers, health systems, banks and governments. This is the beginning of MAPay integrating blockchain throughout its offering. John Parker, Chief Managing Officer of MAPay remarked, “Our vision is globally impactful. With blockchain-enabled solutions we can drive interoperability and improve healthcare outcomes. Additionally, with the patent pending use of novel NFTs, every individual will realize benefits once deemed inconceivable.” “If we can reduce global healthcare transaction costs by even 10 percent, that would free up nearly $1 trillion,” Dersh said at the global Catalyst Health Innovation Forum in March 2021. That would go a long way to providing vaccines in developing geographic regions, access to care in urban health deserts, and orphan drug research. Not a bad day after all.” About MAPay MAPay is a global healthcare fintech company that is deploying distributed ledger technology to power smart contracts, transacting secure medical solutions. The company has developed a hybrid architecture of both centralized and decentralized protocols for multi-party medical payments and HIPAA-compliant data exchange. MAPay is working in association with hospital networks, practice management systems, drug companies, insurance payers and government entities. The company is committed to empowering patients and healthcare providers by leveraging blockchain technology to improve and align incentives, reduce costs, and bring increased transparency and data exchange. The company believes in permissionable open-sourced system collaboration, and solution sets that are economically and socially impactful. For more information, please visit https://www.mapaycorp.com/ About Algorand Inc. Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for decentralized finance (DeFi), financial institutions, and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 500 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next-generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com.

Thanks to the Jefferson Israel Center’s innovative relationship with Sheba Medical Center, three scientific experiments were selected for a 2022 mission to the International Space Station. Early next year, the University will see its global strategy take three giant leaps into outer space—and that’s anything but hyperbole. Thanks to relationships established during recent years and while expanding the footprint of Jefferson’s Global Centers in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the University was well-positioned to get to work when an opportunity presented itself in Israel in recent months. Specifically, the Rakia Mission—led by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology—put out a call for multidisciplinary experiments expected “to lead to technological, scientific and medical breakthroughs that will influence life on Earth and beyond.” In December 2020, that call for proposals went out to Israeli scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs to submit suggestions for experiments to be carried out by astronaut Eytan Stibbe at the International Space Station (ISS) in concert with NASA. The mission is scheduled for early 2022. This space mission is propelling us to new heights as we give life to our vision of ‘redefining humanly possible.’ –Dr. Mark L. Tykocinski It wouldn’t be long before the Jefferson Israel Center, which for years has built a close relationship with Sheba Medical Center, would launch a warp-speed, three-week cooperative effort which ended with a trio of proposed experiments for the Foundation’s consideration. In early May—after months of deliberations among a committee of “top-level figures from Israeli academia, industry and government”—the Foundation announced that all three submissions from Jefferson physician-scientists and collaborators were among the 44 experiments chosen for the private Axiom Space Ax-1 Mission. This is a testament to an innovative, forward-thinking strategy that has seen Jefferson establish global centers in Israel, Africa, Ireland, India, Italy, Japan and Latin America. “We take pride in being a 200-year-old institution that thinks and acts like a start-up,” says University provost Mark L. Tykocinski. “In our relationships with Sheba Medical Center, we’ve been leveraging both Jefferson’s clinical scale and discovery engine, which is now reflected in the groundbreaking research to be conducted on-board the International Space Station. This space mission is propelling us to new heights as we give life to our vision of ‘redefining humanly possible.’ This represents a major success for our Jefferson Israel Center, and more broadly, for our global center’s concept.” How many universities in the world can say they’ll have creative research for the future of medicine, the future of health care and the future of health sciences being conducted in real time in space? –Dr. Zvi Grunwald Dr. Zvi Grunwald, director of the Jefferson Israel Center, notes that this “groundbreaking collaborative research in space represents a defining moment for Jefferson and Sheba.” He adds that it’s an “unimaginable milestone” for two universities which share a common DNA and ecosystem. “At the heart of Jefferson’s global strategy are a handful of select countries in regions in which we’ve established formal global centers,” Dr. Grunwald says. “The Jefferson Israel Center is a showcase one, targeted by us because of Israel and Sheba Medical Center’s exceptional—even astounding—innovation ecosystem which parallels that of Jefferson. Participating in the Rakia Space Project epitomizes this vision. How many universities in the world can say they’ll have creative research for the future of medicine, the future of health care and the future of health sciences being conducted in real time in space?” Dr. Tykocinski concurs with that assessment, noting that the Jefferson Global Center strategy entailed focusing on a selected group of countries in which the University could “go deep and develop relationships with multiple institutions spanning different missions in education, research and innovation.” That strategy has blossomed since the formal 2018 launch of the Israel Center. “This is huge, and it’s really cool to have experiments designed by Jefferson’s collaborative team going onto the space station!” he says. “We already had a toe in it with Jefferson helping develop lighting for the International Space Station, but now we have a foot in the door of space research. This time, we’re moving upward with actual experiments.” This represents an opportunity to place the University at the forefront for what is possible, and moves us into the upper echelon for innovation and creativity. –Dr. Richard Derman It has an impact on Earth, as well. “Jefferson’s visibility in Israel takes us to a whole other level. Historically countries like Israel were familiar with the Harvards, Stanfords, MITs and Yales of the world,” shares Dr. Tykocinski. “It was either associations with those institutions or nothing else for them. Well, here’s little old Jefferson with three experiments going up to the Space Station.” Few know the impact of this announcement better than Dr. Richard Derman, the University’s first associate provost for global affairs, who is responsible for overall coordination of global activities that include collaborative research, educational exchanges and clinical initiation. What this shows is that Jefferson’s innovation, and the mission we’ve been working on diligently, has completely taken off. –Dr. Mark Tykocinski He says this announcement positions Jefferson exceptionally well on a global scale. “This represents an opportunity to place the University at the forefront for what is possible, and moves us into the upper echelon for innovation and creativity,” Dr. Derman says. “In order to triangulate all the work we’re doing, we needed a major breakthrough. This is indeed a major breakthrough; one significant step forward with many more to come. We’re not looking to recreate what others are doing. We are building on the unique strengths we have here at Jefferson.” Pardon the pun, but Dr. Tykocinski sees this as one small step forward for the global philosophy and one giant leap for the University as a whole. “What this shows is that Jefferson’s innovation, and the mission we’ve been working on diligently, has completely taken off,” Dr. Tykocinski says. “It is a dramatic validation of our global strategy. We’re on the radar in these countries. Jefferson has gone from global to space, and through global to space.”

PHILADELPHIA (May 26, 2021)—Although there have been treatment advances over the years, multiple myeloma is still an incurable disease. It is characterized by periods of remission and relapse resulting in decreased survival outcomes following initial therapies. But now, Fox Chase Cancer Center is one of a handful of hospitals in the country to offer patients a new treatment option. Idecabtagene vicleucel, also known by its brand name, Abecma, was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Abecma is the first B-cell maturation antigen-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody. “In the clinical study that this approval was based on, Abecma produced rapid, deep, and durable responses in the majority of patients. It offers a treatment option to certain patients who did not have one before,” said Henry Chi Hang Fung, MD, FACP, FRCPE, chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapies at Fox Chase. Abecma is a personalized immune cell therapy approved as a one-time infusion. It will be manufactured for each individual patient using the patient’s own T cells. That will be done at Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) cellular immunotherapy manufacturing facility. Abecma was jointly developed by BMS and bluebird bio, which pioneered the lentiviral vector used to engineer the CAR T cells. The FDA approval of Abecma was based on data from the KarMMa trial, which included 127 patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had received at least three prior lines of therapy. Of the efficacy evaluable population of 100 patients, 88% received four or more prior lines of therapy and 85% were triple-class refractory. In the study, the overall response rate for this population was 72%, and 28% of patients achieved a stringent complete response. The median time to response was 30 days and the median duration of response was 11 months for all responders. According to BMS and bluebird bio, the safety profile of Abecma is well-established and predictable, including cytokine release syndrome and neurologic toxicities that are mostly low grade with early onset and resolution. Due to those risks and the specialized nature of administering cell therapy, Abecma will be available only at certified treatment centers like Fox Chase. Abecma will be added to the list of other cutting-edge cellular therapies offered at Fox Chase, which is the only adult facility in Philadelphia that has obtained accreditation in immune effector cell therapy from the Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy. Another CART T cell immunotherapy that the center offers is Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel), another BMS therapy, which has been approved for the treatment of large B-cell lymphoma in patients when at least two previous treatments have not worked or have stopped working. Fox Chase also offers brexucabtagene autoleucel, also known by the brand name Tecartus, the first cell-based gene therapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma, a type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that affects the immune system. Another offering is axicabtagene ciloleucel, also known by its brand name Yescarta, the first CAR T-cell therapy approved for indolent follicular lymphoma, a form of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

For blood clots that cause heart attack and stroke, immediate treatment through surgical removal or dissolution with blood thinners can be life-saving. But what happens when a blood clot that causes blockage to the blood flow in the lungs grows too large to safely remove through either method? Until recently, there was no clear solution—and the problem occurs more often than you might think. Pulmonary embolism is the third most deadly cardiovascular condition, along with a related clotting condition called Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), after heart attack and stroke. Both conditions involve blood clots and affect 900,000 people and cause approximately 100,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone But unlike the clots that are usually responsible for heart attacks and strokes, clots in patients with DVT and PE are normally far too large to be effectively and safely dissolved using medication or minimally invasive surgery. No perfect, widespread solution for this deadly condition exists. And yet there’s hope in Philly. A Temple Health cardiologist, Dr. Riyaz Bashir, has invented a groundbreaking new treatment for blood clots in large veins, and for the treatment of DVT and PE, one that uses the body’s own blood to help dissolve clots with greater success rates and less medication. So far, it’s been used on less than 200 patients. But as it expands globally, the treatment could change the way physicians treat blood clots. The best treatment for blood clots is already inside your body. As a cardiologist, Bashir was dissatisfied with current treatment options for DVT and PE, which primarily consisted of medication or suboptimal removal of blood clots. When you try to remove a massive clot with a catheter, you risk sending debris from the clot deeper into the patient’s veins and arteries. However, if you try to dissolve the clot using medication, you risk potentially deadly side effects, including internal bleeding into the major organs, even the brain. But Bashir, after years of observing clotting behavior in the body, had a critical insight. “The patient’s own blood has a lot of clot-dissolving chemicals in it that can rapidly dissolve the clot. The most potent clot dissolving medicine in the body are enzymes in its own blood,” Bashir says. While clots are composed of a material called fibrin that resist the blood’s natural tendency to break things down, once the fibrin comes into contact with a small amount of a clot-dissolving medicine called a thrombolytic, it activates the enzymes in the blood to break down the blood clot. “Once you combine them [medicine and the patient’s blood], there is a dramatic synergistic effect between the two,” Bashir says. So Bashir set about designing a catheter that would send a small amount of medicine directly into the clot while opening a channel through it to allow blood to flow in—enabling the body to heal itself with minimal risk of side effects. The result was surprisingly intuitive. The BASHIR™ Endovascular Catheter has a collapsible basket at its tip that can be expanded once inside a clot. This fissures into the clot, opening it up to allow blood to pass through. The physician can then deliver clot dissolving medicine from each limb of the basket. Thanks to the opening action of the basket and the medicine, blood goes to work dissolving the clot on its own. “It brings the patient’s own blood into the clot,” Bashir says. “It then saturates the clot with the clot dissolving medicine, and let’s the blood dissolve the clot.” Thanks to a doctor’s insight, blood clots once thought untreatable can now be safely dissolved. The arrival of a catheter with the ability to restore blood flow through a clot instantly has important implications for the future of treatment. Bashir’s approach allows him to tackle the numerous challenges traditionally posed by blood clots. Bashir’s first concern when working on a patient with a blood clot is restoring blood flow to critical areas as quickly as possible. His catheter makes that possible. “A lot of these patients can get very, very sick very quickly—within minutes,” Bashir says. Upon the basket’s expansion, some amount of blood flow Is immediately restored, limiting potential damage from lack of oxygen. “The ability to open up a basket and have blood flow restored can be the difference between life and death for some of these patients.” Bashir then wants to dissolve as much of the clot as possible. At the heart of Bashir’s design is the simple fact that other catheters, which are also placed inside of blood vessels, aren’t big enough to affect the bulk of the clot without a dangerous dose of medicine. “One of the main inspirations for the development of this catheter was these blood vessels. Their diameter is 25 to 30 millimeters, and we were using devices that were made for 5 millimeter vessels,” Bashir says. “No wonder they weren’t doing a good job! So what I tried to develop was a device that can be used in larger vessels.” The device’s ability to expand in size and break through these large clots allows a much larger surface area of the clot to get exposed to the clot dissolving medicine. Investigational device studies, including the ongoing RESCUE trial, show that the catheter reduces the dose of medicine needed by a third or more, and reduces treatment time from 12 hours to five hours, showing greater overall success rates in dissolving clots. That lowers long term risks of thromboembolic disease, lung hypertension and other symptoms, in addition to increasing survival rates. The small change could impact thousands of lives. Its efficiency was critical for Marc Gilliard, a 55-year-old Philadelphia resident and one of Bashir’s early patients. This past February, Gilliard’s legs doubled in size. He couldn’t stand, and the chest pain made him believe he was having a heart attack. Gilliard was taken by ambulance to the closest hospital available, which fortunately happened to be Temple. DVT clotting ran throughout his legs. It was so extensive, he had to remain in his hospital bed with catheters in his veins for two days. At one point, he told his doctors he was afraid he was about to die. But thanks to the treatment by the BASHIR™ catheters, his physicians were able to clear all of the clots in his abdomen’s main vein and veins of both legs without the use of drugs that could have further damaged his kidneys. Two weeks later, he was able to walk again. “I was blessed, because I had a good team, I had good doctors,” he says. His doctors told him if he hadn’t received appropriate treatment when he did, he would’ve died. “I believe God blessed me to go there because they have it all in place already.” Bashir hopes that stories of recovery like Gilliard’s will soon be standard. He thinks use for DVT and PE will grow. The device is currently in clinical trial for pulmonary embolism, which affects half a million Americans each year. The journey he started as a cardiologist looking for a better way to treat his patients is nearing its end. “I always think of cases I have treated in the past where I think, my goodness, I wish we had this device at the time,” Bashir says. “There are a lot of patients that are suffering because they didn’t have treatment like this.” Editor’s Note: Dr. Bashir is a co-founder and has equity interest in Thrombolex, Inc. a medical device company developing interventional catheter-based therapies for the rapid and effective treatment of acute venous thromboembolic disorders. Temple University also holds a financial interest in Thrombolex, Inc., pursuant to the license granted to Thrombolex for the University’s interest in the patent filed for the experimental catheter device developed by Dr. Bashir and Nicholas Green. Temple licensed Dr. Bashir’s patent to Thrombolex, Inc., a Pennsylvania medical device company, so they could develop the actual product, named the BASHIR™ Endovascular Catheter and secure the FDA clearances to market and commercialize the initial product and its subsequent versions. Credit: Temple Health and Philadelphia Magazine Article can be found here

Novel Gene Variants May Point the Way to Precision Medicine for AML in Children Sonali Barwe, PhD Researchers have identified a gene expressed in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that could serve as a new immunotherapy treatment target, according to a new study published today in Blood Advances, a journal of the American Society of Hematology. The study, co-authored by researchers with Nemours Children’s Health System, outlines the process and potential path for new immunotherapy drugs that improve survival and reduce treatment-related toxicity in children with AML. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and teens, and AML accounts for nearly one-fourth of those cases. AML is a fast-growing cancer that typically starts in immature bone marrow cells. “Using genomic sequencing data, we identified novel targets for children’s cancer and worked with collaborators to engineer new therapies for children with AML, rather than repurpose drugs from the adult cancer realm that don’t work well in children,” said E. Anders Kolb, MD, director of Nemours’ Center for Childhood Cancer Research and a senior author of the study. The researchers obtained genomic data from more than 2,000 pediatric patients with leukemia, to identify associated gene variants. Through genomic sequencing, they found that the gene mesothelin (MSLN) is abnormally expressed in more than one-third of childhood and young adult AML cases but was absent in normal bone marrow cells. After this discovery, the researchers chose new immunotherapy drugs that would target MSLN to test in cell lines and animal models, to gauge pre-clinical effectiveness of leukemia therapies. Two experimental immunotherapy drugs were tested: anetumab ravtansine (Bayer), which is being tested in adult cancers, and a new compound, anti-MSLN-DGN462 (ImmunoGen). Each drug, in lab testing and in mouse models, produced potent destruction of leukemia cells. These drugs belong to a new class of cancer treatments known as anti-body drug conjugates (ADCs), which combine an antibody with a cancer-killing toxin. The antibody targets specific types of cancer cells and delivers the toxin directly to them, minimizing damage to healthy cells. “We are working to show a proof of principle that we can create custom therapies for pediatric malignancies and turn the drugs we’re testing in the lab into clinical trials,” said Sonali P. Barwe, PhD, the study’s co-lead author and head of the Preclinical Leukemia Testing Laboratory in Nemours’ Center for Childhood Cancer Research. The rapid evolution of genomic sequencing funded by the National Institutes of Health has led to the identification of new gene targets that are relevant for a significant number of patients. In addition, local organizations, such as the Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware, have funded efforts like this study by Nemours to find new treatments. About Nemours Children’s Health System Nemours is an internationally recognized children's health system that owns and operates the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through the Nemours App. Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to children and families in the communities it serves. For further information: Karen Bengston, Nemours Public Relations, karen.bengston@nemours.org, 302-293-4928

Heart disease doesn’t discriminate—it is the leading killer of women of every age and race. However, research has continued to show that heart disease is especially common among communities of color. Among Hispanic communities in particular, women develop heart disease a full decade younger than non-Hispanic women. Despite these risks, only 1 in 3 Hispanic women are aware that heart disease is the leading killer of women. Why is heart disease so prevalent in the Hispanic community? In general, women are at a greater risk for death from heart disease than men but there are also a number of cultural considerations that can contribute to heart disease risk among Hispanic women. First, Hispanic women are often caretakers not only for their partners and children but also for generations of family members who may live under the same roof or nearby. “The Hispanic culture is one that heavily emphasizes family and togetherness. Women are the backbone of this structure; they are often called upon to be caregivers for spouses, children, siblings and parents,” says Maribel Hernandez, MD, an electrophysiologist at Lankenau Heart Institute and medical director of the Women’s Heart Initiative. In being caregivers, many women prioritize the needs of others to the point that they lose sight of their own health and wellbeing. Additionally, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Hispanic women are more likely to be overweight or obese than non-Hispanic white women. Obesity can lead to higher rates of diabetes and hypertension, two common risk factors for heart disease. Managing your weight can be difficult without access to nutritious food, which can present another issue for many in the Hispanic community. Living in areas or neighborhoods without access to healthy food—“food deserts”—can make managing your weight and heart disease risk even more difficult. This is just one of the socioeconomic factors that can cause heart disease to be more prevalent in Hispanic communities. “Women in Hispanic communities often do not have the same access to comprehensive, affordable care that non-Hispanic women do,” says Dr. Hernandez. “Many Hispanic women are uninsured, do not have an established relationship with a primary care physician, or a hospital or health center nearby that offers providers who speak Spanish or offer adequate translation services.” All of these factors can affect a woman’s willingness to seek routine health care or, sadly, care in an emergency. How Hispanic women can manage their heart disease risk Education is the first step to managing your heart disease risk, says Dr. Hernandez. If you do see a doctor regularly, make sure it’s someone you feel comfortable talking to and who is receptive and respectful of your concerns. If you don’t, find a provider who better meets your needs.“Only one-third of Hispanic women know that heart disease is their greatest risk,” she reminds women. “The more we know about our cultural and personal risk factors, the better equipped we will be to manage these risks. I encourage all women not only to have conversations about heart disease with their primary care provider, but also with the other women in their life.” If it’s been a while since you’ve seen your primary care provider—especially if you have a personal or family history of heart disease, heart attack or stroke—make an appointment for a check-up. This will give you the chance to discuss how you can proactively manage heart disease risk, including knowing key heart health numbers like your blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, triglycerides and your body weight. If you do see a doctor regularly, make sure it’s someone you feel comfortable talking to and who is receptive to and respectful of your concerns. If you don’t, find a provider who better meets your needs. “If you have the symptoms of heart disease or are concerned there is something wrong with your heart, do not let anybody dismiss these concerns,” says Dr. Hernandez.

PHILADELPHIA (April 14, 2021) – In a study published today, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center announced that they have discovered a novel approach to triggering a type of cancer cell death called ferroptosis that could have therapeutic potential. Instead of targeting a cancer cell with a drug, the researchers attempted to harness the power of a nutrient—a naturally occurring fatty acid—to act as a type of Trojan horse that is taken up into the cancer cell, where it triggers cell death by ferroptosis. “Ferroptosis was first characterized in 2012 and is still relatively new compared with the more commonly known type of cell death called apoptosis,” said Jeffrey R. Peterson, PhD, a professor in the Cancer Signaling and Epigenetics Program at Fox Chase. He conducted the study with lead author Alexander Beatty, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Peterson’s lab. “There is a lot of excitement around the possibility that ferroptosis can be harnessed to treat cancer. But the question is how,” Peterson added. One of the hallmarks of ferroptosis is the accumulation of lipid-reactive oxygen species, toxic molecules that can accumulate and cause cell death. Peterson and colleagues conducted a study to explore whether ferroptosis in cancer cells could be triggered by using polyunsaturated fatty acids to form lipid-reactive oxygen species. In their study, they were able to use alpha-eleostearic acid, a conjugated fatty acid, to induce ferroptosis in diverse cancer cell types. In a mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer, they orally administered tung oil, which is naturally rich in alpha-eleostearic acid, and found that it limited tumor growth and metastasis. Additionally, Peterson and colleagues found that alpha-eleostearic acid did not alter the activity of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), a cellular enzyme that detoxifies lipid-reactive oxygen species. Other researchers have explored the use of GPX4 inhibitors that work to neutralize GPX4 and, thus, the cells’ ability to cope with those lipid-reactive oxygen species, causing their accumulation and leading to cell death. “In principal, these two strategies can be combined therapeutically as two sides of the same coin,” Peterson said. “Inhibiting GPX4 and promoting lipid-reactive oxygen species would work together to drive cancer cell death.” If drugs targeting GPX4 become available, these two strategies may be combined to enhance antitumor activity in patients. The study, “Ferroptotic Cell Death Triggered by Conjugated Linolenic Acids is Mediated by ACSL1,” was published in Nature Communications.

Leadership matters in a crisis. From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s exactly what Temple University Hospital provided. Now, patient survival data prove it. “From day one, Temple became a focal point in the fight against COVID-19, both locally and nationally,” says Michael A. Young, MHA, FACHE, President and CEO of Temple University Health System and Temple University Hospital. “We initially treated the most patients in the region, many of whom were at the highest risk of becoming very sick and dying. We also collaborated with other hospitals and governmental agencies to develop a comprehensive COVID response plan, educated the public and healthcare providers about the virus and how to stay safe, and conducted research to better understand and control the virus.” In the most important area — patient survival — Temple outperformed most other hospitals. According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Medicare Catchment Area Report 2021, Temple’s COVID-19 outcomes compare favorably to state and national benchmarks. The report looked at Temple’s Medicare inpatients with a COVID-19 diagnosis from January 2020 through June 2020. Experience and Expertise Lead to Superior Outcomes “The most noteworthy statistic shows that Temple’s inpatient COVID mortality rate was 15% lower than Pennsylvania and 28% lower than the United States,” says Gerard Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, Chair of the Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery and Director of the Temple Lung Center. “Put simply, that means patients had a better chance of surviving if they were treated at Temple.” Gerard J. Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP Other notable data points include: Within 30 days after leaving the hospital, Temple’s COVID patient mortality rates were 32% and 33% lower than the state and nation, respectively. Temple was 21% lower than the national average for percent of COVID patients who required a ventilator, and just 2% above the state average. The percent of Temple’s COVID patients requiring the Intensive Care Unit was 28% lower than the state and 9% lower than the nation. Temple University Hospital’s average length of stay for COVID patients was just a half-day longer than the state average, and the same as the national average. 13% of Temple’s nearly 3,000 Medicare inpatients had a COVID-19 diagnosis, which is significantly higher compared to 7% in Temple’s 5-county catchment area, 4% in Pennsylvania, and 3% across the U.S. These impressive numbers were made possible because of Temple’s experience and expertise in caring for patients with serious lung disease. “I applaud Temple’s amazing COVID care teams,” said Young. “Temple’s teams were able to achieve these outcomes taking care of a segment of the population recognized as having the highest risk of getting the sickest and dying from COVID.” In February 2021, Temple University Hospital was honored with an “I AM Patient Safety Award” from Pennsylvania’s Patient Safety Authority — the only winner in the “Conquering COVID” category and one of only 11 Pennsylvania facilities recognized for their achievements, outcomes and commitment to patient safety.

Temple University Hospital’s COVID-19 team has been honored as a recipient of the “Conquering COVID” 2021 I AM Patient Safety Award from Pennsylvania’s Patient Safety Authority. It is one of 11 healthcare facilities from across the Commonwealth being recognized for their advancements, outcomes, and commitment to patient safety – and the only one in the COVID category. Watch the awards announcement of Temple University Hospital's COVID-19 team While admitting more COVID-19 patients than any other regional hospital in the early days of the pandemic, Temple University Hospital took charge of the situation: Collaborating to develop a comprehensive response to COVID-19 Educate the public and healthcare providers throughout the region Lead and participate in clinical trials and conduct research to understand and control the virus Engage in volunteer services, donate resources like PPE, and fundraise And much, much more “We are honored with this award, which affirms our team’s exemplary work,” said Michael A. Young, MHA, FACHE, President and CEO of Temple University Health System and Temple University Hospital. “Temple University Hospital, and the Health System as a whole, has been a national leader in its effective response to COVID-19. A primary reason is the Temple team members whose commitment and dedication has not wavered since the outset of the pandemic.” The I AM Patient Safety awards are judged by a cross-section of national and regional healthcare executives, patient safety advocates, and government, university, and patient representatives. The award criteria include innovation, impact, sustainability, scalability and “extraordinary actions.” Inclusion of the patient in the initiative is also considered. Since its inception in 2013, the I AM Patient Safety awards have honored hundreds of programs and individuals taking action to positively impact patient safety. This year’s award categories include Ambulatory Surgery Facility, Focus On the Patient, Improving Diagnosis, Individual Impact, Long-Term Care Facility, Safety Story, and Transparency and Safety in Healthcare. Three new categories were added for 2021: Conquering COVID, Physician Offices, and Nationwide Warriors. An Executive Director’s Choice award was also selected. “We often focus on the problems in healthcare: the errors, the system breakdowns, and the harm caused to patients,” said Patient Safety Authority executive director, Regina Hoffman. “This is a chance for us to celebrate the things that go right each day in healthcare to make our patients safer and to honor the individuals and staffs who not only care, but also are taking action to improve outcomes.”

PHILADELPHIA – The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it will no longer challenge the merger between Einstein Healthcare Network and Jefferson Health, posing no further barriers for the two historically linked academic medical centers to combine efforts to advance their shared healthcare mission in the region. “Two non-profit, anchor institutions coming together to preserve access to care and do the right thing by the residents of Philadelphia is a creative solution to ensure Einstein doesn’t face the same fate as Hahnemann University Hospital,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, President of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health. “It’s a milestone victory for the city of Philadelphia and for those patients and families we proudly serve.” Klasko said he expects to officially close on the merger within the next six months. This will expand Jefferson from 14 to 18 hospitals, improve health education and research opportunities and will bring together two of the nation’s top inpatient rehabilitation hospitals – the MossRehab/Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute and Jefferson Health- Magee Rehabilitation. "We are excited to have Einstein and Jefferson come together, as our shared vision will enable us to improve the lives of patients, the health of our communities and enhance our health education and research capabilities," said Ken Levitan, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Einstein Healthcare Network. "By bringing our resources together, we can offer those we care for - particularly the historically underserved populations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County – even greater access to high-quality care.”

PHILADELPHIA (February 19, 2021)—The Fox Chase-Temple University Hospital Department of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) and Cellular Therapies has achieved the top performance category in successful transplant procedures, making it the second year in a row that the center has earned this distinction. Each year, the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) performs a center-specific survival analysis providing one-year survival rates among 170 centers in the United States. The report contains outcomes for transplants using both related and unrelated donors. Center outcomes are identified as above, below, or similar to expected rates based on patient characteristics. The CIBMTR identified Fox Chase as having one-year survival outcomes that were better than expected, a distinction it shares with only sixteen other centers across the nation. Fox Chase is the only center in the tristate area to achieve this result for two years in a row. Henry Chi Hang Fung, MD, FACP, FRCPE, chair of the department, said the honor is due to several essential factors, including strong program leadership, an expert multidisciplinary team, and close collaboration with community physicians. Fung added that a large referral base, like the one that the department has with St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, is also a factor in the department’s success. Once transplants are completed at Fox Chase, patients are then able to return closer to home to receive follow-up care from St. Luke’s. “That’s why we are successful, because we have the community doctors working together. Our radius of referral is about 200 miles. Probably about one-quarter of our transplants are from St. Luke’s,” Fung said. Fung added that another component of the BMT department’s success is its CAR T-cell therapy program. “Cellular therapy with CAR T-cells is one of the promising breakthroughs of treatment,” he said. In CAR T-cell therapy, a lab modifies the patient’s red blood cells by adding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and then reinfuses those cells into the patient’s body to attack cancer cells. Fox Chase’s BMT department participates in several clinical trials involving CAR-T therapy. The most recent clinical trial resulted in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Tecartus, a specific CAR-T therapy, for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma. Fox Chase offers CAR-T therapy for all FDA-approved indications. Although it is involved in a great deal of cutting-edge research, Fung said the main reason the department is flourishing is its approach to patient care. “The patient is not the diagnosis, and they have many different treatment options,” he said. “We are very successful because we don’t isolate a patient as a transplant patient. We look at a patient as a whole.” *** About Fox Chase Cancer Center The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and its affiliates (collectively “Fox Chase Cancer Center”), a member of the Temple University Health System, is one of the leading cancer research and treatment centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence five consecutive times