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KINBER creates subsidiary for research and education networking

Lititz-based KINBER, a nonprofit working with communities, governments, businesses and schools to advance digital equity and inclusion has created KeystoneREN.

KeystoneREN will focus on research, education and community networking to provide and advance research and education networking and empower communities across the commonwealth.

“We are excited to announce the creation of KeystoneREN,” said Nathan Flood, president and CEO of KINBER. “Research, education and community networking has always been a core part of KINBER. As the KINBER organization begins focusing on a broader set of digital equity and inclusion issues, it was important to the board of directors to provide focus on the organization’s legacy.”

KINBER appointed a board of managers to provide leadership and oversight of the new organization. Carrie Rampp, vice president and chief information officer of Franklin and Marshall College, has been elected as the first chair of the KeystoneREN board of managers.

“It’s an honor to serve as the initial chair of KeystoneREN,” said Rampp. “Research and education networking is a key component in enabling Pennsylvania institutions and organizations of all sizes to collaborate on a variety of opportunities.”

Grant Dull will serve as executive director.

“I am extremely proud to announce the addition of Grant Dull as the executive director of KeystoneREN,” said Rampp. “We need someone with immense business and leadership skills, deep knowledge of our industry, and an influential network to help our organization take flight, and we are certain that Dull is that person.”

Dull comes to KeystoneREN with over 10 years of leadership. Most recently, he was the senior director of business development for FirstLight Fiber. Prior to that, Dull served as the director of business development and operations for KINBER, where he played a substantial role in year-over-year growth.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Rampp and Dull will be extremely valuable assets to KeystoneREN,” said John O’Keefe, chair of the KINBER board of directors. “We witnessed their incredible work and interactions with KINBER and are excited to see what change KeystoneREN brings to the research and education communities.”

Dull said, “I am honored to serve as the executive director of KeystoneREN. Many possibilities lie in the organization’s future, and I am excited by the prospect of making a significant impact again in both the research and education communities. We are in a unique time where connectivity is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and we look forward to playing an impactful role.”

Penn State Health recruits leading researcher to fight pediatric cancer

An internationally known physician-scientist and her research consortium have joined Penn State Health to continue efforts to eradicate pediatric cancer.

Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine said Dr. Giselle Saulnier Sholler and her research team will be on board Sept. 1 to provide greater access to pediatric care and research, including clinical trials, for Penn State Health patients.

Sholler, a pediatric hematology-oncology clinician and researcher, will serve as the division chief of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and will be the director of pediatric oncology research at Penn State College of Medicine.

Sholler’s consortium, Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium, is a worldwide network of more than 55 universities and children’s hospitals dedicated to discovering new therapies and cures for children with cancer. It has enrolled more than 1,800 pediatric cancer patients in more than 23 trials to date.

“This is an important and exciting advance toward our vision to be a leader in the fight against childhood cancer, building on strong existing expertise in pediatric cancer care and research,” said Dr. Yatin M. Vyas, vice president and physician leader for Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.

“The research consortium’s vital research and patient trials under Dr. Sholler’s leadership and coordinated by the College of Medicine will save lives and help our Children’s Hospital make enduring impacts across the globe,” Vyas said.

“There is significant value in housing the consortium within an academic medical center, where we can combine the pillars of research and care to advance knowledge, drive medical discoveries and change lives,” said Sholler. “The consortium team and its international infrastructure will ensure that these children have access to a full range of medical services, including more targeted therapies such as precision immunotherapy to fight neuroblastoma, brain tumors, sarcomas and rare cancers in a more directed way.”

Four Diamonds, a leader in childhood cancer care, treatment and innovative research, provided support to bring Sholler and the research consortium to Children’s Hospital and the College of Medicine.

The recruitment follows the creation one year ago of the Four Diamonds Initiative for Childhood Cancer Innovation, a collaboration between Four Diamonds and Penn State Health Children’s Hospital to expand Four Diamonds’ ongoing work to find a cure for all pediatric cancers. That initiative is focused on enabling philanthropic support to help accelerate the timeline for clinical research.

“Bringing Dr. Sholler and the research consortium here to our campus allows us to make significant steps forward in our quest to conquer childhood cancer,” said Suzanne Graney, Four Diamonds executive director. “Together, our organizations and experts in pediatric cancer will continue to provide every Four Diamonds child hope through superior care, comprehensive support and an unwavering commitment to innovative research.”

The College of Medicine will serve as the home of the consortium by providing oncology team members with dedicated research space and opportunities to explore and identify treatments in the field of pediatric oncology.

Penn State Health said their work will then be shared with consortium members across the globe, including the Children’s Hospital, for patient trials.

“The College of Medicine is thrilled to add Dr. Sholler and the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium to our team of nationally recognized scientists in Hershey,” said Dr. Kevin Black, the College of Medicine interim dean. “She and her team are conducting leading-edge research and pioneering treatments and cures in pediatric cancer, giving families hope and supporting our vision to be a world leader in the transformation of health care and in the enhancement of health for people everywhere.”

Sholler joins Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine from Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., where she is a pediatric hematology and oncology physician.

State awards $2.1 million in grants to promote manufacturing innovation

Grants through the Manufacturing PA initiative have been awarded to 31 student research projects to help advance innovation in several sectors of manufacturing.

Department of Community and Economic Development Acting Secretary Rick Singer said Friday that Lehigh University, Millersville University, Penn State University – Harrisburg, and York College of Pennsylvania are among the 19 universities that will share in the $2.1 million in grants.

The approved projects are part of Manufacturing PA’s fellowship program, which embeds graduate and undergraduate students with local manufacturers, Singer said in a press release. Once paired, the students develop new technologies and advance innovation statewide.

Universities that have partnered with a manufacturer can apply for and receive between $25,000 and $70,000 in funding for specific student research projects.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal would invest an additional $1 million in the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program which serves as a collaboration between Pennsylvania colleges and universities, manufacturers, and DCED.

The program is open to any accredited Pennsylvania college or university. The Governor’s proposed increase would allow 14 more manufacturers to partner with universities in adopting new technologies and advancing new products and processes, according to DCED.

“The Shapiro Administration understands the importance of investing in Pennsylvania manufacturing to help spur the economy and generate continued growth and innovation,” Singer said. “The work of the students and companies honored today is impressive and is a great indication of the future success of this historic and vital industry in the Commonwealth.”

The fellowship was developed through collaboration with Pennsylvania’s seven research institutions, manufacturers, and industrial resource centers (IRCs) across the commonwealth and is administered by DCED and Carnegie Mellon University.

Since its inception in 2018, the fellowship has granted $11.9 million to 475 students across the commonwealth, and 142 Pennsylvania companies have benefited from these partnerships.

WellSpan Health joins initiative to speed up use of medical research

WellSpan Health has joined an initiative to speed up long lag times between when research findings are published and when they are put into tangible use for patient care.

Dr. Michael Seim

WellSpan Health said it is one of 42 health systems across the country to be selected by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to participate in its Health System Implementation Initiative (HHII).

According to PCORI, there is currently an estimated 17-year lag between publication of research results that have been shown to improve patients’ outcomes, and when those findings can achieve widespread uptake in health care practices.

“WellSpan Health is committed to developing leading-edge practices and continuous improvement measures to advance the future of health care from right here in South Central Pennsylvania,” said Dr. Michael Seim, senior vice president and chief quality officer, WellSpan Health.

“Most importantly, this collaboration will enable us to develop and quickly implement improvements to deliver more advanced and safer care to our friends and neighbors across the region we call home,” Seim said.

HSII participating health systems have the opportunity to prepare proposals for capacity building projects in the first stage of the initiative. Each participating health system can receive up to $500,000 for a project in this initial stage that supports preparation for future implementation strategies.

A second HSII funding opportunity will support practical and innovative projects that promote uptake of specific evidence from PCORI-funded research studies within the health systems, with funds ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per implementation project.

In addition, through the HSII Learning Network, WellSpan and other participants will share experiences and learn from one another about best practices for implementation, evaluation metrics, and other topics integral to successful implementation of care-informing strategies, WellSpan said.

Through the network, participants will provide input to PCORI on topics and specific PCORI-funded findings of interest for future implementation projects.

Lancaster research facility testing carbon capture technology

Illustration of carbon capture system being tested by Advanced Cooling Technologies, Lancaster – illustration by Josh Charles

Advanced Cooling Technologies is working with Lehigh University to test a process to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air.

Josh Charles, lead research and design engineer for the Lancaster-based company, said with a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, his team is testing a direct air CO2 capture mechanism developed by Arup Sen Gupta, PC Rossin professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh University.

While in the concept phase, Charles said his team is testing the system to see if it can pull carbon out of the air and store it to improve the environment and fight climate change. So far it is working.

“The removal of CO2 is crucial to curbing carbon emissions, one of the contributing greenhouse gases,” he said.

The Small Business Innovative Research funding has allowed Charles and his team to develop the project. The test set up was designed to scale up and use low-voltage renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power to capture the air.

The system, he said, pulls air through small spherical balls made of a resin. The carbon is captured by running an alkaline solution through the balls. It can then be stored in containers in old oil or gas wells underground.

“The typical method to capture carbon uses heat which takes energy,” he said. “We are doing it without heat.”

The process uses solar or wind power instead, which makes the process more flexible and can be used in more places.

Sen Gupta said the use of electricity results in minimal energy use. The process uses absorbent material that air passes through, but the CO2 doesn’t. “The filter capacity is important,” he said.

Most CO2 comes from industrial stacks, Sen Gupta said. There are systems that can capture 15% at that point. What he was looking for was a way to capture as much as possible from air anywhere.

“If we can establish something where we can capture as much as 15% from anywhere, we can transform change,” he said.

“This is a small scale right now,” Charles said. “Once we get reimbursement for phase 2, we will ramp up the testing on a larger scale.” The proposals are being written and Advanced Cooling Technologies hopes to have funding by this summer.

The system is set up in a shipping container-sized contraption. “It’s meant to be capable of being placed anywhere,” he said.

The project is scalable, Charles said. The unit will capture a minimum of 500 tons of CO2 per year. “It could potentially scale to thousands,” he said, as the units can be built larger and stack on top of one another.

“Dr. Sen Gupta envisions deploying this anywhere, especially in third world countries where they are experiencing climate change,” Charles said. “If they want to be part of the {climate change} solution, they can use it.”

Domestically, Charles said large companies will be able to use this on a large scale to reduce emissions, but anyone can use it on a smaller scale.

“The challenge,” Sen Gupta said, “is when we remove it {from the air}, where does it go. Right now, we are looking at underground.”

Charles said storing the carbon underground shouldn’t hurt the environment. “Look at natural gas. We pull it out for use so then we could fill that space with CO2.”

He added that there is a concern that CO2 could leak out which would undo what the system has done by removing it. However, “there is no contamination risk because we are putting it back where it came from, just more concentrated.”

Study: Rural hospital closures burden nearby facilities

Penn State College of Medicine researchers say rural hospital closures increase emergency department visits and admissions at nearby facilities.

The researchers said since 2005 more than 180 rural hospitals in the United States have closed with nearly 1,000 more at risk of doing so.

“Previous studies have shown that rural hospital closures can have negative health consequences for the communities they serve,” said Daniel George, associate professor of humanities and public health sciences.

George and colleagues, including a College of Medicine medical student alumnus Shayann Ramedani, who led the study, published research on how these rural hospital closures affect “bystander hospitals,” or those within a 30-mile radius of the closed facility.

“To our knowledge, we’re the first group to explore this question,” George said. “We predicted that closures would, over time, lead to increased strain on bystander institutions.”

State Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, and Jennifer O’Mara, D-Delaware, introduced legislation in September that would bring more accountability to the process of hospital closures to ensure that Pennsylvanians can receive uninterrupted care and that hospital systems must honor their duty to their patients, staff, and the communities they serve.

“When hospitals and health care facilities close or drastically reduce services with little or no notice, their patients, doctors, nurses, and staff suffer,” Pashinski said.

Pashinski cited the closure of First Hospital without any apparent plans to provide for continuity of care or help their staff transition.

Tower Health’s Jennersville Hospital, West Grove, closed Dec. 31, 2021, and Brandywine Hospital, Coatsville, closed Jan. 21, 2022.

“Pennsylvania law needs to improve how it handles for-profit health systems, especially during shutdowns,” O’Mara said. “We need more time to study to find out the impact that closures have on communities, as well as on what would be in store for Pennsylvania as a state if we continue allowing business as usual.”

The Penn State College of Medicine researchers studied closure information from a University of North Carolina Sheps Center for Health Services Research database. The researchers studied rural hospitals that had a more than 25-bed capacity and which closed between 2005 and 2016. They analyzed the average rate-of-change for inpatient admissions and emergency department visits at bystander hospitals two years before and two years after each nearby closure.

Overall, they identified 53 closures and 93 bystander hospitals that met the criteria. Sixty-six percent of the closures were from the southern United States, while 21% were from the Appalachian region.

The study showed average emergency department visits increased by 3.59% two years prior to a hospital’s closure, while two years following the closure, average visits increased by 10.22%.

Average admissions fell by 5.73% at bystander hospitals two years before closure but increased by 1.17% in the two years following a closure. The results were published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

“This research confirmed a problem for the health care field that many already suspected,” George said. “The question now becomes how researchers and policymakers can develop solutions to help bystander hospitals handle increased volume.”

Because rural communities already have limited access to health care, co-author Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski, director of Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, said it’s important to continue evaluating how these rural hospital closures affect the health of rural communities.

“We know rural areas, especially regions like Appalachia, are at increased risk for diseases of despair including alcoholism, accidental poisonings and suicide,” Kraschnewski said. “Increased burden at bystander hospitals and health care institutions may cause these problems to proliferate if other public health interventions aren’t identified and implemented.”

Douglas Leslie, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, also contributed to this research. The researchers declare no conflicts of interest.

Gettysburg Cancer Center gets new name, opens third clinic

Gettysburg Cancer Center, a community oncology practice for three decades, has adopted a new name and logo – as part of an extensive rebrand – and opened a clinic at 6475 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg.

The practice is now known as Pennsylvania Cancer Specialists & Research Institute to reflect its “mission of becoming the leading cancer care and clinical trial provider in Pennsylvania,” a release said.

It also operates clinics in Gettysburg and Hanover.

“We’ve had significant exciting changes to Gettysburg Cancer Center’s structure and growth over the last few years,” said Dr. Satish Shah, the practice’s founder and medical director. “We have started treating patients in Mechanicsburg and plan to grow throughout Pennsylvania, expanding care options, including clinical research, in the community – close to where our patients live. Our mission demanded we rebrand the practice to better reflect who we are to our patients, their caregivers as well as our care teams.”

In July 2021, the practice joined OneOncology, the national platform for independent oncology practices, and added four providers while also expanding services along the cancer continuum of care.

Pennsylvania Cancer Specialists and Research Institute offers patients comprehensive medical and radiation oncology care, including a “robust” clinical trial program, the release said.

The practice has more than 20 clinical trials open and more are being considered. Over his career, Shah has run more than 100 clinical trials in central Pennsylvania.

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer

State to receive $900 million in federal funding for climate-smart ag practices

Pennsylvania will receive more than $900 million in federal funding to support farm organizations, businesses and research institutions using climate-smart practices.

Gov. Tom Wolf – File

Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Senator Bob Casey, D-PA, said the funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities will help farmers implement “climate-smart” production practices that sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with targeted investments for small and underserved producers.

The program will also help promote and increase consumer awareness of climate-smart commodities like dairy, beef and eggs, while quantifying emissions reduction benefits, Casey said.

“Agriculture bears the brunt of the impact of climate change, from extreme weather to an environment that is more inviting to invasive pests, plants and disease,” Wolf said. “My administration has provided unprecedented support for the industry that feeds and sustains us – as seen through the PA Farm Bill and Clean Streams Fund – and I am pleased that our efforts will be multiplied exponentially with federal support. Farmers cannot tackle climate change alone.”

The 19 Pennsylvania projects were among 70 selected nationwide, investing $2.8 billion in the first of two rounds of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding.

Sen. Bob Casey

“Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry is central to our economy. This funding will give a boost to farmers and ranchers as well as manufacturers using climate-smart production to support local economies and increase PA competitiveness while combatting the climate crisis,” Casey said.

The projects will expand markets for climate-smart commodities, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.

Projects funded aim to:

Provide technical and financial assistance for putting climate-smart practices in place;
Develop innovative and cost-effective methods for monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas benefits; and
Develop markets and promote the benefits of commodities grown using climate-smart practices.

Lead partners of the 19 projects based in Pennsylvania or involving PA-based partners include:

Wolfe’s Neck Farm Foundation, Inc., $35,000,000

Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools, $25,000,000

Truterra, LLC, $90,000,000

Pennsylvania State University, $25,000,000

PASA Sustainable Agriculture, $55,000,000

Farm Journal, Inc., $40,000,000

American Forest Foundation, $35,000,000

The Nature Conservancy, $60,000,000

National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, $95,000,000

The DeLong Co., Inc., $40,000,000

Low Carbon Beef, LLC, $10,000,000

Rodale Institute, $25,000,000

American Farmland Trust, $30,000,000

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc., $45,000,000

National Association of Conservation Districts, $90,000,000

Field to Market, $70,000,000

American Sustainable Business Institute, Inc., $35,000,000

The Conservation Innovation Fund, $25,000,000

Carbon A List, LLC, $70,000,000

WellSpan joins with company that uses shared data to improve health outcomes

WellSpan Health has joined Truveta, a company that analyzed data it says will save lives.

WellSpan and three other health care systems recently joined 24 other networks working with the company formed in September 2020 to analyze data for use by physicians and researchers to understand disease and share the information with health care systems to provide proper care.

Roxanna Gapstur

The health care systems provide data to Truveta daily which uses it to build complete, timely and high-quality data on U.S. health, said, Truveta.

“We are honored and excited to join this incredible research community and serve alongside these innovative health systems,” said Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO, WellSpan Health. “We look forward to using data-driven solutions which better serve patients and lead to healthier outcomes in the communities we serve.”

“The coronavirus pandemic made it very clear that the world needs answers faster, which is why 24 health systems have now come together to join Truveta with our vision of saving lives with data,” said Terry Myerson, CEO of Truveta.

“Truveta uniquely connects life science and health system researchers to innovate collaboratively, decrease the time from question to insight, and earn trust through transparency and reproducibility of research. Working together, we can help researchers find cures faster, empower every clinician to become an expert, and help families make the most informed decisions about their care,” Myerson said.

Today, health data is inaccessible, fragmented, and unstructured, which challenges researchers, doctors, and patients to learn from data collected as part of patient care, Myerson said. Truveta brings together data from its members and analytics on how any drug or device is used daily across the US, empowering researchers to study care quality and health equity, monitor safety events and study comparative effectiveness, all while carefully protecting patient privacy.

In a video for Truveta, Gapstur said the company is reimagining health care. “As a nurse by training, I know firsthand the importance of applying evidenced based practices and process improvements to create better outcomes to save lives.”

The data collected will be used by researchers and physicians to improve patient care outcomes, Truveta said.

“This is fundamental to our industries for transformation,” Gapstur said. “It gives me great hope for the future of healthcare.”

Expanded McCormick Riverfront Library to feature book cafe

Stefan Hawkins, owner of Good Brotha’s Book Café. PHOTO/PROVIDED

Good Brotha’s Book Café will open this fall as part of the McCormick Riverfront Library expansion, the first coffee shop in Dauphin County Library System’s eight locations.

Owner Stefan Hawkins said his current shop in midtown Harrisburg would close Sept. 10 because the building’s owner is selling the property.

“We’re looking at opening in McCormick on Oct. 17, and I’m excited to bring Good Brotha’s to everyone visiting the library,’’ Hawkins said in a release. “I opened my cafe with a mission of expanding access to titles in Black and African American literature, so this partnership with the library is perfect.’’

Library System Executive Director Karen Cullings said the arrangement is an example of how the library is partnering with businesses and organizations.

Cullings also announced Friday the chance for donors to the $3.5 million expansion project to have their gift showcased in a custom panel as part of an appreciation wall in McCormick’s new welcome center.

“We want to recognize everyone who helped make this project possible, and the donor recognition wall in the new T. Morris Chester Welcome Center is a beautiful way to commemorate their generosity for generations to come,’’ Cullings said.

She added that demand for the library’s resources has never been greater, with McCormick’s location in downtown Harrisburg making it easily accessible.

The expanded McCormick Riverfront Library will feature a 3,400-plus-square-foot family area that incorporates science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and math learning support, 950 square feet of public meeting space, added public computer resources and more.

State-of-the-art “zSpace” computers will allow learners to use “augmented reality” to explore nature, conduct science experiments, build digital models and virtually travel to the stars.

And the new M&T Bank Business Center will provide entrepreneurs, small business owners and job seekers access to computers and printers, mailing supplies, notary services and meeting space.

Also, the T. Morris Chester Research collection will curate resources focusing on the value of the vote, and the remodeled space will house the Pennsylvania Past Players, a troupe that showcases the region’s historical advocates for the rights of Blacks, women and others.

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer

Study: Could COVID-19 effects be related to dementia?

The College of Medicine researchers say the effects of COVID-19 may be similar to dementia related diseases.

Dr. Xuemei Huang

With a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the researchers will look into whether COVID-19 contributes to the development of cognitive decline that may be part of the chain of events leading to dementia, according to a statement from Penn State College of Medicine.

Epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that just under one third of all COVID-19 cases have occurred in individuals aged 50 years and older. This same group is also at increased risk for either having or developing a neurodegenerative disease.

COVID-19 patients often report neurological symptoms like memory issues, “brain fog” and loss of smell and taste – with some symptoms lasting months after diagnosis, the organization said.

To study whether there is a connection between COVID-19 infection and neurocognitive decline, Dr. Xuemei Huang, professor of neurology, pharmacology, neurosurgery and kinesiology at the College of Medicine and chief of the Division of Movement Disorders at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, will lead a multidisciplinary team to gather additional information and biological samples from participants in their past and ongoing studies.

The study will leverage the resources from a multi-year, $3.8 million project that aims to identify biological signs (biomarkers) of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. disorders

“We have a unique opportunity to study whether COVID-19 infection contributes to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases,” said Huang, who also directs the Translational Brain Research Center. “Parkinson’s disease and related often lead to dementia at the end, and we hope to gain a better understanding of whether COVID-19 infection affects the process of neurocognitive decline in our research participants.”

The research team will collect information about COVID-19 infection history, vaccination status, ongoing environmental toxin exposure, medical history and other lifestyle factors from more than 500 participants of their past and ongoing research studies, some with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders and some who are healthy, Huang said.

Her team has data from these participants that were collected before the current pandemic.

“We’re still learning about the long-term effects of the pandemic and the effects on those who became ill,” Huang said. “This research will increase our understanding of whether or not COVID-19 infection contributes to the development or progression of neurodegenerative diseases.”

This research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, Penn State College of Medicine said.

Four Diamonds funds new cancer innovation center

Dr. Chandrika Gowda, left, collaborates with Dr. Sinisa Dovat on research at Penn State College of Medicine, in this photo taken prior to the pandemic. PHOTO PROVIDED

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, have approved creation of the Four Diamonds Center for Childhood Cancer Innovation, an expansion of Four Diamonds’ work to cure pediatric cancers.

Part of a multi-year strategic plan, the virtual center commits to use $24 million, through the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, from fundraising efforts by Four Diamonds, including Penn State’s THON.

The center fits with Four Diamonds’ mission to provide comprehensive support to children and their families, including paying for 100% of medical expenses related to cancer care not covered by insurance for eligible Four Diamonds children, while expanding clinical research.

A release explained that the center will build upon the work of Four Diamonds in patient care; collaborative opportunities between the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and the Penn State Cancer Institute; and competitive research grants.

In the patient care area, the center will strive to more precisely identify cancers and develop more personalized treatments that lead to better cure rates and survivorship.

Dr. Yatin Vyas, a pediatric oncologist and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, will oversee the center’s work.

“We are thrilled to continue and expand on Four Diamonds’ pursuit to find a cure for all pediatric cancers,” Vyas said in the release. “We believe philanthropy can ultimately help accelerate the timeline for clinical research and help our investigators discover and get treatments to patients faster. Everyone benefits from a higher level of collaboration, and we are grateful to the generous donors who make this life-saving work possible.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer

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Gettysburg Cancer Center gets new name, opens third clinic

Expanded McCormick Riverfront Library to feature book cafe

Four Diamonds funds new cancer innovation center