CHOP donation to establish innovation center

A $50 million gift to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will directly support a wide range of pediatric research and help establish CHOP as a global center for innovative pediatric study.

CHOP will establish the Raymond G. Perelman Campus, an eight-acre area that will serve as a hub of pediatric research and clinical innovation at CHOP, according to a release. Perelman made the gift to the organization.

"We know first-hand the tremendous resource that CHOP represents to families in the Philadelphia region, across the country and around the world," said Raymond G. Perelman.  "This gift will help to ensure that critically important pediatric research, conducted on this campus, remains second to none; in addition to making a tangible difference in the lives of children around the globe for many years to come, it is my hope and expectation that advances in medical research funded by this gift will benefit us all," he said.

The gift also establishes the "Raymond G. Perelman Research Fund" that will provide direct support for:

• Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular & Molecular Therapeutics, designed to re-engineer the body's immune system to fight, and defeat, cancer, metabolic diseases and other catastrophic illnesses through the efforts of the world's leading experts in immunotherapy and molecular therapy.
• Perelman Scholars, two new tenure-track faculty positions at CHOP to be filled by candidates from among the world's finest pediatric researchers.
• Perelman Fund for Research Innovation , a permanent source of reliable funding for the CHOP Research Institute to strategically identify and support new pilot research initiatives.
• Perelman Endowed Chair in Pediatric Ophthalmology to support a highly skilled researcher and physician-scientist seeking to break new ground and forge novel paths critical to understanding and treating ophthalmologic diseases in children.
• Research Support for general research activities of the CHOP Research Institute.