A $50 million gift from philanthropists Jerome and Anne Fisher will support the construction of an eight-story biomedical research center dedicated to the growing field of translational medicine, which emphasizes converting discoveries in the lab into real-world medical therapies.

Set to open in 2010, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Translational Research Center (pictured, above right) will be adjacent to Penn’s two other new outpatient care facilities—the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, which is scheduled to open later this year, and the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, which will begin operations in 2009. These three integrated medical facilities will enable Penn to offer the most advanced treatment for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other serious health conditions.

Each floor of the 400,000 square foot Translational Research Center will be the size of a football field, dramatically increasing Penn’s research space and accommodating up to 100 principal investigators and 900 additional staff.

“The ultimate beneficiaries of the Fishers’ gift are patients in the region, in the nation and from around the world,” says Ralph W. Muller, chief executive officer of the Penn Health System. “The new research center provides Penn the ability to further link its twin strengths of basic research and patient care by enabling its physician scientists to convert biomedical insights into prevention, treatments and cures.”

This $50 million gift is the largest gift yet to the University’s “Making History” capital campaign, one of the largest gifts in Penn’s history and the second-largest to Penn Medicine. The Fishers’ gift will also support a professorship in hematology and oncology named in honor of the Fishers’ daughter, Jodi.

Originally published June 12, 2008.