PHILADELPHIA, PA — A record-setting $8 million gift will launch a sweeping effort to reinvent how future doctors are trained at the Perelman School of Medicine, pushing medical education deeper into the age of artificial intelligence, precision learning, and digital medicine.
The donation from the RTW Foundation, led by Penn Medicine Board of Trustees member Rod Wong, M’03, and Marti Speranza Wong, C’98, is the largest single gift ever dedicated to curriculum innovation at the medical school. School leaders said it will position the nation’s first medical school to prepare physicians for a rapidly changing healthcare landscape shaped by gene therapies, AI-driven diagnostics, and telemedicine.
The initiative will bring together faculty, staff, and students to design a new curriculum built around “precision education,” an approach modeled on precision medicine that tailors learning to individual students’ strengths, interests, and career goals.
“I see interdisciplinary work in motion all across Penn, and it’s powerful when students and faculty have the runway to expand their thinking,” said J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, president of the University of Pennsylvania. “This gift from the RTW Foundation, powering a leading approach to medical education with an entrepreneurial model, will be another groundbreaking way that the Perelman School of Medicine is setting the standard for the future of medicine.”
Under the new model, emerging technologies will be embedded directly into medical training. Ambient listening tools will help students develop clinical reasoning and team-based care skills. Customized augmented and virtual reality simulations will enhance anatomy education, diagnostic training, and procedural skills such as ultrasound use and suturing. Data drawn from students’ interactions with Penn’s electronic medical record system during clinical education will help guide personalized learning pathways for nearly 800 medical students.
Wong said the pace of scientific advancement demands a parallel evolution in medical education.
“I believe medical innovation is the key to life being better in the future than it is today,” Wong said. “And as science accelerates, to train physicians for the future, so should education. Penn has the courage and the team to pursue this.”
The gift builds on a long-standing relationship between Wong and Penn Medicine. In 2013, his support helped launch PennHealthX, a student-led program encouraging innovation at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and entrepreneurship. The program has since supported more than 50 student-run startups, ranging from allergen detection tools to AI-powered caregiving platforms.
The new funding will also establish the Roderick Wong, M’03 Endowed Lectureship in business and entrepreneurship, bringing healthcare and biotech leaders to campus twice a year, and create the Roderick Wong Entrepreneurship Pathway to provide mentorship, workshops, and hands-on projects for students interested in innovation.
Jonathan A. Epstein, MD, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, said the gift will allow the school to experiment boldly as medicine continues to evolve.
“Much has changed in the information we must teach and in the ways students can learn best,” Epstein said. “This generous gift empowers us to experiment with cutting-edge teaching methods and tools to build a curriculum that keeps pace as medicine continues to evolve.”
The curriculum redesign will be led by Lisa M. Bellini, MD, executive vice dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, and Jennifer R. Kogan, MD, vice dean for undergraduate medical education. Both are nationally recognized leaders in medical education and faculty development.
Beyond Penn, the school plans to share tools and insights from the initiative in open-source formats, potentially influencing medical education worldwide. Leaders said the effort builds on Penn Medicine’s global partnerships, including work in Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
“Training the next generation of physicians requires weaving new technologies into education while helping students understand both community needs and the power of personalized care,” Kogan said. “We are creating a more flexible, personalized journey that prepares students to give every patient the very best care.”
Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is part of Penn Medicine, one of the world’s leading academic medical systems. Penn Medicine employs more than 50,000 people and operates an $11.9 billion enterprise spanning hospitals and clinical facilities from central Pennsylvania to southern New Jersey.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN.