Philanthropist gifts $50M to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for pediatric research campus

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announced Wednesday a $50 million gift from philanthropist Raymond G. Perelman.

The extraordinary endowment will eventually establish the Raymond G. Perelman Campus at CHOP; it will be an 8-acre addition to the hospital.

It will serve as a hub of pediatric research taking on the most challenging pediatric illnesses and establishing Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as a global center for innovative pediatric study.

It will see scientists, doctors, and clinicians working together.

"That's really where we see medicine going in the future," CHOP CEO Steven Altschuler, M.D. said.

The Perelman Campus will be built on the site of the old Civic Center starting at the edge of the Berger building, CHOP's new Ambulatory Care Center, and extending south and east.

The $50 million gift also establishes the Raymond G. Perelman research fund which supplies direct support for the Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, consisting of ten labs and three specialized service facilities.

Action News visited the lab focused on inherited brain diseases and the discovery of medications to treat and cure them.

"These inherited diseases affect children, these are fatal disorders. And it's the hope that we can bring these new medicines to children in years, rather than decades," Director of Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at CHOP, Beverly Davidson, said.

Dr. Altschuler says the impact of Perelman's gift will be felt well into the future and will help generations of children lead healthier lives.