University of Pennsylvania - School of Medicine announced the creation of the Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI). With support from the naming gift of the Smilow Center for Translational Research, the IBI will "bring together the large number of Penn faculty who work in the broad field of biomedical informatics to inform science and medical care. The institute will expand the number of faculty even more to create a wide-ranging program of research and education to find and clinically apply the treatments of the future and to train the next generation of physician-scientists. Big data is increasingly driving both biological research and clinical care. In biomedicine, this information runs the gamut from bioinformatics at the genome and molecular level, to health-care informatics at the clinical level, to public-health informatics at the population level. The IBI, in partnership with the Schools of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Nursing, and Veterinary Medicine, as well as The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, will tackle challenges directly relevant to patient care, as well as improve basic research that leads to more personalized care. The Institute will also focus on educating the next generation of biomedical informaticians by folding in a new Masters in Biomedical Informatics degree program with the existing Ph.D. program in Genomics and Computational Biology and by creating additional graduate and medical training programs as this field evolves. John Hogenesch, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology, has been named interim director of the IBI. Given the breadth of this field, three associate directors have also been named: John Holmes Ph.D., associate professor of Medical Informatics in Epidemiology; Klaus Kaestner, Ph.D., professor of Genetics; and Curtis Langlotz M.D., Ph.D., professor of Radiology.

University of Pennsylvania - School of Medicine announced plans to begin the second part of an expansion project that will transform and modernize the advanced care services provided at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) campus. In addition to the announced Penn Center for Specialty Care, the new Advanced Care Hospital Pavilion will provide the infrastructure and programmatic support needed for PPMC to become Penn Medicine's Level-I Regional Resource Trauma Center. With the completion of the expansion project - slated for January 2015 - the Trauma Center at Penn Medicine will transfer from its current base of operations at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The new 178,000 square foot advanced care pavilion building will feature overall upgrades and enhanced capacity for emergency, surgical, trauma and critical care patients at PPMC. This will be coupled with a second helipad, ensuring rapid access to resources for all critically ill patients. The project also includes an expansion and significant renovations to the current structure. Renovations will upgrade the capacity and efficiency of the emergency and radiology departments. In addition to added emergency bay and operating room capacity, a new trauma resuscitation area will be dedicated to the evaluation and stabilization of critically injured patients. The project will also facilitate improvements in centralized patient flow. A new concourse will be created to provide a location for family, patients, and staff to gather and provide an exceptional thoroughfare for way finding. The exterior of the PPMC campus will also be developed to feature a landscaped green space in the 38th Street courtyard to provide an additional aesthetic element to the PPMC campus and the surrounding community.

University of Pennsylvania - School of Medicine announced that Mark O. Winkelman, a member of the University of Pennsylvania's Board of Trustees, has been named chair of Penn Medicine, effective Nov. 1, 2011. He currently serves as a member of the Penn Medicine Board and its Executive Committee.