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When most people hear “Philadelphia,” their minds often go straight to cheesesteaks, Rocky, and the Eagles’ recent Super Bowl win. And sure, we do have the best sandwiches and a team that defines underdog grit. But if that’s all you associate with Philly, you’re overlooking something transformative.
Because Philadelphia isn’t just a sports town. It’s not just the birthplace of American democracy. It’s a city that quietly, consistently, and impressively invents the future of medicine.
Philadelphia’s medical legacy is older than the country itself. In 1751, Ben Franklin co-founded Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States — and yes, it’s still operating today (my second daughter was born there). A few decades later, the nation’s first college of pharmacy was founded here, and over time became the home of storied pharma names like SmithKline, Wyeth, and Centocor. Philly's historic (and spooky) Mütter Museum stands today as a tribute to medical curiosity and advancement — a place where science and the strange live side by side.
That legacy continues, stronger than ever.
Just this week, a stunning piece in Endpoints News captured the kind of story that could define a generation of medicine. A team of researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania created a custom CRISPR therapy in just six months to treat an infant with a deadly rare disease.
Let that sink in: a personalized gene-editing drug, designed from scratch, reviewed by the FDA, and administered to a single patient — all in less time than it takes most of us to figure out our benefits plan.
That kind of speed, precision, and innovation doesn’t happen just anywhere. It happens in ecosystems that are deeply collaborative, clinically embedded, and rich in scientific excellence. It happened in Philadelphia.
If this were an isolated story, it would still be remarkable. But it’s not. Penn is already globally known for pioneering CAR-T cell therapy, an entirely new way to treat cancer using the body’s own immune system. The first FDA-approved CAR-T therapy — Kymriah — emerged from Penn labs, and now similar approaches are extending hope to patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and beyond.
Let’s not forget that Penn’s Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó won the 2023 Nobel Prize for their foundational work on mRNA technology — the very foundation for the COVID-19 vaccines that helped bring the world back from lockdown. That research? Also born in Philadelphia.
We’re not talking about incremental improvements. We’re talking about paradigm shifts.
Today, Philadelphia and its surrounding region are home to GSK, Spark Therapeutics, Iovance, and just outside the city, powerhouses like Merck, Pfizer, and CSL Behring. This isn’t a coincidence — it’s a magnet effect. Companies want to be where innovation lives. And increasingly, that means they want to be here.
Even beyond the institutional giants — Penn, CHOP, Drexel, Temple, Jefferson — we’re seeing an explosion of biotech startups, fueled by local talent and supported by initiatives like the Wistar Institute and Pennovation Works. My own company, ThinkGen, was founded here.
Look, we’re not the type to put our scientific achievements on a Times Square billboard (looking at you, Boston). But maybe it’s time we started telling our story more boldly. Because when a city quietly invents CAR-T, enables mRNA vaccines, and develops bespoke CRISPR cures for infants — all while turning out Bradley Cooper and Kevin Hart — that’s not just luck. That’s infrastructure. That’s grit. That’s Philadelphia.
So yes, come for the cheesesteaks. But stay for the science. And the next time you hear “Philadelphia,” don’t just think of Rocky running up the Art Museum steps.
Think of researchers sprinting toward the future of medicine — and often beating the clock.
