Page 7 - HealthnetworkMagazineSpring2020-p7.indd

these larger data sets. This is why Angel’s gift
Finding the right drug for the right is so important. He is directly improving the
patient at the right time. This is the holy way we make decisions in clinic by providing
grail. That’s our dream and it’s going funding to develop predictive analytics we can
to take a lot of smart people and apply to big data sets. So we can analyze the
shared experiences of millions of patients like
out-of-the-box thinking to get there. Pam, who were not eligible for clinical trials.

HNF: How would you get funding otherwise?
Dr. M: I like to tell people I wear two hats: Dr. M: Ah, that’s what makes us all cringe.
One, I’m a medical oncologist who takes care You would spend months writing a grant
of patients with bladder cancer. Two, I’m a application that’s hundreds of pages long and
health outcomes researcher using real-world submit to National Institutes of Health or
data to find a way to better understand the National Cancer Institute. I just went through
risks and benefits of cancer therapy. This is this process, so I’ll tell you. I submitted a
data that is captured outside of clinical trials. grant application in November 2019 to study
outcomes of patients not enrolled in clinical
HNF: We chose you to receive one of our trials, and I celebrated after submitting it
Service Excellence Awards in large part because it was six months of work. I just found
because of how highly one of our supporters, out yesterday [March 2, 2020] that it’s not
Angel Alvarez, spoke of you and the care you going to get funded.
provided his wife, Pam. The other challenge with federal grants is
timing. Let’s say you get the grant. You usually
Dr. M: Angel’s wife, Pam, was a wonderful and
selfless person. If you can believe it, during her find out many months, sometimes a year later.
visits she would jokingly kick me out so I By then that idea you were so excited about is
could spend more time with other patients. no longer timely. It is a slow and sometimes
She always came in knowing exactly what she demoralizing process. You have what I call
wanted to ask me, and the moment we were these “shower ideas” (ideas I think of while
done she would say, “Okay Dr. Mamtani, you taking a shower) that you just want to execute,
need to get out of here and spend time with and you can’t do it without philanthropy.
your other patients.” Imagine! At the same
time, she is bravely fighting cancer herself, HNF: What’s your vision for your data-driven
she’s thinking of others. Now Angel is carrying research that our joint gift with Angel is
this legacy forward with his gift. I am so honored. helping fund?
Dr. M: Finding the right drug for the right
HNF: How does this kind of philanthropy help patient at the right time. This is the holy grail.
on a practical level? That’s our dream and it’s going to take a lot of
smart people and out-of-the-box thinking to
Dr. M: Angel’s gift is going to have immediate
impact on our research. Private philanthropy get there. ✦
empowers innovation in medicine. It provides
us flexibility to pursue out-of-the-box thinking, Healthnetwork Foundation
generate preliminary data, and get projects off Service Excellence
the ground. Award Recipient
We’ve made tremendous progress with Ronac Mamtani, MD, MSCE
immunotherapy. And while it has revolutionized Penn Medicine
cancer care overall, with bladder cancer it has Abramson Cancer Center
failed more patients than it has helped. One Hematology-Oncology
way to elucidate a path forward may involve

One Call Starts It All +1 (866) 968-2467 +1 (440) 893-0830 7