CHOP, Drexel team up with Hebrew University for research partnership

The agenda for Mayor Michael Nutter’s trade trip to the United Kingdom and Israel includes finalizing an alliance between some medical leaders in Philadelphia and Israel.

Hebrew University’s School of Pharmacy is teaming up with Drexel university and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the research partnership.

The deal has been about a year and a half in the making, said Dr. Stephen Altschuler, chief executive officer of CHOP.

“We thought that there was opportunity to leverage CHOP’s expertise in pediatric medicine, Drexel’s expertise in technology and the specific expertise of The School of Pharmacy in drug delivery to really advance the field of therapeutic development for children,” he said.

Altschuler says there is no specific project yet but gene and cancer therapy are under consideration as two primary fields to study in the collaboration.

“In many ways, it depends on the scientists getting together and giving us some guidance and what they think are the best areas to approach and where we can get the highest quality and quickest set of results,” he said Monday.

The agreement will be signed next week in Israel as part of Nutter’s trade mission to that country.