A $2.5 million gift from the Bristol Myers Squibb foundation will help establish a Geriatric Oncology Program to improve care for older adults with cancer at the Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center. The program will be led by PC3I Faculty Ramy Sedhom, MD.

According to Princeton Health CEO James Demetriades, approximately 70% of the center’s patients with cancer are ages 65 years or older, and these patients’ care needs often vary due to differences in social, cultural, spiritual, emotional, and financial factors. The new Geriatric Oncology Program will take a holistic approach to supportive care, and focus on designing personalized cancer care plans for patients 65 years or older. Sedhom, who is also a co-leader of the Penn Medicine Geriatric Oncology service line, will oversee the center and help expand geriatric competencies of Princeton Health staff through education and increasing outreach to seniors in the community.

The program hopes to continue helping patients like Mimi Reed, who was diagnosed with cancer at age 87 and treated with her individual goals and preferences taken into consideration. Thanks to the Geriatric Oncology program at Princeton, she was able to maintain her independence and have ongoing discussions with doctors like Sedhom about her treatment.

In an interview with Penn Medicine, Reed shared, “Dr. Sedhom is always so kind. He is an excellent listener, and from the beginning he had exceptional interest in what was on my mind.”

18 months after her diagnosis, Reed is now cancer-free and grateful for the attentive care she received at Penn’s Princeton Medical Center.

For more information, read the full press release.