A Message From the President 
Our Commitment to Community Health

June 30, 2022

Dear Members of the PCOM Community:

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, a 188-bed pediatric acute care hospital in North Philadelphia, has received commitments for substantial financial support from some of Philadelphia’s most prominent healthcare and higher education organizations to help ensure the hospital continues to remain an essential community asset.

I am pleased to announce that PCOM is among those public and private donors who will contribute up to $50 million in financial support to the hospital. This extraordinary support from some of the region's leading institutions, including Temple University Health System, Einstein/Jefferson Health, Independence Blue Cross, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, will help create financial stability for a hospital that provides exceptional pediatric care to an underserved community facing significant, longstanding obstacles to accessing quality health care.

This agreement will provide PCOM with representation on St. Christopher's board of trustees as well as ultimately establish an academic affiliation agreement to provide PCOM students in the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) and Physician Assistant (PA) programs with valuable clinical learning opportunities in pediatrics. St. Christopher's is and will continue to be owned and operated as a partnership of Tower Health and Drexel University.

So many of us recognize the excellent work St. Christopher's is doing—and has done—throughout the Greater Philadelphia area for nearly 150 years. More than 30,000 children depend on St. Christopher’s for primary and specialty care and 70,000 children are served annually by the hospital's emergency department. Its mission is also consistent with PCOM's: a commitment to improving community health through quality and compassionate care while sustaining clinical education opportunities for future healthcare providers.

I look forward to sharing more details on this initiative in the coming months, and thank you for your continued commitment to advancing the health needs of our region.

Jay S. Feldstein, DO '81
President and Chief Executive Officer