While it's difficult to rank healthcare centers, clinical excellence, positive staff attitude and effective management are indicators of a quality hospital. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is amongst the top 100 hospitals in the world. At this medical facility, the staff puts its patients first. Penn Medicine is dedicated to high-quality patient care and service, advancing medical science through research, and educating the next generation of leaders in medicine. It includes three hospitals in Philadelphia and outpatient centers throughout the region (The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, 2012).

A leader in medicine for more than 240 years, Penn opened its School of Medicine, the nation's first, in 1765. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was established in 1874 as the nation's first teaching hospital. Since its founding days, Penn has expanded medical frontiers by creating some of the nation's earliest programs in areas ranging from dermatology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology and radiology, to the Philadelphia region's only program to transplantation of five major organs (The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, 2012).

Over the past 30 years, Penn physicians and scientists have participated in many important discoveries, including: the first general vaccine against pneumonia. The introduction of total intravenous feeding. The development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other imaging technologies. The discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome (The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, 2012), which revolutionized cancer research by making the connection between genetic abnormalities and cancer.

Penn continues to make medical advances that help people live longer, healthier lives. Penn Medicine is committed to caring for patients with respect and compassion while forging the medical discoveries that will