PHILADELPHIA— Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are joining a national collaboration to launch the Whole Person Physiome Research and Coordination Center (WPP-RCC), an initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create the first comprehensive digital map of the healthy human body. The effort will bring together leading experts in physiology, precision medicine, and computational biology to evolve our understanding of human health. The WPP-RCC is supported by 21 NIH institutes and offices as part of the NIH Whole Person Initiative and is overseen by The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
“This initiative represents a bold step forward in how we study and model human physiology,” said Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, a professor of Nephrology, Genetics and director of the Penn/CHOP Kidney Innovation Center, who will serve as one of the principal investigators of the WPP-RCC, alongside researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine, Indiana University, and Liming Pei, PhD, an associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn and an investigator in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Research Institute.
“By integrating clinical data, computational modeling, and physiological processes, we aim to build a dynamic, AI-ready resource that will empower researchers and clinicians to better understand health and disease,” said Pei.
How it works
The Whole Person Physiome map will combine how the body works with medical data like test results and vital signs. It’s being designed so that computers and artificial intelligence can easily access it. There will also be computer models and graphics showing what a healthy person looks like, along with clear visuals and helpful tools. Ideally, doctors and scientists will be able to enter patient or research data into the system and see how changes—like a disease or treatment—might affect the body as a whole.
A place for expert collaboration
The WPP-RCC will coordinate a multi-tier network of clinical and scientific experts to construct the Whole Person Physiome map. It will serve as the central hub for collaboration, consensus-building, and integration with other large-scale efforts in organ and molecular modeling, and tool development.
By design, the WPP-RCC will be open and collaborative, inviting researchers across domains to contribute to the Whole Person Working Group and to apply WPP resources to their own studies. Annual data jamborees will foster community engagement, while close integration with NIH stakeholders will ensure alignment with evolving research priorities.
The WPP-RCC represents a major step toward digitizing human physiology as an evolving resource — one that will empower discovery and inspire new therapies.
###
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $580 million awarded in the 2023 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts,” Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries that have shaped modern medicine, including CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System cares for patients in facilities and their homes stretching from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. UPHS facilities include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Doylestown Health, Lancaster General Health, Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, chartered in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Penn Medicine at Home, GSPP Rehabilitation, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.9 billion enterprise powered by nearly 49,000 talented faculty and staff.
