What to Know
- The Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment will be a place to advance clinical, educational and research efforts in fetal medicine.
- The Wood family, the founding family of Wawa, made the $25-million donation in honor of the 25th anniversary of CHOP's fetal medicine program.
- Initiatives will include building a new clinical space and establishing endowments for chair and fellow positions.
The founding family of Wawa donated $25 million to establish a center for fetal medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment will work to advance clinical, educational, and research efforts in fetal medicine. The Wood family, who founded the convenience store chain Wawa, made the donation in celebration of the 25th anniversary of CHOP’s fetal medicine program in 2020.
Initiatives will include building a new clinical space to serve more patients, creating a birth defects biorepository to conduct research that will inform treatment, and establishing new endowments for a Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Surgical Science and Fellowships in Pediatric Surgical Science to recruit and retain top talent.
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“This generous investment from the Wood family will undoubtedly help advance the translation of promising science into new therapies that will benefit our tiniest patients,” CHOP CEO and President Madeline Bell said.
The Center will be named after Richard D. Wood Jr., the chairperson emeritus of Wawa. The Wood family has been involved with CHOP since its founding in 1855, helping to move the hospital from South Philadelphia to West Philadelphia, creating a chair endowment and providing free coffee and beverages to CHOP families and visitors.
“Supporting the mission of CHOP has long been a part of the Wood family and Wawa DNA, and we are sincerely honored to continue supporting the hospital’s mission through the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment,” Wood, Jr. said. “We are truly proud to be part of the legacy of a world-renowned fetal medicine program led by Dr. [N. Scott] Adzick.”
The Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment opened in 1995 to offer lifesaving care for pregnancies with birth defects and promote advances in fetal medicine.
