Lehigh Valley Health Announces the Peter and Odete Kelly Center for Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (September 30, 2025) – Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), part of Jefferson Health, dedicated the Peter and Odete Kelly Center for Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy in a celebratory event at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. 

A visionary $12 million gift from Peter and Odete Kelly establishes the center, which will focus on personalized immunotherapy — a new paradigm for treating cancer — through translational research, therapeutic cancer vaccines, expanded access to clinical trials and an interdisciplinary team of experts.

Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute is currently home to the region’s only clinical trial for an immunotherapeutic pancreatic cancer vaccine, announced in August 2024. This precision breakthrough therapy “teaches” the immune system to fight cancer cells by targeting specific genetic mutations that cause cancer cells to grow. The center’s mission will be to develop and test new immunotherapies, new indications for immunotherapies, and new combinations of drugs that include immunotherapies.

Benefits of personalized immunotherapy include increasing the curability of metastatic cancer, minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissue and reducing side effects of traditional treatments.

“Our family is honored to help bring these breakthrough treatments to more people in our community,” Peter Kelly says. “We have been so impressed by Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute ­— from the exceptional, world-class care patients receive to the compassion and dedication each provider shows for their well-being.”

“We know firsthand this is the best team and the best place when facing cancer,” Odete Kelly says. “That is why we are all here today — to build a center for the future of cancer treatments that brings hope for generations to come.”

“Forty years ago, harnessing the immune system to beat cancer felt like an impossible dream,” says Suresh Nair, MD, Physician in Chief, Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute, and Medical Director, Peter and Odete Kelly Center for Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy. “Today we are cracking the code — thanks to science, my wonderful colleagues and this transformational gift from Peter and Odete Kelly.” Recognizing the many people who have made this progress possible, Dr. Nair provided updates on current and future clinical trials that will be part of the center. Dr. Nair also spoke to ongoing collaborations with the Sidney Kimmel Medical College and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Baligh Yehia, MD, President, Jefferson Health, and Executive Vice President, Jefferson, spoke at the event, highlighting the incredible impact a center of this nature will have for patients. “These revolutionary treatments offer hope, advance science and allow us to build on our strong legacy of delivering leading-edge cancer care,” Dr. Yehia says. “I’d like to personally thank Peter and Odete Kelly for their vision and generosity in making the Kelly Center a reality.”

Susan Aldridge, PhD, President, Thomas Jefferson University, shared a few words at the event, noting the research synergies the center will afford. “The Kelly Center for Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy is poised to tap into a rich history of translational research at Jefferson. Our scientific teams can identify and develop new immunotherapies for cancer — accelerating movement from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside,” Dr. Aldridge says. “We are bringing hope to cancer patients through the research that the world needs.”

About Jefferson   
Lehigh Valley Health Network is now proudly part of Jefferson Health. Nationally ranked, Jefferson, which is principally located in the Greater Philadelphia region, Lehigh Valley and northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, is reimagining health care and higher education to create unparalleled value. Jefferson is more than 65,000 people strong, dedicated to providing the highest-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients; making our communities healthier and stronger; preparing tomorrow's professional leaders for 21st-century careers; and creating new knowledge through basic/programmatic, clinical and applied research. Thomas Jefferson University, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Jefferson College of Nursing, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, dates back to 1824 and today comprises 10 colleges and three schools offering 200+ undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 8,300 students. Jefferson Health, nationally ranked as one of the top 15 not-for-profit health care systems in the country and the largest provider in the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley areas, serves patients through millions of encounters each year at 32 hospitals and more than 700 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout the region. Jefferson Health Plans is a not-for-profit managed health care organization providing a broad range of health coverage options in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for more than 40 years.    

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