City of Philadelphia - File #: 180883

• File #: 180883
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 10/4/2018
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 10/4/2018
• Title: Recognizing and honoring Richard Vague, recipient of the 2018 Icon Award, presented by the Germination Project for his hard work and dedication to the City of Philadelphia.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Taubenberger, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Quiñones Sánchez, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Gym, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Parker

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
10/4/2018	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed on This Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass
10/4/2018	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED

Title
Recognizing and honoring Richard Vague, recipient of the 2018 Icon Award, presented by the Germination Project for his hard work and dedication to the City of Philadelphia.

Body
WHEREAS, The Icon Award honors groundbreaking innovations in medicine, recognizing the collaboration among researchers, institutions and philanthropists; and

WHEREAS, As one of the Raju Foundation's enterprises, the Germination Project aims to create a self-sustaining ecosystem for Philadelphia's next generation of leadership and serves as an incubator for Philadelphia's next generation of business, political and civic leaders; and

WHEREAS, Past Icon Award honorees include Drs. Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire in recognition of their pioneering research in the field of gene therapy to reverse macular degeneration and the Temple University Health System for its tireless work on behalf of Philadelphia's underserved communities; and

WHEREAS, Richard Vague was honored with the third annual Icon Award for his endowment of Penn Medicine's Immunotherapy Professorship held by Dr. Carl June; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Vague's generous endowment has contributed to the groundbreaking progress Dr. Carl June and his team have made regarding T-cell-based personal cancer treatments when the National Institutes of Health ("NIH") would not fund this reasearch; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Carl June has been able to reengineer a person's immune system to attack disease and his work is truly revolutionizing the way cancer therapy is given; and

WHEREAS, When speaking about Richard Vague's philanthropy, Dr. Carl June said "thank you, you took a risk on me when no one else would"; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, called Mr. Vague "our modern Medici" as he is supporting Dr. June's work just as the Medici supported the groundbreaking work of Michelangelo and da Vinci; and

WHEREAS, When discussing the importance of Mr. Vague's contributions, Dr. Lar...