Hershey

      Penn National Gaming raises $450,000 for inflammatory bowel disease research

      From left to right: Dr. A. Craig Hillemeier, dean, chief executive officer, and senior vice president for health affairs, Penn State Hershey; Peter Carlino, chairman of the board, Penn National Gaming, Inc.; Fred Lipkin, director of marketing, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course; Dr. Walter A. Koltun, professor of surgery and division chief, colon and rectal surgery, Penn State Hershey. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

      Penn National Gaming’s annual Charity Golf Classic raised $450,000 for Penn State Hershey Medical Center’s Carlino Fund for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research.

      More than 300 golfers participated in the classic on Aug. 3 at the Hershey Country Club. Since its inception in 1996, the event has raised $3.9 million to support inflammatory bowel disease research.

      Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a type of colorectal disease that includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. There is no known cure for IBD, but Dr. Walter Koltun, division chief, colon and rectal surgery, and his team remain committed to the treatment of patients suffering from IBD and in researching new therapies for the illness. This includes the development of an IBD Biobank that collects and stores DNA, serum and tissue from patients with IBD for research purposes and presently includes over 1,200 individuals. This biobank is the only one of its kind in the United States. First, because it is one of the few biobanks that contains tissue, and second, because it has been maintained for over 20 years and now contains information and DNA from multiple generations from a single family.

      Last Updated September 22, 2015

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