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Emily Whitehead was the first child cured of cancer with therapy from Penn. She’s back as a freshman.

She was the first child treated with CAR-T, a therapy that engineers the immune system to fight cancer, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2012.

Emily Whitehead, 18, of Philipsburg, Pa., is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. She was the first successful pediatric recipient of CAR-T cancer therapy, which was developed at Penn.
Emily Whitehead, 18, of Philipsburg, Pa., is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. She was the first successful pediatric recipient of CAR-T cancer therapy, which was developed at Penn.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer