Building Confidence One Cut at a Time

“Captain” Jeff Pennington cruising with his children in the boat they built together.

mccannn [at] email.chop.edu (By Nancy McCann)

Editor’s Note: Our seasonal “Off Campus” series on Cornerstone is back. Last summer, we shared fun stories and photos about our colleagues and what they do to de-stress and reset. Get to know your colleagues — even if you’re working remotely! Learn who among us is an avid skier, tango dancer, bird watcher, baker, and more. These easy-to-read stories help us connect with each other in new ways and build community, particularly now during the coronavirus pandemic. If you know of someone with an unusual hobby or interest in your department or lab, the Research Creative Services writers want to hear from you. Or nominate yourself! Send us an researchcomm [at] email.chop.edu (email). Maybe you’ll be our next “Off Campus” celebrity.

Having big dreams is only the beginning, according to Jeff Pennington, associate vice president and chief research informatics officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute. Making those dreams a reality is the challenge, and one he highly recommends to his children. Take for instance, when his young brood of three told Pennington they wanted to go out on the water in a boat. Dad’s response, “Let’s build one!” That’s exactly what they did, and his children have been building their dreams ever since.

Jeff Pennington’s children hard at work building a skate ramp in their backyard.

As the kids outgrew their seaworthy vessel, they moved onto larger projects to keep up with their developing interests. Together with dad, they built a treehouse and ski and skate ramps. Pennington taught them about wood, hardware, and power tools at an early age, and he trusted them to be careful. They learned to work with their hands, making mistakes along the way. Measure twice, cut once became a family motto — and life lesson.

“‘Use your head and your hands and you can do stuff,’ I tell them. That’s been the goal all along. It’s important for me that my kids know they can dream something up and make it a reality. I want all three, and especially my daughters, to grow up confident.”

Proving Pennington right is his eldest daughter, Mary Jane. After hearing her grandmother say she wanted to ask “Jeff” to hang some plants, Mary Jane jumped in and exclaimed, “We don’t need him.” She took her grandmother to the hardware store, bought what was necessary, and then used a drill to hang up the plants when they returned home.

“That’s why I build stuff with the kids,” Pennington said. “I see it as a way they can learn anything is possible if they set their minds to it.”

Working With a Computer is Like Making Something by Hand

Pennington brings this same philosophy to his work in informatics. He collaborates with colleagues across CHOP to operate the Research Institute’s Arcus program, a strategic investment in enterprise data, technology, and data science infrastructure that links all of CHOP’s clinical and research data to provide a holistic perspective of pediatric health and disease. Together with his informatics team, Pennington strives to ensure the Research Institute is the industry leader in the use of data and technology to solve challenging problems in child health.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always liked to make stuff,” Pennington said. “I would get busy with my hands. That’s actually one of the reasons why I enjoy working in informatics because when you’re working with a computer, you’re kind of making something by hand. It’s not wood and metal, but it’s pretty tangible.”

These build-your-own-dreams lessons for his children also have taught Pennington a thing or two about leadership. By stepping back and letting his team take risks, and most importantly, staying out of their way while they learn from the mistakes, “a great outcome can be achieved,” he said.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Coach Jeff Pennington and daughter, Mary Jane, who rows for her high school crew program, are all smiles after a competition.

Coaching rowing is another off campus activity that Pennington holds close to his heart. A sport he learned as a walk-on athlete during his undergraduate years at Trinity College in Connecticut, Pennington volunteers with the Lower Merion crew program, the oldest public high school rowing team in the country. A healthy program from a sportsmanship and life standpoint, Pennington said, it’s competitive, yet more importantly, it offers a great environment for the kids.

More than any other sport, rowing rewards hard work, stubbornness, and pain tolerance. There’s always an element of natural ability, he explained, but it’s a simple motion that can be mastered by sheer determination and perseverance, and after that, it’s all about staying mentally strong under stress.

"Other than having my kids, coaching is probably the most formative thing I’ve done,” Pennington said. “It’s taught me so much about leadership and group dynamics: how to clearly communicate expectations for teamwork and high performance, and how to find the balance between encouraging and pushing, and stepping back and letting people find their own way."