Committee on Community Engagement

We invite you to visit the site regularly, as we continue to update resources, add information on ongoing initiatives, and expand educational materials.

PennCobalt provides mental health resources for Penn staff and faculty.

Pradhita Kolluru

Pradhita joins the department as a Clinical Research Coordinator B. She worked previously as a CRC at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the Emergency and Pediatric Oncology Departments. Prior to this role, Pradhita served as a Patient Advocate with the National Health Corps AmeriCorps. She aided patients in accessing essential medications through Patient Assistance Programs and galvanized a remote patient monitoring initiative. She is an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, with a major in Health Information Management. In her free time, Pradhita enjoys traveling with her husband and snuggling with her cat, Joey Electric. You can contact her at pradhita.kolluru@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Jennifer Margolis

Jennifer joins the department as a Clinical Research Coordinator B. Previously, she worked as a Senior Research Technician at Monell Chemical Senses Center. She earned her BA in Psychology with a Creative Writing minor from the University of Michigan and in her spare time, Jennifer enjoys reading, snowboarding, and crocheting. You can contact her at Jennifer.Margolis@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

Open Positions

Below are open job positions within the department. The job requisition ID number is in bold for reference.

Staff Open Positions

Please go to Careers.PennMedicine.org to see the full job posting for staff open positions.

• 263936 Radiation Therapist – full time, days – Lancaster, PA
• 262812 Dosimetrist Treatment Planner – Full Time – HUP – Philadelphia, PA
• 262401 Physicist – full time, days – Lancaster, PA
• 262335 Accounts Resolution Specialist II – Radiation Oncology – Philadelphia, PA
• 257110 Accountant - Radiation Oncology – Philadelphia, PA
• 255958 Dosimetrist Treatment Planner – Phila VA Medical Center – Philadelphia, PA
• 253802 Nurse Navigator Oncology (Full Time/Days) – Lancaster, PA
• 250441 Nurse Practitioner for CNS/Brain Cancer in Radiation Therapy – Philadelphia, PA
• 240373 Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant – Radiation Oncology Head & Neck (PCAM Location) - Philadelphia, PA
• 239835 Senior Financial Analyst – Philadelphia, PA
• 237634 PRN Rad Therapist – PAH Philadelphia, PA
• 225299 Radiation Therapist – PRN – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania/PCAM - Philadelphia, PA
• 225098 Radiation Therapist NJS Eligible (Per Diem) - Plainsboro, NJ

Faculty Open Positions

Please click on the link below to view the full job description for faculty open positions on Workday.

• Penn Medicine Clinician - Chester County (Job Requisition ID: JR00094977)
• Penn Medicine Clinician - Cherry Hill (Job Requisition ID: JR00103891)

ACES March Madness Brackets

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s March Madness brackets! Please see below for the winners of both the men’s and women's tournament brackets, as well as the runners up from each tournament. Thanks to everyone who joined our bracket groups and tried their luck this year!

The Beam of Life Team

https://www.ms-stride.org/breakthroughbikechallenge

The Breakthrough Challenge bike ride was on Sunday, September 15. The Radiation Oncology Beam of Life team is lead by co-captains Bill Barbour, Chris Laskey, and Christina McCrohan. The Breakthrough Challenge donates 100% of participant-raised funds to support breakthrough cancer research at the Abramson Cancer Center. This year $300,000 was raised, bringing the total fundraising to more than $2,850,000 over the past eleven-years.

Save the Date: Next year's Breakthrough Challenge will be on Sunday, September 14, 2025

Join the team here: https://www.ms-stride.org/breakthroughchallenge/profiles/team/91

Follow our team Facebook page or go to the ISOCENTER for more details on upcoming Beam of Life team social rides and 3rd Annual Happy Hour Fundraiser at a local Philadelphia Restaurant!

Five Questions With...

Erin Davis, MSN, CRNP, AOCNP

Senior Clinical Manager, Advanced Practice Providers

1. What is a typical work day like for you?

Some days are spent with patients (fun!) and some doing administrative work (mostly fun!). Generally the first thing I do is check EPIC and see what has transpired overnight with patients, messages, review my day, so on and so forth. I check with the APP team to see what is new or address any concerns. Oh, and read email of course. My independent clinic consists of seeing patients that have received radiation for GI diagnoses/lymphomas or may be returning to discuss more radiation. For the patients that have received radiation, we review their treatment course, how they are feeling, review and test results such as data or scans. We mostly discuss any actual or potential radiation side effects that they are experiencing now or in the future. We discuss ways to shift their preventative health care to mitigate or minimize these side effects for optimal longevity and quality of life. I do also work with Jim on some days seeing on treatment visits or patients referred for radiation for GI malignancies.

From an administrative perspective, the focus is on growing and optimizing the APP program (data, recruitment) and visiting sites that have APPs. I have really enjoyed getting to know the network teams over the past few years.

2. What led you to work at Penn Radiation Oncology?

I was seeking a change of practice environment after 17 years in cardiac surgery. Another APP in the department let me know of an open position working with Steve Hahn and Jim Metz. I interviewed but had low expectations given my lack of oncology background. I was also incredibly intimidated by the specialty but thought Steve and Jim would be quite good to work with. Luckily, I was offered the opportunity to join the team and here I am 13 years later!

3. What is your go-to self-care tip or trick?

Get back to the gym. Even if you do not feel like it. Find some time for yourself (even if it means hiding for a few extra minutes while doing laundry).

4. What are your hobbies or special skills?

Playing with my son Jackson doing 4 year old things – playgrounds, trains, trucks, …

Reading – mysteries and thrillers please! I do like a good beach read now and then as a guilty pleasure.

Hobby I miss the most: competitive dragon boating. This will serve as a reminder to get back to it!

5. What are you currently watching or streaming?

Confession: I do not watch much TV and I do not even have a smart TV in my living room! I do love to binge some good true crime podcasts. Taking recommendations!

Rad Recommendations

Michele's Menu Musings by Michele Kim, PhD

Her Place Supper Club – 1740 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA

Unlike some of the restaurants in Center City that tout fancy (maybe slightly stuffy) tasting menus, Her Place Supper Club brings a “dinner-party-in-the-kitchen” vibe. Before opening her own restaurant, Amanda Shulman (Penn alumna C’15) was the former executive sous chef at Vetri Cucina in Las Vegas. The food at Her Place Supper Club is always evolving and changing, even daily, and tends to lean French and Italian and Jewish. The back of the tasting menu always has the list of their purveyors for the ingredients they are using, and it’s typically seasonal, local, and very high quality.

Another intimate space, there are only two seatings each night with a fixed tasting menu. The menu is typically announced via Instagram (@herplacesupperclub) if you’d like a preview every two weeks or so, but there are always surprises and unannounced optional add-ons. From the open kitchen, the chefs will conduct you through your meal, encouraging a warm, inviting environment while describing the dishes to you with special emphasis on seasonal highlights. My most recent visit included first bites of nduja fried olives (their take on a Scotch egg), citrus salad, roast beef tardivo with Caesar, and baked clams. Next round was a personal favorite – a white bean leek farfalle with lemony chicken parm brodo. Creamy and delicate yet packed with flavor, it was a truly delicious bite. The next course was a full lamb chop with prune, pomme puree, and stuffed cabbage that was cooked to perfection and evoked a springtime feeling even in late January.

On a related note, Amanda Shulman, along with her husband Alex Kemp, collaborates on My Loup (2024 James Beard finalist for best new restaurant), another great upscale restaurant focusing on fresh French cuisine.

Reservations are slightly hard to get, but not impossible. Keep an eye out on their Instagram page for when the next reservations will be available. Typically, they will have two weeks of availability released on a Sunday at noon. Make sure you’re logged into Tock and have some dates in mind. Their waitlist will get some openings as well if you’re okay with being spontaneous. I promise it’s worth a visit, especially multiple visits across different seasons!

Do you have any recommendations you'd like to share with the Spotlight? Email your reviews for movies, TV shows, books, and podcasts to RadOncSpotlight@uphs.upenn.edu

Our PhD in Bioengineering – Medical Physics Concentration students Andrew Friberg and Najah Curtis presented their posters at the 2025 FLASH Educational Workshop on March 10th.

Madelyn Johnson, second-year MSMP student, had the following abstracts published in the SPIE Preceedings Volume Optical Methods for Tumor Treatment and Detection: Mechanisms and Techniques in Photodynamic Therapy XXXIII:

• “Determination of optimal Photofrin-mediated PDT treatment parameters for long-term survival”
• “Multispectral singlet oxygen luminescence dosimetry (MSOLD) for direct singlet oxygen monitoring during in-vivo photofrin-mediated PDT”

Alex Choi, second-year MSMP student, will give an oral presentation on his abstract, “Optimizing 3D-printed variable density range modulator for FLASH proton therapy: Impact of density parameters on SOBP quality” at the 63rd Annual PTCOG in Buenos Aires, Argentina in early June.

Alex Choi, second-year MSMP student, presented his abstract, “Revolutionizing Pediatric Craniospinal Irradiation: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Precision Segmentation and Quality Assurance in Proton Therapy” at the American Radium Society Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington in early April.