When they’re not in the reading room or IR suite, our residents can be found off and on campus in a variety of settings enjoying each other’s company and getting to know one another.
Our residency has long promoted resident bonding through initiatives such as residency houses and big-little sib programs. To add to this, a Resident Social & Wellness Committee was created to organize social events and resident wellness activities.
The bi-monthly residency newsletter helps with social and residency engagements while also keeping everyone up-to-date of the fun activities and exciting opportunities going on throughout the department.
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Department Events
The Department of Radiology sponsors a wide variety of activities to celebrate the work of residents, attendings, and staff. These gatherings are always well attended and help foster the sense of community.
Annual Summer Barbecue at Mary's house
At the beginning of each academic year, residents come together at the program director's famed annual BBQ to meet the newbies, engage in friendly sporting competitions, swim and of course, eat lots of delicious food!
Holiday Parties
Above: Every year, radiology faculty and staff are treated to a wonderful party complete with top-notch catering and plenty of holiday spirit.
Pendergrass Dinner
The annual Pendergrass end-of-the-year celebration is not to be missed! Residents are treated to an evening of delicious food and dancing as we toast and roast our graduating residents/fellows and celebrate our many outstanding achievements.
Above: In June 2024, residents were able to celebrate at the National Constitution Center.
House and Big-Little Sib Program
Each incoming R1 resident is paired with an R2 (Big Sib) to act as point of contact as they transition from internship and in to radiology. Residents from each year are assigned into their Big's house. There are three different "houses": Roentgen, Borns and Hounsfield. The house system promotes interclass bonding and provides longitudinal mentorship. Quarterly house dinners are funded by the program to foster camaraderie throughout the academic year. Once or twice a year, attending alumni are invited to these dinners to get to know the residents better and promote lively discussion.
Social Events
The residents maintain active social lives with all that Philadelphia has to offer. The year begins enjoying the weather during Sips (happy hours) in Center City before progressing through field days at the large city parks, Escape the Room, Terror Behind the Walls at the famed Eastern State Penitentiary and activities like karaoke, bowling and painting. Virtual events took over with the pandemic and radiology trivia nights became a hotly contested activity.
Happy Hour
Residents gather on a regular basis for program sponsored happy hours after work. Starting in 2021 the residency began inviting a section of division faculty and fellows to join them for a happy hour (every other month-last day of the rotation block).
Wellness Initiatives
Representatives from each class now meet several times a year to plan social events, address workplace issues and improve the Penn Radiology experience. This coincides with Faculty and UPHS initiatives such as the monthly Radiology faculty 'Wellness Lunches', and the Penn Medicine Resident Wellness Lounge and Gym.
Simple additions have been made to the work environment for day-to-day enjoyment, including:
- 'Take-a-book, leave-a-book' tree in the resident lounge: One rule, strictly no medical texts.
- Healthy snacks (provided by the program director herself) are now stocked in the resident lounge to accompany self-serve coffee.
- Monday conference is optional for those on weekend call to allow a restorative lie-in.
Above all, the Resident Social & Wellness Committee is devoted to the health and happiness of its residents, because at Penn Radiology, we know that a happy residency makes for a better residency!