Description of Research Expertise

Christopher D’Avella, MD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine and a faculty member of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation. His clinical practice focuses on thoracic and head and neck malignancies. He has research interests in health care delivery, innovation, and quality improvement. A graduate of the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, he completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Pittsburgh where he served as chief resident. He subsequently completed his fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia where he was the chief fellow. He is currently involved in several quality improvement and policy focused projects with the Cancer Service Line for the Abramson Cancer Center. Additionally, he has an interest in financial toxicity and how to improve screening and access to financial counseling services for cancer patients. He also serves as the co medical director for the cancer center’s diagnostic clinic which focuses on improving access to care and time to treatment for newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Selected Publications

Sun L, Cohen RB, D'Avella CA, Singh AP, Schoenfeld JD, Hanna GJ.: Overall Survival, Treatment Duration, and Rechallenge Outcomes With ICI Therapy for Recurrent or Metastatic HNSCC JAMA Netw Open 7 : e2428526,2024.

Christopher D'Avella, Meredith Doherty, E. Paul Wileyto, Jason Ma, Suzanne Walker, Jessica Jacoby, Chelsea Brown, Chiu Yi Tan, Tamara Cadet: Financial toxicity screening in an urban underserved patient population with cancer ASCO Quality Symposium : 2024.

Barsouk A, Friedes C, Iocolano M, Doucette A, Cohen RB, Robinson KW, D'Avella CA, Marmarelis ME, Kosteva JA, Singh AP, Ciunci CA, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Bradley JD, Feigenberg SJ, Sun L, Aggarwal C, Langer CJ, Yegya-Raman N.: Plunging Into the PACIFIC: Outcomes of Patients With Unresectable KRAS-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Following Definitive Chemoradiation and Durvalumab Consolidation Clin Lung Cancer : 2024.

Meredith Doherty, Kellie Bresz, Kimberly Guglielmo, Christopher Davella, Tamara Cadet, Suzanne Walker, Paul Wileyto: Does financial advocacy improve appointment keeping in patients receiving chemotherapy? ASCO Quality Care Symposium : 2023.

Friedes C, Yegya-Raman N, Zhang S, Iocolano M, Cohen RB, Aggarwal C, Thompson JC, Marmarelis ME, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Ciunci CA, Singh AP, D'Avella C, Davis CW, Langer CJ, Feigenberg SJ.: Patterns of Failure in Metastatic NSCLC Treated With First Line Pembrolizumab and Use of Local Therapy in Patients With Oligoprogression Clin Lung Cancer : 2023.

Aggarwal C, Maity AP, Bauml JM, Long Q, Aleman T, Ciunci C, D'Avella C, Volpe M, Anderson E, Jones LM, Sun L, Singh AP, Marmarelis ME, Cohen RB, Langer CJ, Amaravadi R.: A Phase II Open-Label Trial of Binimetinib and Hydroxychloroquine in Patients With Advanced KRAS-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Oncologist 28 : 644-e564,2023.

Christopher Davella, Erin Mary Bange, Aditi Puri Singh, David W. Dougherty, Peter Edward Gabriel, Rebecca Lawrence Maniago, Jennifer Miao, Colin Harvey, Marcello Ricottone, Lawrence N. Shulman: Clinical pathways innovation: A lesson on the value of clinician based feedback and collaboration with Flatiron Health. ASCO Annual Meeting : 2023.

Yegya-Raman N, Friedes C, Sun L, Iocolano M, Kim KN, Doucette A, Cohen RB, Robinson KW, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Lally B, Agarwal M, D'Avella CA, Marmarelis ME, Kosteva JA, Singh AP, Ciunci CA, Aggarwal C, Berman AT, Langer CJ, Feigenberg SJ.: Utilization and Factors Precluding Receipt of Checkpoint Inhibitor Consolidation for Stage III NSCLC in a Large US Academic Health System Clin Lung Cancer : 2023.

Tompkins WP, Hwang WT, Yang YX, Singh A, Ciunci C, D'Avella C, Aggarwal C, Cohen RB, Langer CJ, Mamtani R, Marmarelis ME.: Brief Report: Second-line treatment outcomes in patients with advanced NSCLC previously treated with first-line immunotherapy regimens Clin Lung Cancer : 2023.

Apar Kishor P Ganti, Billy W Loo, Michael Bassetti, Collin Blakely, Anne Chiang, Thomas A D'Amico, Christopher D'Avella, Afshin Dowlati, Robert J Downey, Martin Edelman, Charles Florsheim, Kathryn A Gold, Jonathan W Goldman, John C Grecula, Christine Hann, Wade Iams, Puneeth Iyengar, Karen Kelly, Maya Khalil, Marianna Koczywas, Robert E Merritt, Nisha Mohindra, Julian Molina, Cesar Moran, Saraswati Pokharel, Sonam Puri, Angel Qin, Chad Rusthoven, Jacob Sands, Rafael Santana-Davila, Michael Shafique, Saiama N Waqar, Kristina M Gregory, Miranda Hughes: Small Cell Lung Cancer, Version 2.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology J Natl Compr Canc Netw 19 (12): 1441-1446,2022.

Academic Contact Information

Abramson Cancer Center Penn Presbyterian, 51 North 39th Street, Suite 100

Philadelphia, PA 19104
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366