Welcome

Here you will find information related to this year's daytime symposium taking place on Friday, June 14, 2024.

Message from the Committee

The Pendergrass Symposium is celebrating more than four decades of research and innovation. Dr. Stanley Baum (Chairman of Radiology 1976-1996), started the Pendergrass Symposium tradition in 1976, wanting to mark the end of the academic year with a luminary speaker. Through the decades, the Department has invited world-renowned speakers to deliver the Pendergrass Lecture.

In 2008, we introduced the Charagundla Lecture to honor the life of Sridhar R. Charagundla, MD, Ph.D., a promising young faculty member and former trainee of the Department who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 35.  He was a rising star in academic Radiology, known for his innovative work at the interface of imaging science and clinical medicine.

In the spirit of Dr. Charagundla, that same year, we started the tradition of inviting our research trainees and house staff to submit one-page abstracts describing research projects they performed while at Penn.  A faculty committee reviews and ranks each submission.  The top eight are invited to give short oral presentations at the Symposium, and others asked to present posters.  From the top eight, the paper that most exemplifies the outstanding research completed by a trainee receives the honor of delivering the Charagundla Lecture.

Additional components of our Symposium include a robust poster session that offers participants the opportunity to display and discuss their research with their colleagues.  We look forward to showcasing our trainees' outstanding work at the Pendergrass Symposium this June.