Penn Pals

The Daily Pennsylvanian•www.thedp.com

Welcome to Penn Pals where we bring you Philadelphia's stories from a distance! In this podcast, I, Dean Wertz, will be taking you on a journey through medically focused content. Topics will range from Penn Prehealth student experiences, medical professional's anecdotes, and medically themed facilities around and in the Philly area. I look forward to this trip and thank you for hopping on board.

Last refreshed: July 15th, 2025 at 12:43 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

S1E12 Daniela Schmulevich

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts A relaxed fit episode this week! Instead of the usual interview on a specific topic with an interviewee, Dean talks to Post-Baccalaureate Society President and personal friend, Daniela Schmulevich. Together, they discuss their feelings about family influences, backgrounds, and future plans in medicine. They go on to speak about staying positive and bring up the concept of "imposter syndrome". Dani closes the episode out with the beautiful quot...

Mar 13, 2021

S1E11 Goodwell Nzou

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts This week, we introduce Goodwell Nzou. Dr. Goodwell takes us on his journey from Zimbabwe to researching the blood-brain barrier here in our beautiful city of Philadelphia. Born and raised in a village in rural Zimbabwe, Goodwill found interest in the natural sciences and music. Goodwill would sneak into the chemical supply closet of his school and perform experiments with old chemicals. He then traveled the world with a band playing marimba. ...

Feb 27, 2021

S1E10 Aeri Kim

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts This week, after a long hiatus, we have the absolute pleasure of introducing Aeri Kim. Aeri has been an instructor at Kaplan for MCAT prep for 5 years now with a background in the biological sciences and a PhD in Structural Biochemistry. Aeri begins with a small history lesson on the MCAT's founding, the purpose of the exam, and how Kaplan plays a role in teaching students. Aeri finishes the interview by explaining common timelines and recomme...

Feb 21, 2021

S1E9. Dr. Basu

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts On this week's episode of Penn Pals we have the pleasure of talking with University of Pennsylvania's own, Dr. Sukulpa Basu. Dr. Basu received her bachelor's degree from Saint Xavier's College in India and her Masters of Science at the University of Calcutta, India. She moved to the United States to receive her Ph.D. in Philadelphia at Temple University in 2002. Since then she has been both researching and teaching courses in Physics. In the i...

Dec 15, 2020

S1E8. Dr. Philbin

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts In this week's episode we interview Dr. Morgan Philbin, a social and behavioral scientist whose work at Columbia University explores how social-structural factors impact the health outcomes for vulnerable populations. We discussed HIV risk in the modern era, pre and post-COVID-19 outbreak. Dr. Philbin went into how legalization of marijuana will likely lower transmission rates of HIV due to prisons being hotspots for the disease. We also discu...

Dec 01, 2020

S1E7. Samantha Ellison & Taylor Linaburg

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts In this episode of Penn Pals We speak with Taylor Linaburg and Samantha Ellison, two fourth year medical students at The Perelman School of Medicine. Both career-changing individuals, Taylor comes from a background of business and finance, while Sam turned to medicine from environmental policy. They discuss what it means to be a fourth year medical student, and how COVID19 has affected this. We talk about how their different paths have led the...

Nov 10, 2020

S1E6. Dr. Daniel Corwin

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts This week we were honored to welcome Dr. Daniel Corwin to the show. Having both an MD and MSCE, Dr. Corwin is a CIRP Scholar, Associate director of research for the division of emergency medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In his day to day, Dr. Corwin works as an emergency medicine attending physician at CHOP. In ...

Oct 27, 2020

S1E5. Dr. Zimmerman

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts On this week's episode, Penn Pals has the pleasure of interviewing Penn's own senior lecturer and advisor, John Zimmerman. He earned his PhD from Temple University, and did his post-doctoral work here at the University of Pennsylvania. Teaching both introductory Biology and Genetics, Dr. Zimmerman peels back the layers on the fascinating genetics topic of HOX genes. Short for Homeobox genes, these segments are responsible for the placement and...

Oct 13, 2020

S1E4. Garrett Largoza

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts On this week's episode we bring 1st year Jefferson University medical student, Garret Largoza, to the mic. Graduating from Franklin and Marshall College in 2018 Garett received a degree in Biochemistry. Having gone through Penn's Pre-health program and now starting med school, Garret walks us through the online schooling environment. Although very important, school isn't the only thing Garret brings to the table. Using a passion for running as...

Sep 29, 2020

S1E3. Jacob Glickman

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts In this week's episode, we welcome local therapist, Jacob Glickman. Mostly working with the LGBTQIA+ community, Jacob started as an intern for the Attic Youth Center in Philadelphia. He attained his masters at La Salle University in clinical counseling and is now working on his doctorate in clinical psychology. At the same time, Jacob is making progress on a master's in human sexuality. Here we discuss the grand idea of using Dungeons and Drag...

Sep 15, 2020

S1E2. Sara Ray

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts Today on Penn Pals we interview seventh-year doctoral candidate in Penn's history and sociology of science department, Sara Ray. Born and raised in rural Maine, she acquired an Anthropology degree from George Washington University. From the peace core to a fascination with museum work, Sara has been teaching History of Medicine for 3 semesters now. She will be giving us insights on the definition of what the term doctor has meant and means fro...

Sep 01, 2020

S1E1. Audrey Mills

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts In our first episode, we will be talking with a new Penn Prehealth student, Audrey Mills. Mills is a full-time high school science teacher who plans to become a doctor. Inspired by her father, a pediatric ophthalmologist, and a love of public health, she is very excited about the road ahead. We discuss how she got to where she is, the difficulty of balancing a busy schedule, the influence of being a lifetime rower, and much more! Enjoy. Penn P...

Aug 18, 2020

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Aug 03, 2020

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