Community Outreach and Engagement leadership team

Meet the leadership team advancing community outreach and engagement at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center.

Through research, partnerships, and innovation, these leaders are working to reduce cancer disparities and improve outcomes across the communities we serve.

Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP, Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement

Headshot of Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP

Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP is Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. Guerra is a general internist trained in epidemiology and a cancer equity researcher. Her research focuses on reducing cancer disparities, specifically by increasing access to cancer screenings and cancer clinical trial participation for underserved populations.

Under Guerra’s leadership, the Abramson Cancer Center has established partnerships with community organizations to design, implement, and evaluate strategies and interventions to increase the participation of underrepresented minorities in cancer screening, treatment, and research at Penn Medicine. In addition, these partnerships have allowed for the dissemination and implementation of cancer research and evidence-based cancer risk and screening strategies to reduce the burden of cancer in the catchment area.

Tamara J. Cadet, PhD, MPH, MSW, Assistant Director for Community Outreach and Engagement

Portrait of Tamara J. Cadet, PhD, MPH, MSW

Tamara J. Cadet, PhD, MPH, MSW is Assistant Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. She is an associate professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice and is the Director for the Program in Community Engagement Innovation for the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation. She is a trained as a public health social worker who advances health equity by promoting health interventions and translating research to practice. Her work focuses on health disparities of older people, particularly around cancer screening and cancer care and shared decision-making. Cadet’s work is at the intersection of health and social work, spanning the areas of evidence-based health promotion interventions, facilitators and barriers to reducing disparities in preventative health behaviors, and health care service utilization among underserved populations.

Samuel Takvorian, MD, MSHP, Assistant Director for Catchment Area Analytics and Assessment

Headshot of Samuel Takvorian,  MD

Samuel Takvorian, MD, MSHP is Assistant Director for Catchment Area Analytics and Assessment at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, where he also serves as Deputy Director at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I).  Takvorian is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, and a practicing oncologist with expertise in the management of genitourinary malignancies. Takvorian’s research focuses on clinical transformation and innovation in cancer care delivery. He is passionate about answering questions pertaining to the value of cancer care, encompassing rigorous measurement of both traditional and patient-reported outcomes, as well as the costs of care; and to improving the implementation of research findings into routine practice. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Chief Fellow and earned a Master of Science in Health Policy Research.

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