Brian Samuel Englander, a professor of clinical radiology and interim Chief Medical Officer of Pennsylvania Hospital, died on April 27. He was 54.

Dr. Englander was the Robert E. Campbell Professor of Radiology in the Perelman School of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Radiology. Dr. Englander graduated from Yale University in 1994 with bachelor’s degrees in molecular biophysics & biochemistry and in history. He completed medical school, a residency, and a breast imaging fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University, where he served as chief resident. He began his career at Penn and was appointed chief of breast imaging at Pennsylvania Hospital in 2003. In 2014, he was named chair of radiology at the hospital, and at the time of his passing, he was serving as interim Chief Medical Officer at the hospital. 

Pennsylvania’s department of radiology was transformed under Dr. Englander’s leadership, significantly increasing access to tertiary/quaternary care for the West Philadelphia community. More recently, Dr. Englander helped to secure a mobile mammography unit to conduct breast cancer screening across Philadelphia. Throughout his career, Dr. Englander was a steadfast leader and champion of Pennsylvania Hospital and its role in the Philadelphia community. He trained countless residents and fellows at Penn, many of whom have gone on to serve as leaders in the field, and he was a beloved colleague and friend to many physicians, technologists, nurses, staff, and leaders across Penn Medicine and beyond. 

Beyond his work in Philadelphia, Dr. Englander was also deeply committed to improving healthcare globally. As a 2018 Eisenhower Fellow, he traveled to Mongolia and Israel to study how cultural, religious, and ethnic factors shape access to care, focusing on breast cancer. He founded the Benek Global Health Project, an NGO dedicated to developing affordable breast health technologies. Dr. Englander also played key roles in establishing Penn Medicine partnerships with cancer centers and medical schools in Rwanda, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Israel. He remained deeply engaged in global health projects in Haiti, Romania, Sri Lanka, and Egypt, while enthusiastically mentoring Penn trainees and international medical students and residents pursuing global health.

Dr. Englander is survived by his wife Juliet (née McGarry), GED’09, and three children, Raphael Benjamin Englander, C’27, Margot Patia Englander, C’29, and Claire Rose Englander.

Contributions in Dr. Englander’s memory may be made to the mobile mammography program at www.PennMedicine.org/MobileMamm. 

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