Penelope Blake

Penelope Blake is a surgical resident at Dillard Medical Center who treated Derek Shepherd after his car accident. She is currently in a relationship with Callie Torres.

Childhood
As a child, Penny moved every two years due to her mother's job. ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner")

Derek's Death
Penny was one of the doctors who tended to Derek Shepherd when he came into the Dillard ER. She put in his chest tube and his thoughts indicated that he liked her, said she was smart. She wanted to order a head CT, but Paul insisted that they didn't have time and they needed to take him into surgery to get his abdominal bleeding under control.

While they were on the way to the OR, she made one final play to get the CT, since he was stable. Paul again declined and they took Derek into surgery and started operating. When he became unstable, Paul finally remembered that he'd had a head laceration and had the anesthesiologist check his eyes, which revealed a blown right pupil. They paged the neurosurgeon, Joseph Cohn, who said he'd be there in 20 minutes because he was at a dinner. Despite this, it took him an hour and a half to arrive. Penny called him out on this and he responded that they should have gotten a head CT and they would have paged him sooner. When she continued to say that he should have gotten there faster because Derek might have had a chance if he had, he kicked her out of the OR.

She went with Dr. Cohn to speak to Meredith about Derek's death and Meredith told them that the decision not to get a CT was a bad decision.

When Meredith exited the hospital, Penny was on a bench outside crying. She went up to Meredith to apologize again, but Meredith told her that Derek was her one, the patient whose face she'll see every time she treats a patient. He'll haunt her and remind her that he died on her watch. It'll either make her a better doctor or she'll quit and Meredith says she doesn't get to spend what would have been the rest of Derek's life being a quitter and then sends her back inside because she's not saving any lives outside. ("How to Save a Life")

Dinner Party
Long after Derek's death, Penny began seeing Callie Torres. They dated for a while and Callie invited Penny to come to a dinner party at Meredith's with her. She and Meredith were both shocked to see each other when Callie and Penny arrived at the party. ("Old Time Rock and Roll")

Penny tried repeatedly to get Callie to let them leave the party, but Callie, thinking it was just nerves about meeting Arizona and her other friends, insisted that Penny stay, even when Callie herself got called to the hospital. Meredith kept quiet about the connection to Penny, but it came out when Penny was asked about why she was transferring to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. The doctors were all shocked by the news and Penny left the house. Later, after coming back in to use the bathroom, Penny met up with Meredith, who had come back downstairs after going up to hide in her bedroom. Penny said she'd ask for a transfer so they wouldn't have to work together, but Meredith told her that she'd see her on Monday and not to be late. ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner")

Callie Torres
Penny is dating Callie Torres. She was not aware of Callie's friendship with Meredith Grey until Callie brought her to a dinner party at Meredith's House. ("Old Time Rock and Roll")

Familial
Her mother is a petroleum seismologist, so they moved every two years.

Professional
Paul, one of her co-workers, seems to have little respect for her. Over her objections, he refused to take Derek for the head CT that might have saved his life. Derek's thoughts said that Paul didn't like Penny because she was smarter than him, even though she's younger, and probably because she's a woman. ("How to Save a Life")

Career
Penny was a surgical resident at Dillard Medical Center.

When Dillard closed, she was re-matched to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to continue her residency. ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner")

Notes and Trivia

 * Although her name was not mentioned in How to Save a Life, closed captioning and subtitles displayed her name as Edie, however, she was re-introduced in Old Time Rock and Roll as Callie's girlfriend named Penny.
 * As of How to Save a Life, it is unknown if Penny is a general surgery resident, attending general surgeon, or trauma surgeon. As Dillard Medical Center is a teaching hospital in addition to not being a trauma center, the general surgery positions are the most likely. This is clarified in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
 * She was in college before she ever tried macaroni and cheese. ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner")