Residency
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is a three-year, ACGME-accredited program that admits four residents per year.
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Penn State Health offers a dynamic and well-rounded training environment for future physiatrists, combining diverse clinical settings with advanced educational opportunities. Residents benefit from a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation medicine in a supportive and collaborative health system.
At Penn State Health, our physiatry residents train within the largest and most comprehensive health system in central Pennsylvania—gaining hands-on experience across a wide variety of clinical settings. Rotations span five diverse locations, including the CARF-accredited Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and the Lebanon VA Medical Center, as well as two smaller community hospitals, Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center and Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center.
With a low cost of living in Hershey, Pa., and the program’s competitive stipends, it’s easy to see why Penn State PM&R is the “Sweetest Place on Earth” to complete your residency training!
Program Overview
Our program offers inpatient, outpatient and consult experiences throughout all phases of rehabilitative care. Procedural experience is plentiful with botulinum toxin injections, electrodiagnostic studies, and ultrasound- and fluoroscopic-guided procedures.
Comprehensive educational experiences include an annual 5-week cadaver course for anatomy review and procedural practice, a 12-month longitudinal musculoskeletal ultrasound curriculum and a longitudinal research curriculum with dedicated research time.
Fellowships are available in traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, as well as a pain fellowship in the anesthesia program. Optional experiences include electives, community outreach, adaptive sports events and leadership positions related to research and quality improvement.
Learn More about the Residency
Applications
The program accepts applications through the ERAS system for candidates from the following:
Allopathic medical schools
Osteopathic medical schools
International medical school
with a currently valid ECFMG certificate
or a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in a U.S. licensing jurisdiction
Selection Process
Applications are holistically reviewed by the program’s review committee. Thresholds for selectivity are assessed each recruitment cycle while considering medical school transcript, dean’s letter, USMLE and/or COMLEX scores, letters of recommendation, (at least one being from a PM&R faculty), research experience/publications in addition to professional attributes and personal qualities.
Interviews
The program typically interviews in October, November, December and January. You will be contacted via email if you have been selected to interview.
Match
Four residents are accepted per year. All PGY-2 residency positions will be offered through the National Residency Matching Program and the rules of The Match will be strictly adhered to. No positions are offered outside the Match.
Preliminary Year
Prior to entering the PM&R residency, a resident must have successfully completed 12 months of an ACGME-accredited prelim or transitional year program. You must apply to a preliminary or transitional program separately.
Visas
Penn State sponsors J1 Visas.
Past residents from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency and the places where they went on to fellowship or employment are seen here.
Contact and Leadership
Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Education, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Program Coordinator, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency, Brain Injury Fellowship and Spinal Cord Injury Fellowship, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Mailing Address
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
500 University Dr., HP28
P.O. Box 850
Hershey, PA 17033
General Contact Information
Fax: 717-566-8202
Email: mosterlund@pennstatehealth.psu.edu
Supporting Your Training
Curriculum Details
Penn State PM&R offers didactics in the following:
Intro to PM&R
Anatomy/Musculoskeletal Ultrasound & Injections
Spinal Cord Injury Medicine
Brain Injury Medicine
Cerebrovascular Accident
Medical Rehabilitation
Prosthetics & Orthotics
Rheumatology
Electrodiagnostic Education
Pediatrics
Quality Improvement/Research
Additional Educational Topics include:
Patient Safety
Ethics
Professionalism
Women’s Health Considerations
Health Disparities
Disability Training/Education
ITB Education
Wheelchair Workshop
Didactics are supplemented by regularly scheduled academic activities including monthly journal clubs; morbidity and mortality conferences; Faculty-presented Grand Rounds & various hands-on workshops.
PGY-2: SCI Inpatient, General Inpatient, CVA Inpatient, BI Inpatient, Outpatient Clinic, General Inpatient (2 months each).
PGY-3: Outpatient Clinic (2 months), Interventional Pain (1 month), Pediatric Rehab (3 months), EMG (3 months), Rehab Consult (1 month), Sports Medicine (1 month), Inpatient (1 month)
PGY-4: Inpatient (1 month), Rehab Consults (2 months), Outpatient Clinic (1 month), Elective (1 month), VA Rotation (3 months), Outpatient Clinic (1 month), Procedures (2 months)
Research runs longitudinally during clinic rotations from PGY-2 through PGY-4.
Resident Honors and Recognitions
Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center accept ongoing nominations for the Exceptional Moments in Teaching award.
The award, given monthly by the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment, accepts nominations from College of Medicine students who are invited to submit narratives about faculty members, residents, fellows, nurses or any other educators who challenge them and provide an exceptional learning experience. See more about the award here.
Previous nominees from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency are listed here. Click the + next to a nominee name to read their nominator’s comments.
The annual Resident/Fellow Research Day is held each year (with exception of during the COVID-19 pandemic) on and around the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center campus.
The intent of the event is to provide an opportunity for residents and fellows to showcase their research accomplishments to their peers in other clinical departments, as well as their colleagues in the basic sciences.
Learn more about Resident/Fellow Research Day here.
Previous presentations from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency are listed here.
