Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

The Geriatric Medice Fellowship aims to do the following:

• train the fellow in treating and managing geriatric patients across the continuum with a deep understanding of geriatric principles;
• teach the science of aging and longevity, comprehensive multi-domain geriatric assessment, principles of rehabilitation, psycho-social supports, nutrition, etiquette of geriatric pharmacology, geriatric psychiatry and ethics in a patient centered way;
• teach the basics of research methodologies and the wider impact of aging in communities and its interface with the economics of medicine; and
• create a cohort of geriatric experts in central Pennsylvania who cater to an aging Pennsylvania community and connect the clinician with community resources and facilitate the best interdisciplinary care for older adults with the other disciplines of social work, pharmacy and post-acute care networks.

Applications are only accepted through ERAS in accordance to the NRMP Specialties Matching Service policies and schedules.

Refer to the official AAMC ERAS fellowship website for details.

For informal inquiries, contact the program.

Virtual Tour

Penn State Health

Penn State Health is an integrated academic health system serving patients and communities across 15 counties in central Pennsylvania. It employs more than 20,900 people systemwide.

The system includes Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and Penn State Cancer Institute based in Hershey, Pa.; Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center in Enola, Pa.; Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center in Camp Hill, Pa.; Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center in Lancaster, Pa.; Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pa.; Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, a specialty provider of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, in Harrisburg, Pa.; and 2,417 physicians and direct care providers at 225 outpatient practices. Additionally, the system jointly operates various healthcare providers, including Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Hershey Outpatient Surgery Center and Hershey Endoscopy Center.

In 2017, Penn State Health partnered with Highmark Health to facilitate creation of a value-based, community care network in the region.

Penn State Health shares an integrated strategic plan and operations with Penn State College of Medicine, the University’s medical school. With campuses in State College and Hershey, Pa., the College of Medicine boasts a portfolio of more than $150 million in funded research and more than 1,700 students and trainees in medicine, nursing, other health professions and biomedical research.

Learn more about Penn State Health

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital (left), Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (center) and Penn State Cancer Institute (right)

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

500 University Dr., Hershey, Pa., 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• The health system’s 611-bed flagship teaching and research hospital
• The only medical facility in Pennsylvania accredited as both an adult and a pediatric Level I (highest-level) trauma center
• Dedicated surgical, neuroscience, cardiovascular, trauma and medical intensive care units
• Accredited Life Lion critical-care transport providing more than 1,100 helicopter and approximately 750 ground ambulance transports per year
• More than 1,300 faculty members and more than 650 residents and fellows
• Approximately 29,000 admissions, 73,000 emergency department visits, 1.1 million outpatient visits and 33,000 surgical procedures annually
• Designated as a Magnet hospital since 2007

Learn more about Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

600 University Dr., Hershey, Pa. 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)

• An eight-story, 263,000-square-foot-facility built in 2013 and expanded in 2020
• 160 licensed pediatric beds, 26-bed pediatric intensive care unit and a 56-bed neonatal intensive care unit
• Level IV (highest-level) neonatal intensive care unit
• Level I quaternary (highest-level) pediatric intensive care unit
• Level I (highest-level) pediatric trauma center designation
• Intermediate care unit
• Dedicated pediatric operating rooms
• More than 150,000 pediatric outpatient visits, 20,000 pediatric emergency room visits, and approximately 5,000 pediatric patient discharges annually

Learn more about Penn State Health Children’s Hospital

Welcome to Hershey

More About Hershey

Interested in learning more about living and working in Hershey, Pa.? See details here:

• Benefit and stipend information
• Virtual tour
• GME policies
• Wellness resources
• More about Penn State Health and its locations
• Application and visa requirements

Wellness, including emotional, spiritual, social and physical health, is a crucial component to training and to becoming a professional, compassionate and resilient physician. Self-care is a skill which must be continually practiced and reinforced. Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health are committed to addressing wellness among residents and fellows, with multiple resources readily available.

Institutional resources

• Visit BeWell – a health program designed to support Penn State Health employees
• See Penn State College of Medicine wellness resources here
• Employee Health Care Concierge and Case Management Service
• Partners in Medicine
  Moving to a new city with your family does not have to be stressful. Residency programs have assisted many significant others with finding employment. There is also a GME-Wide Partners in Medicine (PIM) group that offers networking opportunities as well as various social and community oriented activities.
• The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine
• Active and easily accessed Office of Professional Mental Health

Graduate medical education resources

• See resident and fellow wellness resources here

Institutional Resources

Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine celebrate, embrace and support the diversity of all patients, faculty, staff, students and trainees.

Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In keeping with this, Penn State Health has an active Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with various programs, networks and resource groups, including:

• Talks and lectures on diversity, equity and inclusion through the Inclusion Academy
• Regular events on topics such as eradicating racism and creating a culture of inclusiveness
• Many Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs), including:
  • Disability Business Employee Resource Group
  • Interfaith Business Employee Resource Group
  • LGBTQ+ Business Employee Resource Group
  • Military and Veterans Business Employee Resource Group
  • Multicultural Business Employee Resource Group
  • NextGen Business Employee Resource Group
• Black Physician Professional Staff Association – Resource Group
• Hispanic Professional Association
• Asian Physician and Professional Staff Association
• International Workforce Inclusion
• Inclusion Academy

Learn more about the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Learn more about the College of Medicine’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Belonging

Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

The vision at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to provide culturally excellent health care and research for an increasingly diverse U.S. population. The Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education was formed to help meet that goal.

Learn more about the Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education

Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

In addition, the institution does not tolerate discrimination, biases, microaggression, harassment or learner mistreatment of any kind, and any concerns are immediately addressed by the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment.

Learn more about the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment

Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows
The Network of Under-represented Residents and Fellows (NURF) is a group of diverse residents and fellows representing all specialties. NURF’s goal is to promote cultural diversity in the residency programs through community involvement, mentorship with diverse faculty, professional networking and support for the recruitment of diverse medical students into the residency programs.

NURF is sponsored by the Penn State College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Office and the Penn State Health Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Learn more information about NURF

Schedule and rotations are adapted to individual fellow interests. The fellow will have valuable rotations through the following sites:

• Lebanon VA Medical Center
• Oak Hill Village for long-term care
• Hospice of Central Pennsylvania
• Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Rehab Hospital

In addition, geriatric fellows will care for diverse patient populations across a variety of other settings: the continuity clinic based at Penn State Health’s East Campus in Hershey; Dementia Clinic with Dr. Rollin Wright; Harmony at Hershey (assisted living) with Dr. Leah Ross; as part of the inpatient consult team; other long term care facilities and more. Telemedicine is incorporated throughout all rotations as applicable. The division is supported by a dedicated outpatient social worker.

Electives in Rheumatology, Neurology, ALS, Department of Aging, Pain clinic and addiction medicine may also be chosen.

The fellow will participate monthly in two Geriatric didactic series: Current Topics in Geriatrics and Geriatrics Core Curriculum. The fellow is assigned to present at these at least 1-2 times per year, including at least one journal club. This diverse didactic experience not only supports the geriatric fellow’s education, but also provides opportunities to present, evaluate others and discuss relevant articles.

Some topics include:

• -Geriatric syndromes
• End of life
• Geri-psychiatry
• Capacity
• Abuse of older adults
• Frailty
• Transitions of care and health inequities in older adults

Dedicated research time is also allotted at a minimum of two weeks, but is flexible and easily able to be increased depending on personal interests and goals. There is also protected didactic time for these sessions, the Geriatric Core Curriculum, quality improvement activities and asynchronous learning. Each year the fellow completes a QI project and submits an abstract to American Geriatric Society and Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTMed) which historically have been accepted yearly. The fellows are encouraged and financially supported to attend the annual conferences of these societies.

The geriatric fellow will have a multitude of academic and professional resources available to them through Penn State Health. Some resources include:

• Woodward Center for Excellence in Health Sciences Education
• Health Systems Science Academy
• Clinician-educator track
• Harrell Health Sciences Library

The geriatric fellow will get a chance to collaborate with house staff from the following areas:

• Internal Medicine Residency
• Trauma Surgery
• Pharmacy
• Physical Therapy
• Pastoral Services
• Fellows and students from other departments throughout the hospital