The Hematology Track is a separate, two-year, ACGME-accredited program that admits one fellow per year.
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Program Details
The combined program will prepare the trainee for obtaining board certification in both Hematology and Oncology. The two-year Hematology Program will prepare the trainee for obtaining board certification in Hematology.
To be a candidate for this ACGME-approved training position, the qualified candidate will be completing (or already has completed) a three-year ACGME-accredited internal medicine residency. It is expected that the candidate be board-eligible for internal medicine by the start of the training program.
The three-year combined Hematology/Oncology Fellowship aims to provide a strong foundation across the wide spectrum of hematology and oncology clinical medicine. Fellows will have an opportunity to build their skills in general hematology and oncology and work with content experts while building practical and professional development skills. Through a combination of outpatient clinic experiences supplemented by inpatient and consult services, fellows will be prepared for independent practice and careers with a focus of their choosing. The first 18 months of training are dedicated to foundations of practice through a combination of inpatient consult and outpatient clinical experiences. The second 18 months are individualized based on each fellow’s career goals with dedicated curriculum guided by 4 noncompetitive tracks:
- Generalist Track: Ideal for those interested in community based practice
- Disease Focus Track: Ideal for those interested in academic medicine with a clinical research interest
- Research Track/ABIM Pathway: Ideal for those interested in academic medicine with a lab or translational-based research
- Clinical Educator Track: Ideal for those interested in academic medicine with a clinical education interest
The two-year Hematology Track within the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship is intended to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills needed to address complex problems in blood diseases, with a focus on benign hematology. Trainees in the two-year Hematology Track will be required to develop individual research projects to be completed within six months of the two-year fellowship. A third year in either clinical or basic/translational research will be facilitated for trainees who successfully complete the two-year program and are committed to a career in academic medicine.
The Graduate Medical Education Office coordinates residents interested in participating in a Hematology/Oncology elective at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Learn more about visiting residents here.
Program Highlights
- Varied experience
- University academic hospital – 90 to 100% of time spent at university hospital
- Affiliated VA hospital
- Community-based elective at affiliated sites
- Stem cell transplant program (allogeneic, autologous and CAR-T therapy)
- Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center of Central Pennsylvania
- Sickle cell clinic
- Cancer genetics program
- Health population sciences
- Palliative care medicine
- Pediatric hematology/oncology
- Radiation oncology
- Cooperative group affiliation
- Opportunity to participate in basic science, laboratory research or clinical trial
- Dedicated Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Office: Big Ten network, ACRIN, ECOG, NSABP, RTOG, pharmaceutical industry trials
Learn More about the Fellowship
General Application Information
The Hematology/Oncology Fellowship participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), and all applications are submitted through ERAS, the Electronic Residency Application Service.
Application Requirements: Hematology/Oncology Fellowship
- Possess an MD or DO degree
- Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, permanent resident or holder of a J-1 training visa per institutional policies
- Have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited internal medicine residency training program
Application Requirements: Hematology Track
- Possess an MD or DO degree, or a doctoral degree in a related discipline
- Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, permanent resident or holder of a J-1 training visa per institutional policies
- Have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited internal medicine residency training program
- Have a commitment to a career focused on benign hematology, with a specific interest in hemostasis and thrombosis
What to Submit
Applicants will need to submit the following information through ERAS:
- ERAS application
- CV
- Three letters of recommendation (one from the residency program director)
- Medical school transcript
- USMLE scores
- Personal statement
The core faculty in the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship and the Hematology Track are full-time academic physicians committed to patient care, teaching and laboratory and clinical research.
Many allied faculty at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and affiliated institutions participate in training the fellows.
Faculty research interests include endocrine oncology, transplant immunology, LGL leukemia, bleeding and clotting disorders, bone metastases, tumor biology and population science.
Virtual Tour
Penn State Health
Penn State Health is a multi-hospital health system serving patients and communities across 29 counties of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to improve health through patient care, research, education and community outreach.
In December 2017, the system partnered with Highmark Health to facilitate creation of a value-based, community care network in the region. The shared goal of Highmark and Penn State Health is to ensure patients in the community are within:
- 10 minutes of a Penn State Health primary care provider
- 20 minutes of Penn State Health specialty care
- 30 minutes of a Penn State Health acute care facility
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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 628-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 28,500 admissions, 75,000 emergency department visits, 1.1 million outpatient visits and 32,000 surgical procedures annually
- Designated as a Magnet hospital four consecutive times, one of 116 hospitals to do so
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
- 146 licensed pediatric beds, 18 acute care beds 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 and approximately 5,000 pediatric patient discharges annually
Learn more about Penn State Health Children’s Hospital
Penn State Cancer Institute
Penn State Cancer Institute
400 University Dr., Hershey, Pa., 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)
- The region’s only comprehensive cancer center
- Clinical services offered at the institute in Hershey, Pa., as well as in State College, Pa. (in partnership with Mount Nittany Health) and Reading, Pa., at Penn State Health St. Joseph
- Five floors, with ground level and first two devoted to patient care and top two housing research labs
- Infusion therapy suites, private chemotherapy rooms and a state-of-the-art radiation oncology suite
- Dedicated chemotherapy and infusion pharmacy
Welcome to Hershey
More About Hershey
Interested in learning more about living and working in Hershey, Pa.? See details here:
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
Graduate medical education resources
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 Inclusion Academy
- Regular events on topics such as eradicating racism and creating a culture of inclusiveness
- An allyship support group
- Many affinity resource network groups, including:
- Disability Affinity Resource Network Group
- Group on Women in Medicine and Science
- Interfaith Affinity Resource Network Group
- LGBTQ and Allies Affinity Resource Network Group
- Military/Veterans Affinity Resource Network Group
- Multicultural Affinity Resource Network Group
- NextGen
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
Mailing Address
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Division of Hematology/Oncology
500 University Dr., Mailcode CH46
Hershey, PA 17033-0850
Curriculum Details
Sections involved in the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship include:
- Continuity clinic with individualized cohort of patients for different disease types
- Outpatient Foundations Clinic rotations
- Hematology consultation service
- Oncology consultation service
- Inpatient hematology/oncology team
- Hematology lab/blood bank
- Gynecologic oncology and genetics
- Lebanon VA Hospital
- Community practice elective at affiliated sites
- Palliative care
- Radiation oncology therapy
- Stem cell transplant
- Research
The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) is a twice-a-year chart review that serves as the ACGME-required Practice-Based Learning improvement project. Learn more about QOPI here.
Didactic learning includes the following:
- ACGME Core Competency Lecture Series
- Cancer Institute Interdisciplinary Conference
- Hematology/Oncology Grand Rounds
- Medicine Grand Rounds
- Schwartz Center Rounds
- Fellows’ noon conferences are held Monday-Friday on the following topics:
- High Yield Disease Based Management topics by Heme/Onc Faculty
- Biostatistics
- Journal club
- Ethics and communications
- Genetics
- Pharmacology
- Board review
- Peripheral slide series
- Fellow tumor board
- Hematology case conference
- Benign hematology conference series
- Fellow Feedback Sessions
- Tumor-specific conferences
- Brain tumor
- Breast
- G.I. foregut tumor conference
- G.I. conference
- G.U.
- Head and neck
- Melanoma & cutaneous malignancies
- Sarcoma
- Thoracic
- Malignant hematology
- Benign hematology
- GYN
Evaluations of the fellows will be completed using the following methods:
- Individual semi-annual reviews
- Multisource (360-degree) evaluations
- Self-assessments
- Systematic annual program review
- Each fellow must attend a conference for bone marrow biopsy training.
- Each fellow must complete five supervised marrows with either an experienced APP or senior fellow with satisfactory sampling. Each fellow will be assigned to an experienced APP team or senior fellow to complete five supervised marrows in their first month of fellowship
- After completion of five supervised marrows, each fellow must arrange to have one witnessed bone marrow biopsy by the program director or associate program director or other approved hematology attending with satisfactory sampling. Attending will “sign off” on fellow’s ability to perform marrows on their own.
Fellow 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 Hematology/Oncology Fellowship are listed here. Click the + next to a nominee name to read their nominator’s comments.
Latest News from Hematology/Oncology
Latest News from Penn State Cancer Institute
Program Leadership
Matthew Evans, MD
Program Director
Monali Vasekar, MD
Associate Program Director - Oncology
Myles Nickolich, MD
Associate Program Director - Hematology
