Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency

General Application Information

All applications must be received through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Applications should be completed by Dec. 31.

The following items must be included in the ERAS application:

• Curriculum vitae
• Personal statement
• Medical school transcripts
• Medical student performance evaluation (MSPE)/dean’s letter
• Letters of recommendation (at least three letters from faculty with at least one from a physiatrist)
• U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) or Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX) transcripts

U.S. clinical experience is preferred, but not required.

Potential candidates will be contacted via email to schedule interviews, which occur between October and January.

All candidates need to be registered with the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). The program does not offer any positions outside of the match.

International Medical Graduates

The program does accept applications from foreign medical graduates. The application process is similar to the above, and foreign medical graduates must apply via ERAS and be registered with the NRMP.

Applicants must be one of the following:

• U.S. citizen
• Permanent resident (green card holder)
• J-1 visa holder, sponsored through the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)

No other visas are sponsored. All international medical graduates must be certified by the ECFMG prior to the match, but not prior to applying.

Application Requirements

To be considered competitive for this program, applicants must have:

• Competitive scores on the USMLE. There is no specific cutoff for USMLE scores; however, generally applicants should have a score of 220 or above to be considered.
• U.S. clinical experience in the past two years with a letter from a U.S. physiatrist.
• Graduated from medical school in the past five years.
• Successfully completed the Clinical Skills requirement on the USMLE.
• ECFMG certification.

Past residents from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency and the places where they went on to fellowship or employment are seen here.

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

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 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

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. Our residency program has 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

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

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

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

The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency is a three-year advanced program for post-graduate years two though four (PGY-2 to PGY-4). The applicant is expected to attend an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited preliminary year before starting the residency program. The program combines both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation medicine with exposure to a number of topics.

Didactic schedule

• Weekly Didactics (Fridays 8:45 to 11:45 a.m.)
• Morbidity and Mortality Case Presentation (first Friday of each month, noon to 1 p.m.)
• Grand Rounds (second Friday of each month, noon to 1 p.m.)
• PM and R Research Lecture Series (third Friday of each month, 2 to 3 p.m.)
• Journal Club (fourth Friday of each month, noon to 1 p.m.)

Didactic topics

• Rehabilitation basics
• Gross anatomy dissection
• Electromyography (EMG)
• Injections
• Spinal cord injury (SCI)
• Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• MSK/biomechanics
• Prosthetics, orthotics and gait
• Research
• Quality improvement
• Cardiac
• Pulmonary rehabilitation
• Burns
• Wound care
• Cancer
• Rheumatology
• Geriatrics
• Sports medicine
• Ultrasound
• Pediatrics

• Traumatic brain injury (three months)
• Spinal cord injury (three months)
• Stroke rehabilitation (three months)
• Complex care/orthopaedics (three months)

• Sports medicine (one month)
• Interventional pain management (one month)
• Research (one month)
• Pediatrics (three months)
• Neurophysiology (three months)
• Clinic rotation (three months)

• Consults/senior inpatient (three months)
• Wound care/procedures (three months)
• Veterans Association Hospital musculoskeletal electromyography (MSK/EMG) (three months)
• Clinic rotation (three months)

• Penn State College of Medicine
• Simulation Center
• Department chair’s clinical library
• Harrell Health Sciences Library
• Hershey Center for Applied Research
• Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute

• Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• Penn State Rehabilitation Hospital
• Lebanon VA Hospital

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.