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Program Details
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center offers many opportunities for growth and experience in the medical field.
Hershey Medical Center is the only medical facility in Pennsylvania to be accredited as both an adult and a pediatric Level 1 trauma center, with 551 licensed beds and 63 associated specialty practices located at 24 clinics in eight central Pennsylvania counties.
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department was established in 2010 with the opening of the 54-bed Penn State Rehabilitation Hospital, a joint venture between Select Medical and Penn State Health Medical Group.
This venture between a premier academic medical center and a for-profit rehabilitation organization was so successful that the Rehab Hospital was expanded in 2014 to include an additional 44 beds (22 of them dedicated to Transitional Care), a Wound Care Center and an Outpatient Day Program. The Rehab Hospital is both Joint Commission and CARF-accredited.
For those interested in research, the 4,500-square-foot Penn State PM and R Research Laboratories include exercise, body composition, locomotor training and gait equipment at the Hershey Center for Applied Research, and complement the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, one of 64 National Institutes of Health-funded infrastructures that promotes and supports clinical/translational research in both Hershey and State College, Pa.
Learn More about the 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.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residents, 2019
Past residents from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency and the places where they went on to fellowship or employment are seen here.
About Hershey
Interested in learning more about living and working in Hershey, PA? See details here:
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
Curriculum Details
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation resident Renuka Rudra presents a poster at the Academic Association of Physiatrists in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in February 2019.
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)
Resident Honors and Recognitions
The annual Resident/Fellow Research Day is held each summer on and around the Penn State Health Milton S. Medical Center campus in Hershey, PA.
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.
Latest News from Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Program Leadership
Natasha Romanoski, DO
Program Director
