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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.
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 548-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 three times
Learn more about Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Penn State Health Children’s Hospital
600 University Dr., Hershey, Pa. 17033 (Derry Township, Dauphin County)
- A five-story, 263,000-square-foot-facility built in 2013
- Three-floor expansion opened in November 2020
- Level IV (highest-level) neonatal intensive care unit
- Level I (highest-level) pediatric trauma center designation
- Dedicated pediatric operating rooms
- More than 150,000 pediatric outpatient visits and approximately 5,000 pediatric patient discharges annually
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
Graduate medical education resources
Institutional Resources
Penn State Health celebrates, embraces and supports the diversity of all patients, faculty, staff, students and trainees.
Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In keeping with this, the institution has an active Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with various programs, networks and resource groups, including:
- Regular talks and lectures on diversity, equity and inclusion
- Periodic town halls 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
- A new organization specifically for trainees, the Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows
Learn more about the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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
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
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 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
