Plastic Surgery Residency

The Plastic Surgery Residency uses ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) for recruitment and matching.

Completed applications are reviewed and decisions are then made regarding the interview process.

This program usually receives around 250 completed applications, of which 30 applicants are granted interviews for the two categorical positions.

There are two interview dates, conducted in December and January.

The interview process consists of six formal interviews: five with faculty members and one with the chief residents. Between interviews, the applicant has the opportunity to interact with residents at various levels of the training in order to obtain the most accurate information about the quality and disposition of the residency.

The Plastic Surgery Residency would like to know what is happening with graduates. Many have been out of contact. Graduates are asked to email Sarah Sipe at swallace4@pennstatehealth.psu.edu with anything they would like to share.

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 647-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
• 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

Evidence-based medicine is the present and future of all of medicine. Plastic surgery is no exception. As a result of an increased push to prove concepts and treatments with sound research, academic institutions are expected to pave the way for future plastic surgeons in determining what is best for our patients.

The Division of Plastic Surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has made research a priority, requiring residents to write at least one abstract per year to local and to regional meetings. Several residents present research papers at the IVY Society. The division has been fortunate to have residents present at regional and national society meetings such as NESPS, ASPS, AAHS, AAPS, PSRC and ACPA.

With resident and faculty research expanding beyond the local level, costs have risen and funds allocated for resident travel are not always available. Making every effort to send residents to meetings where their work has been selected for presentation, funds are being withdrawn from the William P. Graham Resident Fund.

As the program continues to advance the science of plastic surgery, it seeks the support of former residents and graduates of the Plastic Surgery Residency. Donating to the William P. Graham Fund to support resident research will help the program continue to present work on the regional and national stage.

Give today

Choose “A specific area or multiple areas,” then “Other,” then specify Division of Plastic Surgery William P. Graham Fund in the box provided.

Mailing Address

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Department of Surgery
Division of Plastic Surgery
500 University Dr., MC H071
Hershey, PA 17033

General Contact Information

Email: swallace4@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

Fax: 717-531-4339

• Pediatric surgery, one month, Penn State Health Miton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC)
• Vascular surgery, one month, HMC
• Orthopaedic trauma surgery, one month, HMC
• Minimally invasive surgery, one month, HMC
• Plastic surgery, two months, HMC
• Surgical ICU, one month, HMC
• Trauma, one month, HMC
• Breast and surgical oncology, one month, HMC
• Night float, one month, HMC
• Transplant surgery, one month, HMC
• Colorectal surgery, one month, HMC

• Plastic surgery, two months, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC)
• Surgical ICU, one month, HMC
• Neurosurgery, one month, HMC
• Skin oncology, one month, HMC
• Breast, two months, HMC
• Oral and maxillofacial surgery, one month, Conestoga Oral Surgery/Lancaster General Hospital
• Anesthesia, one month, HMC
• Urology, one month, HMC
• Procedural dermatology, one month, HMC
• Trauma, one month, HMC

• Surgical ICU, one month, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC)
• Orthopaedic hand surgery, one month, HMC
• Oculoplastic surgery, one month, HMC
• Transplant surgery, one month, HMC
• Otolaryngology surgery, two months, UPMC Pinnacle Harrisburg Hospital
• Plastic surgery, two months, HMC
• Pediatric surgery, one month, HMC
• Hand surgery, one month, HMC
• Burn surgery, one month, Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Minimally invasive surgery, one month, HMC

• Adult reconstructive plastic surgery, four months, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC)
• Hand surgery, two months, HMC
• Breast aesthetic surgery, three months, HMC
• Pediatric/craniofacial plastic surgery, three months, HMC

• Cosmetic private plastic surgery, three months, UPMC Pinnacle Harrisburg Hospital
• Reconstructive plastic surgery, two months, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC)
• Breast aesthetic surgery, two months, HMC
• Pediatric/craniofacial plastic surgery, two months, HMC
• Hand surgery, two months, HMC
• Elective, one month, arranged with program director

International rotations in collaboration with Operation Smile are available for PGY-5 and PGY-6 plastic surgery residents in a variety of locations. Rotations typically occur during elective time during these training years as well as through the Regan and Stryker Fellowships available through Operation Smile.

These rotations are approved by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) and the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS), allowing residents to log cases they perform abroad.

One Resident’s Experience

A past resident described the international rotation this way:

“During our fifth and sixth years of training, we have been afforded the opportunity to explore our interest in plastic surgery with a monthlong elective. I have a strong passion for cleft surgery so I decided to travel to the northeastern corner of India to the city of Guwahati.

“A recent report has estimated that there are 1,000,000 unrepaired clefts in India with an annual incidence of 35,000 new clefts each year. In the rural state of Assam, where Guwahati is located, the population of 31,000,000 is served by eight plastic surgeons, many of whom do not perform cleft operations.

“Fortunately, measures have been taken to combat this public health discrepancy. The Guwahati Comprehensive Cleft Center (GC4) was created from a unique public and private partnership from Operation Smile India, the Government of Assam, the National Rural Health Mission, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Bupa International. GC4 is actively reaching out to the poorest and most remote villages to provide free comprehensive care to patients with clefts. The center has a speech therapist, social workers, a dentist, pediatric anesthesiologists and a pediatrician. It was heartbreaking to see the extent of malnutrition that still exists in the world today.

“The center was clean although the hospital still had open sewers. The OR was an open concept with multiple tables in the same room that were furnished with up-to-date equipment provided by Stryker. The three Indian staff surgeons were remarkably talented at cleft surgeries. Their knowledge, efficiency and results were exceptional. They were also excellent teachers as they have also created a fellowship program to train cleft surgeons from endemic areas throughout India, Asia and Africa.

“Their skill was crafted from an unprecedented case volume compared to American standards. There were three OR tables with two to four cases running every weekday. In fact, during my stay, the center performed their 12,000th case including all local and regional cases. I was able to operate on one to two primary cleft lips and one to two primary cleft palates per day. With this volume, I did more cleft surgery in one month than I will have done in my entire residency. Additionally, I surpassed the ACGME requirements for cleft cases by a factor of greater than 10. The spectrum of the pathology was unlike anything that would be seen in America. I was able to operate on a 26-year-old with a previously unrepaired complete cleft palate as well as a 72-year-old woman with an unrepaired complete cleft lip.

“This was a truly wonderful and rewarding experience that I will always remember. I arrived in India with a basic understanding of cleft surgery but left with a thorough comprehension of the finer technical details.”

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 Plastic Surgery Residency are listed here. Click the + next to a nominee name to read their nominator’s comments.

Each year, the plastic surgery residents honor a faculty teacher for excellence in teaching and mentoring.

Past recipients are listed here.

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 Plastic Surgery Residency are listed here.

Stephen H. Miller was a faculty member of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center from 1974 to 1979, and was nationally recognized for his excellence in education. He served as Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University, Chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and as Chief Executive Officer of the American Board of Medical Specialties. Dr. William P. Graham initiated this award in Dr. Miller’s name in 1997 to recognize the plastic surgery resident demonstrating outstanding teaching to the medical students and residents.

Past recipients of the award are listed here.