Penn State Hershey is a modern 504-bed facility which provides a range of primary to quaternary medical services to a large catchment area in rural central Pennsylvania, spanning from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Patients present with a broad variety of problems ranging from common everyday orthopaedic conditions to the most complicated of injuries shuttled to our Level I Trauma Center by the institution’s two helicopter transport units.
The program consists of six clinical services that encompass all of the recognized areas of subspecialty orthopaedic practice, each represented by fellowship-trained faculty members. A senior and junior resident are paired on each of the services; in addition to the high priority given to teaching by the faculty members, the pairing of residents encourages mentoring and camaraderie. Additional clinical rotations include emergency and inpatient consultation services at Hershey Medical Center as well as an extramural community hospital rotation which provides firsthand exposure to the common challenges of contemporary orthopaedic practice. Outpatient practice is organized through three separate centers: the Sports Medicine Center with its own contiguous sports rehabilitation facility; the Arthritis, Bone and Joint Center with musculoskeletal practitioners in orthopaedics, rheumatology, radiology and metabolic bone disease; and the Rehabilitation Center which is home to physical medicine, pediatric orthopaedics and therapy services.
A regular morning conference schedule provides a didactic session each day prior to the commencement of activity in the operating room. Conferences range from weekly grand rounds to a rotation of specific subspecialty conferences, an operative indications conference, monthly morbidity and mortality review, an interdisciplinary tumor board and a core basic science curriculum. This strong program is supplemented by an array of service-specific meetings and a monthly journal club.
We also offer a Foot and Ankle Fellowship under the direction of Paul J. Juliano, M.D. This one-year program provides a comprehensive approach to foot and ankle surgery. The Fellow will be exposed to and participate in all aspects of foot and ankle surgery including total ankle replacement. The Fellow will also be expected to participate in one or more publication-quality research projects during the year.
The Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory, located adjacent to the academic department offices, provides a unique opportunity to study musculoskeletal disease from an interdisciplinary perspective. Faculty expertise includes bone and cartilage cell biology, molecular biology, experimental biomechanics and computational finite element analysis. Research activities range from cell and tissue culture to in vivo animal models and biomechanical studies supported by both servohydraulic materials testing equipment as well as computational finite element modeling. Each resident is afforded unlimited access to the Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory, its faculty and its resources. The resident is expected to participate in an investigative project that provides an introduction to critical scientific thinking as well as a foundation for a lifetime of analysis of the published orthopaedic literature.
In addition to this five year residency program, residents will have the option to participate in a six year residency program aimed at providing training for an academic career. This newly developed program, sponsored by the department, will enable residents to gain hands-on experience in research (Track 1), including grant writing, experimental techniques (engineering, biology or clinical) and manuscript preparation and/or education (Track 2), including leadership training and resident education. In addition, the resident will spend one full year in the laboratory conducting a self-initiated research study of their interest with mentoring from the clinical and basic science faculty. In addition, they will take formal courses in related areas such as biostatistics, clinical trials and cell and molecular biology techniques. The program goal is to provide these residents with the knowledge, experience and confidence to successfully establish themselves as orthopaedic surgeons in an academic environment. This program is financially supported by The Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, approved by the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and will result in the resident being awarded a Post-Baccalaureate Credit Certificate in Academic Medicine. For additional information refer to Penn State Hershey Graduate Student Affairs.
We are located in a rural setting with easy access to major cities of the Eastern seaboard by a short car or train trip. Within Hershey itself, is a diverse array of activities including theatre, outdoor recreation, a sports plaza and indoor/outdoor pool complex, Zoo America, Hershey Park arena facilities, youth sports leagues, professional hockey, soccer and baseball, Hershey Gardens, museums and an outstanding public school system.
We appreciate your interest in our program and look forward to the opportunity to share with you our pride in Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Penn State College of Medicine.
For more information regarding Penn State Hershey Orthopaedics' residency training program, please email the residency program coordinator at OrthoResidency@hmc.psu.edu.
