Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center-St Joseph Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a community-based, unopposed family medicine program at Penn State Health St. Joseph in Reading, PA, serving a highly underserved, ethnically diverse urban population out of the largest ambulatory care facility in the city. The program's identity is built around community medicine as a discipline in itself, with structured longitudinal rotations in each PGY year devoted to community needs assessment, advocacy projects (Veggie Rx, Walk with a Doc, migrant farm worker health screenings), and a formal Lifestyle Medicine curriculum leading toward ABLM board eligibility. It retains strong osteopathic roots and ACGME osteopathic recognition, offering OMM training in a dedicated clinic to both DO and MD residents, while its Penn State Health affiliation provides access to subspecialists and a larger academic system without diluting its community-hospital character. The program values residents drawn to primary care advocacy, population health, and hands-on engagement with a resource-limited urban community rather than subspecialty prestige or heavy research output.