Penn State College of Medicine students, alumni and faculty talk about why they were drawn to the lush campus in Hershey, Pennsylvania, from the innovative medical curriculum to the unique connection the college has to the surrounding community.
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Our medical school was founded on this idea of community outreach. Our crescent itself is the arms to the community, saying, we were trying to meet the needs, meet you where you are, and meet your needs in health.
So I've actually known I wanted to come to Penn State for medical school since I was a little kid. I had a heart defect repaired here when I was four-years-old. At Hershey, I was treated with respect, and compassion, and like I was a person, a little kid. So when I was thinking about going into the medical field and starting medical school, I knew that I wanted to come to a place that was going to instill those same characteristics in me.
Dear New Medical Student, Welcome to Hershey and the Penn State College of Medicine.
So during our White Coat Ceremony, I was nervous. My friends, family, everybody watching. But I was also very excited. And when we put on those white coats, we basically found, in our pockets, a note that was written from fairly recent alumni. And they were personalized notes.
Balance is not a steady state, but a constant shifting to keep yourself from falling to the ground. Best of luck. You are prepared to succeed.
I know that once I move out of my apartment, probably to move for residency, I'm going to open it in read it. And probably smile and reminisce on my time here.
When I was a medical student here, '02 to '06, I probably had four or six hours that was focused on systems based practice. And somebody gave a talk about the electronic health record, and somebody talked about the social determinants of health for a few hours. But what's changed now is that we have a significant curricular footprint.
So when our learners come in on day one, they're immersed in this fourth pillar of medical education, as well as the other three, to help them develop a professional identity that again, what we're terming is a systems ready physician.
One of the things that stands out to me as Penn State being really strong at, really unique, is this idea of a community. I just felt like I was welcomed with open arms. And so, I've always had this feeling that I kind of developed as a person when I came here. And I hope, in the future, when more buildings show up on campus and it gets larger and larger, I hope we maintain that sense of community.
I think Penn State is preparing me to be the type of doctor I want to be by leading by example. Everyone that you work within this hospital just has this awesome spirit of kindness, and compassion, and going out of your way for families, and patients, and children. And seeing providers live that out in their day-to-day life shows me that I'll be able to do the same thing.
That was so good.
We have a mission that we need to care for our patients of our communities, our state, our country. And every day I walk in, I feel as if our mission in the College of Medicine and Penn State Health is aligned with meeting those needs. And it's not an easy journey. There's a lot of challenges that exist in doing that. And there's some tensions that exist and all that. But that's why I come into work every day. And I'm looking forward to starting each day new.
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