Penn State Hershey Colon and Rectal Surgery

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is an academic medical center and the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery has an active clinical and basic science research program.  The Colon and Rectal resident will be expected to participate in the clinic research activities of the division.  He/she will be expected to become involved in a clinical project early in the fellowship and to submit at least one abstract to the annual meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and other meetings.  Funding is available to send the resident to the ASCRS annual meeting and any other meeting at which the resident has a presentation.

The Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery also has an active research laboratory studying inflammatory bowel disease.   In addition to the Colon and Rectal Surgery faculty, the laboratory is staffed with two Ph.D.’s, one General Surgery resident, and four technicians.  There are also medical students, Gastroenterology fellows and others who rotate through the laboratory.   On going projects include: 

• Genetic Characterization of a familial IBD registry”
• Alteration of the Tight Junction Proteins in IBD”
• The Role of Probiotics in IBD”
• Signal Transduction in IBD”
• Metastasis of IBD associated Colon and Rectal Cancer”

During the clinical year time for basic science research is limited, but interested residents can arrange for an additional year or two dedicated to basic science research.  If you are interested in the research opportunities, please contact Dr. Poritz.