Division
General Internal Medicine
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The Division of General Internal Medicine is committed to providing compassionate patient-centered care, innovating in medical education, attaining academic achievement, and conducting quality research.
The Division of General Internal Medicine boasts a rich history and commitment to comprehensive and compassionate patient-centered care at the Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. I am proud that members of our division are not just committed to improving the lives of community members in central Pennsylvania – they also lead key initiatives in medical education, quality improvement, health systems sciences and research that will have a transformative impact on patients around the world in the future.
The Division of General Internal Medicine was founded by our inaugural chief, Dr. John Burnside, with just three faculty members in 1972. The division now comprises 49 physician faculty (including six joint faculty and six PRN faculty), eight mid-level providers, four non-clinical faculty, four chief residents, fellows (in General Internal Medicine as well as Hospice and Palliative Medicine), and 16 staff (administrative and research support). Throughout our history, we have remained committed to providing outstanding adult primary and palliative care services to our central Pennsylvania community.
Our academic excellence results from our regionally and nationally recognized faculty. Perhaps my most important role as division chief is to recruit and support my extraordinary colleagues who demonstrate excellence and scholarship in education, research and patient care. It is truly an honor to serve this group of leaders in our field.
Cynthia H. Chuang, MD, MSc
Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
Professor of Medicine, Public Health Sciences, and Obstetrics and Gynecology
Kenneth V. and Eleanor M. Hatt Faculty Fellow
Co-Director, Penn State Center for Women’s Health Research.
Education in General Internal Medicine
With internationally recognized medical educators, the Division of General Internal Medicine is deeply committed to the education of students, residents, fellows, faculty and community members. Division faculty have integral leadership and teaching roles in the Penn State Internal Medicine Clerkship, Program and in the Woodward Center for Excellence in Health Professions Education.
Under the leadership of Dr. Eliana Hempel, the IM-APPS (Internal Medicine Accelerated Program at Penn State) allows medical students committed to primary care to participate in an accelerated medical school training program, thus graduating one year earlier to provide outstanding primary care services to central Pennsylvania.
Division members have been pioneers in the development of what is now recognized as the fourth pillar of medical education: health systems science. Led by Dr. Jed Gonzalo, the Penn State College of Medicine has been funded by prestigious grants from the American Medical Association to deliver innovative curriculum on how health care is delivered and how to improve the quality of health care for patients and populations.
The Division of General Internal Medicine is home to two fellowship programs. Under the direction of Dr. Jennifer McCall-Hosenfeld, the trains internists seeking careers in academic general internal medicine in research and/or medical education. The ACGME-accredited , led by fellowship director Dr. Susan Glod, trains physicians to provide high-quality care for patients with life-altering illness.
Research in General Internal Medicine
Division of General Internal Medicine faculty and staff are actively engaged in innovative research, supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Centers for Disease Control, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and other federal and non-federal sponsors. Areas of expertise include behavioral medicine, health services research, physical activity interventions, chronic disease management with a focus on diabetes, electronic health record and claims data-based research, end-of-life care, family planning and women’s health, medical education research, humanities in medicine, and health systems science. In Fiscal Year 2021, the division had nearly $22 million in research funding and faculty contributed more than 75 peer-reviewed publications.
Division faculty are integral to the research mission at the Penn State College of Medicine, with leadership roles in the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Center for Women’s Health Research and the Penn State Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction.
Division researchers are actively engaged in research beyond Penn State as well. Exemplars include the PCORNet PaTH Network, part of PCORI’s national network of institutions collaborating to utilize the electronic health record for innovative research, and Project ECHO, where Penn State researchers lead the national Impact Collaborative for the over 220 institutions nationally engaged in the ECHO movement.
Clinical Care in General Internal Medicine
The Division of General Internal Medicine provides compassionate, patient-centered primary care and palliative care services for adult patients. The division’s primary care practice site, Cocoa Outpatient Center, is located at 1150 Cocoa Avenue in Hershey, where physicians deliver comprehensive primary care for adults, including preventive health services, chronic disease management and acute care needs. Additional services include the addiction medicine clinic, procedure clinic, medical consultation clinic and acute respiratory clinic.
The section of Palliative Medicine, led by Dr. Kristina Newport, is an interdisciplinary program with board-certified palliative medicine physicians, advance practice clinicians, social work, spiritual care and nursing, providing consultative palliative care to both outpatients and hospitalized patients.
In addition to adult primary care and palliative medicine, many Division of General Internal Medicine faculty also provide patient care services in the areas of hospital medicine, geriatric medicine, addiction medicine and perioperative medicine.
