Dear Colleagues,
With great pleasure, I am writing this letter to provide a brief update on the activities and accomplishments within Penn Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). Our clinical, educational and research programs and resources continue to thrive as evident in this newsletter.
On a personal note, I am pleased to announce that Penn PM&R has recently and successfully participated in a rigorous internal and external departmental review of its academic, clinical and research programs. Such reviews are mandated every six years for every academic department within the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Among the highlights of this review included the successful recruitment of critical clinical and research faculty who will be introduced in this newsletter. Key research, clinical and educational programs were observed to continue to evolve. As one example, three of our research faculty (Drs. Yejia Zhang, Randel Swanson and Flavia Vitale) have secured bench research space at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz/Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, to develop their programs in spinal discogenic disease, traumatic brain injury and nanotechnology, respectively. Thus, focused, diversified and collaborative clinical and research pursuits continue to be operationalized within this department. In the clinical realm, it was recognized during our departmental review that our joint clinical venture with the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, that is, Good Shepherd Penn Partners, is strongly competitive for providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care locally and regionally, particularly for medically complex patients such as cancer survivors and those who have had organ transplantations. The Penn PM&R faculty now have physiatric outpatient practices in up to six outpatient satellite sites across the Delaware Valley within the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Finally, our residency training program has achieved national recognition as one that is viewed to be selective, competitive, and educationally well balanced.
With these “big picture” thoughts in mind, I am optimistic, and enthusiastic to continue to serve as the Penn PM&R academic chair and Physiatrist-in-Chief within Penn Medicine for another six year term.
Sincerely,
Timothy R. Dillingham, MD, MS
The William J. Erdman II Professor and Chair, and Physiatrist-in-Chief
Penn PM&R, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania