Letter from the Chair

From the Director

Thank you for your interest in the Upstate Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency program. We all look forward to meeting you and showing you all that Central New York has to offer.

While Syracuse is famous for sports and a four seasons climate, it also boasts all of the cultural and entertainment activities that are expected of a progressive city with major Universities. Our airline connections remain excellent, and there is easy driving access to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal. The Central New York and Finger Lakes regions offer outdoor activities for all seasons. Low cost of living makes it easy to find affordable housing. Some of our residents with families are even able to buy homes in the nearby suburbs during their time with us here.

 

Upstate’s PM&R program has been growing for more than 30 years and we continue to add new site locations to support our growing outpatient practice and clinical experience for out residents. Our faculty cover all major subspecialty and practice areas including Brain injury Medicine, Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, Pain Medicine, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Musculoskeletal Medicine and Sports Medicine, and Prosthetics & Orthotics. We support a 2 position/year SCIM fellowship in collaboration with the Syracuse VA Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders Program and a 1 position/year Sports Medicine Fellowship. Upstate University Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in CNY (designated for adult trauma, and the only pediatric trauma and burn designations) and is the first Level 1 Comprehensive Stroke Center, serving an approximate 2 million population area. This supports a referral pattern that results in the comprehensive PM&R experiences for our Residency Program.

 

The Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency Program at Upstate Medical University is now a 4-year categorical program (PGY1 works principally with Internal Medicine, PGY2-PGY4 within PM&R) of progressive education and responsibility. We recently changed to the categorical program and the full four years with one hospital system offers ease of transitions by having working knowledge of the Electronic Medical Record system (Epic), becoming familiar with Internal Medicine’s and other Department’s house staff and attendings which is helpful during PM&R rotations (especially our high-acuity Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit within the hospital), and generally appreciating the procedures and policies of the Upstate hospital system. Within PGY1 rotations are scheduled PM&R rotations with the opportunity to schedule one-week elective rotations within PM&R.

 

Our program possesses all the resources needed for an excellent learning environment: a University Hospital with Level 1 services serving a large population, a Children’s Hospital, the adjacent VAMC, and an SNF rehabilitation program (with a dedicated brain injury rehabilitation unit) for inpatient services, and our outpatient programs within University Hospital and the VAMC, plus three sites outside of the hospital systems covering the east and west sides of town and our newly opened site north of the city and close to the planned Micron Technology Inc. operations. An indication of our commitment to educational excellence is our long-standing policy of operating some services uncovered by residents, in order to ensure that assignments provide definable educational value. This creates an environment in which the resident has both appropriate clinical experiences and the time necessary for academic study, reflection, and hands-on experience with allied health staff. Our expectation is that at completion of the residency, graduates will be capable and competent to enter clinical practice and/or be highly competitive for their chosen fellowship.

 

Please review the remainder of the PMR Residency webpages for more details about the educational program and the ease of living in upstate New York.

 

Good luck and we hope you meet you here at our facility or at a future AAPM&R conference!

 

Dr. Robert Weber