PHILADELPHIA — The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Residency Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania a $2.3 million grant over the next five years to help train the next generation of OEM physicians.
"The Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency program at Penn helps address a national need; the shortage of residency trained Occupational and Environmental Medicine physicians in the United States," said Judith McKenzie, MD, MPH, associate professor of Emergency Medicine and OEM Residency Program Director. "This funding will provide critical support in helping us to continue to train OEM physicians, with specific aims to further diversify the workforce and help alleviate the national shortage."
OEM physicians are devoted to the conservation and restoration of the health of the workforce and promotion of worker health, productivity and well being. They diagnose, treat, and prevent occupational and environmental injury and disease, are experts in work fitness and disability evaluations, and in hazard recognition, evaluation, and control. OEM specialists are also versed in toxicology, disaster preparedness and emergency management. These physicians work in various settings such as corporations, government, and academia.
Since the program's inception in 1997, Penn has graduated 99 OEM residents. McKenzie hopes to be able to train 30 more residents over the next five years.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.