MD Admissions

Special Study & Research

Care 7

A comprehensive four-year curriculum that teaches students communication and palliative care skills using simulation-based experiential learning and structured immersive clinical practice. This program will produce medical students who are competent and skilled in the basic tenets of communication, empathy, professionalism, and knowledge in the care of patients with serious illness and palliative care needs. 

Fifth-Year Fellowships

For students who wish to delve more deeply into a subject, the School of Medicine offers a “year-out” option—a student sabbatical for scholarly pursuit—with a wide range of available funding:

  • Society fellowship and grants
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Anatomic Pathology Fellowship at Penn
  • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Orthopaedics Clinical Research
  • FOCUS on Health and Leadership for Women Fellowship
  • Year-out research funding (through grants)

Research & Fellowship Opportunities for Penn Med Students has complete information on how to pursue elective short-term and year-out projects and funding opportunities.

Global and Community Health

The School of Medicine offers an experiential approach to global and community health service.

  • Field experience with individuals and communities who are left out of the healthcare system, are underinsured, or uninsured
  • International partnerships in Botswana, Guatemala, India, and the Dominican Republic
  • Research and clinical experiences ranging from one month to a year in every region of the world
  • Bridging the Gaps program at clinics in under-resourced areas of Philadelphia

Students can choose to incorporate these experiences within the four-year MD program or in addition to it.

Measey Primary Care Pathway Program

The Measey Primary Care Pathway Program is designed to prepare Perelman School of Medicine students for careers in:

  • Family medicine
  • General internal medicine
  • Outpatient pediatrics
  • Geriatrics

The program offers rich experiences in the five component areas represented below. Students may apply in their first, second or third year of medical school at Penn.

Measey Specialty Transition Pathways (STeP) to Residency Program

Students will select a pathway based on their anticipated residency specialty in this 9-month, structured, longitudinal curriculum, designed to best prepare graduating medical students for their specialty specific roles and responsibilities. Students will participate in a STeP Foundations Course and meet regularly with a coach to create an individualized learning plan to address the skills they wish to work on prior to the beginning of internship.