A newly-launched medical school program in State College will be highlighted Wednesday during the annual open meeting of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center board of directors. The program presently involves 13 medical students who are in their third year, and spent their first two years at Derry Twp.-based Penn State College of Medicine.

The purpose is to train doctors closer to rural communities where they will eventually work, and help remedy shortages in those areas. The program is a collaboration involving Penn State-Hershey, Mount Nittany Medical Center and other medical providers based in the State College area.

According to a news release, the meeting also will highlight items including the record $107 million in research funding received by the medical center and Penn State College of Medicine during the most recent fiscal year. The figure represents a $1.5 million increase from last year, with about $65 million coming from the National Institutes of Health.

The meeting is expected to further highlight the center's new Institute for Personalized Medicine. The goal of personalized medicine is to tailor treatments based on the patient's biologic and genetic makeup.

Penn State-Hershey, which was founded in 1963, has 491 beds and admits about 27,000 patients annually. Its most recent class of medical school graduates included 131 doctors, and it annually gets about 7,300 applicants for 145 medical school slots, according to the medical center.

The hour-long board meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Edward P. "Ted" Junker III Auditorium at the medical center.

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Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center will tout record research funding, new programs