May 22, 2014

WellSpan York Hospital will serve as a regional medical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine under a new agreement signed by both institutions. The designation expands on an already existing academic affiliation.

Drexel University College of Medicine and WellSpan York Hospital have had an affiliation agreement since 2003, enabling Drexel medical students to rotate through select clinical specialties at York during their third and fourth years. Now, under the new regional medical campus designation, Drexel medical students will have the option to select WellSpan York Hospital as their primary clinical campus and complete all of their required clinical rotations there. WellSpan York Hospital will provide the full two years of training in core clinical areas such as surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, neurology, and psychiatry.

"We're very proud of the strong relationship we've built with WellSpan York Hospital over the years and we're very excited to expand our affiliation," said Daniel V. Schidlow, MD, Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs at Drexel University College of Medicine. "Our students have always received an outstanding clinical education at WellSpan York Hospital. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to now have the choice of experiencing their entire required clinical rotations at this magnificent campus."

Richard Sloan, MD, director of medical education, WellSpan York Hospital, said, "WellSpan has long regarded its medical education programs as integral to its ability to provide the community with the best and brightest physicians. This new relationship with Drexel University College of Medicine serves to further strengthen our medical education programs and, therefore, our ability to make quality primary care convenient and easy to access in the communities we serve."

As a regional medical campus, WellSpan York Hospital expects to attract more medical students from south central Pennsylvania who want to stay in the area after receiving their medical degree and eventually practice in the area.

The new regional medical campus designation takes effect July 1, 2014. Sloan has been appointed associate dean of the regional medical campus.

About WellSpan Health

WellSpan Health is an integrated health system that serves the communities of central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland. The organization comprises a multispecialty medical group of more than 660 providers, a home care organization, four respected hospitals, more than 11,000 employees and 93 patient care locations. WellSpan is consistently recognized by SDI as one of the Top 100 Integrated Health Networks in the United States and has been recognized by Health Imaging and IT as one of the nation's "Top 25 Connected Healthcare Facilities."