Welcome to STRP. We want to share our excitement about graduate medical education in Northeast Pennsylvania. Our program has provided career fulfillment to our faculty, our staff, our residents and private practicing physicians in this region. We are most energized by the development of The Commonwealth Medical College which has accepted its first class of medical students to begin on August 9, 2009. The Medical College was an idea that was first proposed at a STRP Board Planning retreat on October 25, 2004. It has already been approved as by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and accredited as an allopathic medical school by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.

I also want to share with you our enthusiasm about our affiliation with Community Medical Center (CMC). STRP has been affiliated with Mercy and Moses Taylor Hospitals since 1977. Beginning in July '08, we had 3 residents rotating at Community Medical Center (CMC) at all times. Our program will be greatly enhanced this year by increasing our resident complement to 10. STRP has added 3 full-time and 3 part-time faculty to fulfill this mission.

We are making great progress in developing additional residencies and fellowships. We intend to apply for accreditation of fellowships in cardiology and palliative care during the coming academic year. Our office for research support has helped with 39 ongoing projects. STRP is participating in an internationaly sponsored study for acute coronary syndrome this year as one of the major contributing sites. Our Institutional Review Board has seen an increase in submissions as a result of the interest of our faculty in clinical research.

We are also busy planning residencies in Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology to provide opportunities for students and graduates of The Commonwealth Medical College and students from other affiliated medical schools whose support we have enjoyed over the past years.

And so it is with great enthusiasm that I invite prospective internal medicine residents to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity to pursue training in a setting with such dynamic potential. I hope you find this website to be effective in communicating the enormous opportunity being on the STRP presents.

Robert E. Wright, M.D., F.A.C.P.

President and CEO