Michael Faulk, emergency medicine resident, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, was awarded the H. Arnold Muller Resident Scholarship Award. Each year the American Trauma Society, Pennsylvania division, presents this award to an emergency medicine resident in Pennsylvanian who displays the highest standards in professionalism and patient interaction.
Faulk joined Penn State Hershey Medical Center's Department of Emergency Medicine residency after graduating from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles in 2004. He earned a master of science degree in radiological physics with a focus in diagnostic radiology and neurobiology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Mich. While at Wayne State University, he served as a graduate research assistant and became involved with the Brain Imaging Program at Wayne State University Biomedical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory.
At one time, Penn State Hershey Medical Center had the 13th emergency medicine residency program in the nation, but due to an insufficient annual ED census, the program was discontinued in 1985. Christopher DeFlitch, director and vice-chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, pioneered the restart of the emergency medicine residency and completed the procedure for the institution to gain the formal three-year accreditation in 2003.
"Faulk is a member of the pioneering first class of the resurgent Penn State Emergency Medicine Residency," said DeFlitch. "He is a caring and insightful physician, mature beyond his years. He emulates the character and strength of H. Arnold Muller, one of the founding fathers of emergency medicine and a proud member of our faculty."
H. Arnold Muller was the first emergency physician and founding chief of emergency medicine at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Muller was a key person in developing emergency medicine as a specialty and served as national president for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). In addition, Muller was appointed Surgeon General for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for eight years. In this position, he assisted in the development of trauma systems, emergency medical service systems and radiation safety. Muller also served one year as chief of staff for Lebanon Veterans Affairs Hospital, and then returned to Penn State as a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine.