Dr. Wayne J. Sebastianelli, who has served as director of athletic medicine at Penn State since 1992, has been named the new associate dean for clinical affairs for the Penn State College of Medicine Regional Campus in State College. Dr. Scott Lynch, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and the director of sports medicine at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, will become the new director of athletic medicine for the University.
Sebastianelli and Lynch start in their new roles on Sept. 1.
Sebastianelli succeeds Dr. Paul Nelson, who served as associate dean for clinical affairs at the regional campus in an interim capacity since July 2013. Nelson will continue to provide administrative and clinical consultative services and will remain engaged in educational aspects of the regional campus.
“Dr. Sebastianelli’s many years of working with Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and our football team set the standard for exceptional care for our student-athletes. We greatly appreciate his dedicated service and we look forward to him continuing as physician for nearly two-thirds of our University athletic teams,” said Sandy Barbour, Penn State director of athletics. “We welcome Dr. Lynch as director of athletic medicine and know that his experience and commitment will provide us with exceptional oversight and care that will continue to benefit student-athletes at Penn State.”
Sebastianelli is the Kalenak Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and also serves as the chief of staff at Mount Nittany Medical Center and Mount Nittany Surgical Center. He brings to the role of associate dean for clinical affairs a wealth of knowledge about the health care landscape in the Centre County region and is well positioned to help the Regional Campus meet the health needs of those communities. In his new role, he will have responsibility for:
- Oversight of Penn State Hershey’s expanding clinical programs in the Centre County region;
- Recruitment of new faculty to the regional campus
- Serving as associate director for Penn State Hershey Medical Group, overseeing the quality and performance of the Medical Group’s State College clinic sites;
- Developing and strengthening relationships with community physicians and healthcare practices;
- The continued development of clinical affiliations with Mount Nittany Health and other healthcare organizations in the area, in coordination with Penn State Hershey Health System leadership.
Sebastianelli will continue to serve as a team physician for more than a dozen University athletic teams, including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s track, men’s and women’s soccer, and cheerleading and dance. Additionally, he will remain in his position as medical director of the Penn State Sports Medicine Clinic in State College.
Prior to his appointment at Hershey, Lynch completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Vermont, and two Sports Medicine Fellowships, one at the Cleveland Clinic and one at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He was named the director of Sports Medicine at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in 2002 and has been the practice site medical director for the adult Bone and Joint Clinic in Hershey since its opening in 2008. He also serves as a team physician for several Harrisburg-Hershey area high schools, as an assistant team physician for the Hershey Bears hockey team, and as orthopedic doctor for the Penn State football team. Lynch is a member of the PIAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and provides medical coverage for many of the PIAA championship events.
Lynch was a national champion wrestler while at Penn State.