Learning Environment

The learning environment for Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) pharmacy residency program participants is exceptional.

About Allegheny General Hospital

Our hospital is a national leader in cardiovascular, cancer, neuroscience and orthopaedic and rehabilitation care, and offers a wide array of medical and surgical specialties. We serve as the primary medical provider for orthopaedic and sports medicine for the Pittsburgh Pirates. AGH was the region’s first hospital to receive Level I Shock Trauma Center designation, the highest available, and our Life Flight aeromedical service was the first to fly in the northeastern United States.

Comparion Medical Analytics ranked many of our programs at Allegheny Health Network (AHN) among the best in the country, according to its 2016 National Quality ratings. Among them, AHN was ranked the #1 Large Health System for Hospital, Medical, and Surgical Care Quality in Western PA, the region’s #1 Heart, Kidney, and Liver Transplant Programs, and our Organ Transplant Quality is rated in the top 5 percent nationally.

In 2020, AGH was designated as an antimicrobial stewardship center of excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. In the same year, AGH also became the only hospital in Pennsylvania designated as Comprehensive Cardiac Center by The Joint Commission and The American Heart Association. In 2024, AGH achieved Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Research at Allegheny Health Network

Allegheny Health Network’s Research Institute is a nationally recognized center of expertise dedicated to advancing the understanding, prevention and treatment of diseases. Individual research institutes that comprise the program include:

Allergy, Asthma, and Autoimmunity Institute
Center for Biofilm Research
Cancer Institute
Cardiovascular Institute
Institute for the Treatment of Esophageal and Thoracic Disease
Orthopaedic Institute
Psychiatry Institute
Neuroscience Institute

Our research program spans a diverse range of investigative areas, such as:

Basic science – We are harnessing the power of genomic science to transform the way diseases are treated on the cellular and molecular levels.
Clinical science – Our researchers are developing new devices, procedures, and techniques that are helping clinicians to better diagnose and treat diseases and conditions.
Translational research – We are transferring discoveries from the laboratory bench into treatments that get to the patient much quicker.

Through Allegheny Health Network, we have enlisted the help of some of the world’s most renowned physicians to test these applications in clinical settings. This gives us a unique advantage not found in many other research centers. Research is conducted at each of our hospitals as well as at a number of separate labs.

We have formed research partnerships with several of the world’s most prestigious research centers to further improve patient care:

Cleveland Clinic – Allegheny Health Network is working with the laboratory of Dr. Jay Alberts (Edward F. and Barbara A. Bell Family Endowed Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland Clinic) to optimize the use of tablet devices for collecting and analyzing patient information in the treatment of concussions.
Disruptive Health Technology Institute – To increase the affordability, simplicity and accessibility of healthcare, Allegheny Health Network has teamed with Carnegie Mellon University and Highmark to form the Disruptive Health Technology Institute (DHTI). Our goal is to create an environment where healthcare innovations can be clinically tested and rapidly delivered to patients. Starting with an unmet clinical need and market demand, we work backwards to develop the technology needed to address this need or demand. DHTI focuses on seven key areas: accessibility of medical diagnostics, behavior change, chronic disease management, data mining, improved endoscopy, improved diagnostic ultrasound and infection prevention.