Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program Newsletter - Fall 2021

Fall 2021

Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update Welcome to our MD Class of 2025 Scholars!

Garrett Alexander II Joanna Bernatowicz Andy Bui Richard Callum Luke Cavanah Laura Christman Katarina Clegg Marybelle Daclan Grant DeLozier Dayna DeSalve Seth Ellison, MBS ’20 Melissa Endy Jessica Fanelli Madison Frank Nina Gennusa

Maya Glander Steven Grampp Emily Groff Yousef Hakim Mikayla Heid Noah Hoffman Geoffrey Huang Khevna Joshi Andrew Jurgielewicz Patrick Kowalski, MBS ’20 Benjamin Krouse Emily Kummerer, MBS ’20 Nicholas ‘Nick’ Mikolinis Alexis Nduka My Nguyen

Kathleen Paterson, MBS ’20 Riley Potter Evan Raubenstine Sophie Roe Lauren Rowe Tyler Schubert Mahdi Taye Mathura Thileepan Leah Thomas, MBS ’20 Ryan J. Ulibarri SooYoung VanDeMark, MBS ’20 Marisa Vanness Kevin Viera, MBS ’20 Lauren Yocum

Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update | Fall 2021

Scholars take part in summer research When Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine launched the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, it was intended to be part of a Geisinger systemwide push to expand access to primary care. Some of the program’s benefits were patently obvious: Students without debt have more freedom to choose primary care as a specialty. Thanks to the variety of research projects, however, Abigail Scholars are helping to improve the quality of primary care in the region even before they become practicing physicians.

Kim Kovalick, DO, assistant dean of primary care and assistant chair, family medicine, said, “More than 80 percent of our first-year scholars participate in the Summer Research Immersion Program (SRIP). This means they spend up to 40 hours per week during an 8-week period between their first and second years of school devoting themselves to research that improves the quality of primary care.”

Danville native Irene Ganahl said she has been passionate about creating greater access to healthcare ever since her days at Wellesley College. Unfortunately, as an undergraduate, she didn’t feel a similar passion for research.

“I did some wet lab research at Wellesley,” she said. “And I didn’t love it. But having this summer research experience — exploring patient satisfaction, quality of care and access to healthcare — I feel I am having an impact.”

Irene conducted research at Geisinger Primary Care South Wilkes-Barre, which has a higher rate of patient “no shows” (10 to 15 per day) than other Geisinger clinics.

“Over the summer I contacted the ‘no show’ patients and had conversations about why they couldn’t keep their

appointment. I coded the responses and collected other demographic information to discover why this clinic has such a high no show rate.”

Irene made hundreds of calls. “I left my questions openended. I didn’t have a check list. Some of the people just had no means to get there,” she said, adding that another barrier is “just forgetting.” “Many of the patients are not connected to the MyGeisinger portal and don’t have internet access. For this reason, using tech for this older population can also be a barrier,” she said.

When she initiated the project, Irene imagined a lot of resistance to her calls, but she said, “I was surprised by the response. People have been way more open to talking to me than I thought. Personally, I learned so much from actually talking to patients and asking them what we can do better. Exploring this new-to-me way of doing research has been very fulfilling.”

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Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update | Fall 2021

Addressing imposter syndrome Mindy’s feelings are not unusual.

Imposter syndrome was first identified in 1978 but the feelings of self-doubt, fear of being “discovered” and the belief that personal success is more likely due to luck than talent that characterize the syndrome did not get serious attention from medical schools until 2016. That was when the International Journal of Medical Education published a study linking the syndrome to medical student burnout.

Mindy’s less-than-affluent circumstances most likely played a role in her initial feelings of inadequacy. While raising a son, she worked as a medical assistant and obtained her undergraduate degree in increments over six years. Despite the burdens of a demanding daily schedule, she found time to indulge two of her interests, scientific research and art. At Penn State University-York she took part in a study of sexual dimorphism in spider genomes. She also worked artistically in charcoal and acrylics.

While she was working in a medical office and then a hospital, Mindy began to dream of being a doctor. “I loved seeing that doctor ‘magic’ — the trust people had in their physician,” she said. “But I was so afraid to say it out loud.

I could hear people saying, ‘It’s too hard. It will take too long. You are too old.’ When I finally started to tell people — and found support — it became real.”

Although medical education today is aware of the need to address imposter syndrome, Mindy Gruzin, a member of the MD Class of 2024, successfully dealt with the timidity and uncertainty that particularly affects disadvantaged students before she even applied to medical school.

“I was working as a medical assistant and thinking about going back to school, maybe for nursing. A few times I considered being a doctor, but saying that out loud sounded too lofty. I was afraid people would laugh and tell me I was being too grandiose,” Mindy said. She added that she needed to “work up the courage” to tell people she was going to apply to medical school. When she did, she found the mockery she had imagined to be just that — imaginary. Her friends and co-workers were supportive and encouraging.

Mindy chose Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine because “of Geisinger’s efforts to address the real problems I saw as a medical assistant. Things like doctors being too rushed and patients facing challenges like having to go from place to place to get things done.

Initiatives like 65 Forward are not common, but they should be,” she said.

However, it was the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program that truly changed Mindy’s life. “I was used to working to put myself through school. I have always had to hustle.

When I looked at the medical school debt, I thought that my son and I would just have took keep living small, as we had been. We were ready to do that. The Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program was a once in a lifetime opportunity. My feelings were, ‘Wow!’ My gratitude is through the roof.”

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Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update | Fall 2021

Scholar spotlight Sean Gilhooley, MBS ’20, was certain of two things when he entered Wilkes University as a biology major — he wanted to be a doctor and, more specifically, he wanted to be a primary care doctor.

“My dad is a primary care doc in Scranton, so I was introduced to medicine early. I learned from him what goes into medicine as a career,” he said. “But it was shadowing doctors when I was a student at Wilkes that convinced me to choose primary care. Every doctor I shadowed was in primary care, and I enjoyed seeing the relationships they had with their patients — they had known most of their patients for years and could easily talk about their families. They knew the person, not the symptoms on a paper.”

From Wilkes, Sean entered Geisinger Commonwealth as a Master of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) student.

That’s when he and his classmates first heard of the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program and began to discuss among themselves. “We talked about what your debt really is to go to medical school. It’s staggering. And I knew I wanted primary care, and I knew I wanted to stay in this region to serve my own community. It’s what really drew me in.”

Now a second-year medical student, Sean said he couldn’t be happier about his decision to apply to the Scholars program. He particularly likes the way Scholars are prioritized for experiences at sites that offer an up-close look at Geisinger’s signature innovations, such as 65 Forward clinics and the Fresh Food Farmacy. He also appreciates the special seminars Scholars attend. “My favorite last year was the second session, when we met with residency program directors and residents. We learned what is expected from each program. What impressed me most was the specialized advice we got regarding our individual career paths. That’s where I decided to focus on an internal medicine path.”

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Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update | Fall 2021

Scholar spotlight In October of 2018, Rebecca Petlansky thought that being accepted to Geisinger Commonwealth was the pinnacle of the journey she began as a high school student following local physicians. A letter she got in the spring of 2019 naming her an Abigail Geisinger Scholar changed her mind. “I have family in northeastern Pennsylvania,” she said. “I definitely wanted to stay here, and the letter told me I could, without the anxiety of medical school debt.”

Now in her third year, Rebecca has formed bonds with fellow Scholars and with her physician mentor. “I’m grateful that the school put us (the Abigail Geisinger Scholars) together right away,” she said. “We all met at a dinner just as we were beginning our first year.

I’ve also met my mentor, Dr. Denise Torres. It’s nice to know that I have someone to turn to, especially as I am getting ready to submit residency applications.

And now that I’m in Danville doing rotations, it’s good to know she’s close.”

Rebecca is completing her neuroscience block at Geisinger Medical Center. After that, she will rotate in pediatrics, the specialty she has dreamed of since high school. She said being in Danville and getting to know her future colleagues has been a joy. “Geisinger feels like a family,” she said. “Everyone is very kind and focused on their patients. I was a bit nervous about third year because you hear horror stories about grueling rotations, but that hasn’t happened.

Everyone is friendly, eager to teach and just wants what’s best for the patient.”

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Abigail Geisinger Scholars Update | Fall 2021

Another alumni comes home Maxwell E. Tolan, MD ’15, on Sept. 1 began his practice at CommunityCare Hazleton, a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike. Dr. Tolan, who completed his residency at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, specializes in family medicine and has served patients in Luzerne County since 2018.

“We are fortunate to have Dr. Tolan join our primary care team,” said Kim Kovalick, DO, Geisinger Commonwealth’s assistant dean of primary care and assistant chair, family medicine. “And I am very happy that our Abigail Geisinger Scholars have one more alumni mentor and role model. As both a graduate of Geisinger Commonwealth and a family medicine practitioner, I expect Dr. Tolan will be able to forge very close bonds with our students.”

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is committed to non-discrimination in all employment and educational opportunities.

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