Graduate Medical Education
Graduate Medical Education Strategic Priority
Define workforce needs for our system and our region
Grant establishes ‘first of its kind’ preventive medicine residency program in Pennsylvania Graduate Medical Education has been awarded a three-year, $750,000 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant focused on the Thompson development of a public health — general preventive medicine (PH/GPM) rural residency program — the first of its kind in Pennsylvania. Based at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, the residency program will primarily serve the communities of Mifflin, Juniata and surrounding counties, while creating opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention across Geisinger and in the Commonwealth. “This program is the first of its kind to receive funding from HRSA’s Rural Residency Grant Planning
Geisinger Wyoming Valley graduates its first internal medicine cohort of 13 residents. Program director, Dr. Wasique Mirza said of the first 13 residents, “Internal medicine residents are the backbone of any clinical service. It was a big missing piece in the Northeast.”
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Program and will support development of physicians who are knowledgeable in the unique care needs seen in rural populations. Currently in the United States, only four of the 64 accredited PH/GPM programs are located in rural regions and access to this training is unavailable in Pennsylvania,” said Michelle Thompson, MD, Geisinger’s designated institutional official, chief education officer and vice dean for graduate medical education. We anticipate initial residency accreditation for the three-year program in 2026, with the first class of two residents matriculating in 2027,” she said. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Geisinger College of Health Sciences’ School of Graduate Education to design a public health/general preventive medicine residency program dedicated to improving health in Geisinger’s Western Region and making better health easier for all Geisinger patients — no matter where they live.”
