Wright Center Alumni Mag 24

Graduate Medical Education Alumni Magazine 2024

Sneak Peek

Faith, Family, & Medicine Northeast Pennsylvania offers Family Medicine Residency Program graduate the right balance for his life and priorities ...Page 23

Alumnus applies life’s early lessons as CMIO at The Wright Center.

...Page 08

Doing Wright in Our Communities

Alumni fuel The Wright Center’s mission

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coast to coast, with more than 200 physicians in training.

rom childhood dreams about becoming a doctor to leading one of the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)funded teaching health centers, Jumee Barooah ’13, M.D., FACP, has relied on a deep commitment to patient care and medical education.

She sharpened those passions as an Internal Medicine resident in what is now known as The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education and later became the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education designated institutional official (DIO), underscoring her dedication to community-based health care and medical training. Today, she is one of dozens of alumni who have gone on to work at The Wright Center, delivering on the mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.

Retaining physicians to address the long-standing physician shortage and improving access to whole-person primary health services were paramount to Robert E. Wright, M.D., FACP, when he collaboratively launched what was then the Scranton-Temple Residency Program (STRP) in 1976. As a young doctor in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he was concerned about how the lack of physicians could affect the community.

“In 1977, the average age of a primary care doctor in Scranton was 57. By the early 1990s, it was 43,” Dr. Wright said, adding that the region continues to struggle with a doctor shortage. “I got enormous fulfillment from patient care, but I would have burned out without educational renewal. And I think it’s been very successful at training and retaining doctors.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

Dr. Barooah and her husband, cardiologist Pranjal Boruah, ‘11, M.D., met in medical school in their native India and chose STRP partly because the region reminded them of home. The more Dr. Barooah learned about The Wright Center and its mission, the more she wanted to remain a part of it.

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Taking on the role of DIO at The Wright Center during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated Dr. Barooah’s resilience and leadership.

Her experience stabilizing programs reflects her determination and strategic approach to health care education.

Jumee Barooah ’13, M.D., FACP, senior vice president of education and The Wright Center for Graduation Medical Education’s Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education designated institutional official, presents Wail Alsafi ’23, M.D., with an outstanding fellow certificate in 2023.

“Dr. (Linda) Thomas-Hemak was my doctor, and I just fell in love with her philosophy and how she and the entire enterprise took care of patients and our communities,” said Dr. Barooah, who first dreamed of becoming a doctor at age 9.

After completing her Internal Medicine Residency and moving to Washington state for a few years to pursue other opportunities, Dr. Barooah and her husband decided they missed Northeast Pennsylvania and returned in 2016.

“Around the time we began thinking of leaving for Washington state, Dr. Thomas was having conversations with me about becoming the medical director at our Mid Valley primary care community health center,” she said. “When she learned we were coming back, we began talking about the opportunity.”

In addition to becoming the Mid Valley location’s medical director, Dr. Barooah also served as associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She first discovered her love for teaching as a medical resident in India. As she continued growing as a leader and educator, officials at The Wright Center began envisioning another leadership role for her: DIO. Dr. Wright said the DIO role is a tough one, especially as The Wright Center grew from training six Internal Medicine residents in 1977 to offering resident and fellowship programs from

“Within a month of starting as DIO, COVID-19 hits,” she said. “And there was no time. It was all hands on deck, taking care of patients, taking care of residents, and solving problems.

“Being immersed in a new role amidst the pandemic offered many opportunities to learn and grow. There’s still work to be done as we make sure our programs are optimized and new opportunities are explored.”

Dr. Barooah has a vision for planning and developing new residency programs, especially in critical areas, including pediatric dentistry, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology, as a forward-thinking way to address the region’s evolving health care needs.

Throughout its history, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has consistently succeeded in retaining alumni or inspiring them to work at other similar community health centers and mission-driven provider networks. These organizations are committed to delivering care to underserved areas, including lowincome urban neighborhoods and rural settings, thereby improving the lives of vulnerable populations.

Dr. Barooah’s leadership underscores the importance of developing and retaining the next generation of physician providers, educators, and leaders who will shape the future of medical education and patient care.

“When I first interviewed for a residency program, I could not have imagined the growth,” Dr. Barooah said, noting that when she began, the program operated out of three rooms on the fourth floor of Mercy Hospital.

“Our future is very bright.”

501 S. Washington Ave., Suite 1000 Scranton, PA 18505

Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP President and CEO Ronald P. Daniels, MBA, CPA Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer Jignesh Y. Sheth, M.D., FACP, MPH SVP and Chief Medical and Information Officer Jumee Barooah, M.D., FACP SVP, Education and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Designated Institutional Official Jennifer Walsh, Esquire SVP, Corporate Integrity, Compliance and Legal Services Chief Governance Officer Douglas Klamp, M.D. SVP, Chief Medical Education Officer, Internal Medicine Program Director, Inpatient/Outpatient Physician Faculty, and Chair of Resident and Fellow Talent Acquisition Meaghan Ruddy, Ph.D., M.A. SVP, Enterprise Wellness and Resiliency, Assessment and Advancement, and Chief Strategic Research & Development Officer Brian Ebersole VP, Academic Affairs and Associate Designated Institutional Official Kellie Knesis, M.S., SHRM-SCP VP, Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer Sandra Yastremski, CPA SVP and Chief Financial Officer William Dempsey, M.D. Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director of The Wright Center for Community Health in Clarks Summit Erin McFadden, M.D. Deputy Chief Medical Director, Medical Director of The Wright Center for Community Health in Scranton and at Scranton Counseling Center, and Dean for Undergraduate Medical and Interprofessional Education Manju Mary Thomas, M.D. Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director, Pediatrics and School- and Community-Based Medical Home Services Colleen Dougherty, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC VP, Chief Clinical Operating Officer, and Director of Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Services Sheila Ford, R.N., BSN VP and Chief Compliance Officer Terrell H. McCasland, J.D., M.S. VP and Chief Revenue Officer John Janosky VP, Information Technology and Innovation and Chief Information Technology Officer Tiffany Jaskulski, BSBA VP, Value Based Population Health Informatic Innovations and Strategic Initiatives Laura Spadaro, MHA VP , Primary Care, Public Health, and Chief Primary Care and Public Health Policy Officer Lisa Baumann, MHA VP, Grants and Strategic Initiatives Thomas Glaser, MPA VP, Grant Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Doing Wright in Our Communities

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D. , FACP, FAAP President & CEO Harold Baillie, Ph.D. Chair James Gavin Vice Chair

The Heart of Our Residents Golden Stethoscope Award recognizes a graduating resident physician. ...Page 12 The Wright Leadership

Teri Ooms Treasurer The Institute Carol Rubel Secretary Jumee Barooah, M.D., FACP SVP, Education and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Designated Institutional Official, Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Peter Amato, Ph.D., DNM Crystal Berry HealthPoint Holly Binnig, M.D. HealthSource of Ohio Ronald Bukowski

A Pillar of the Community Our president and CEO receives the Hometown Scholars Advocate of the Year Award. ...Page 15 The Wright Physicians

Michael Curran Commonwealth Health System Ariane Conaboy, D.O. Commonwealth Health System Judy Featherstone, M.D. HealthPoint Sharon Obadia, D.O. A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona Eleni O’Donovan, M.D. Unity Health Care Michael J. Paglia, M.D., Ph.D. Geisinger Health System Kim Patton HealthSource of Ohio

Meet the Class of 2024 Sixty-five resident and fellow physicians graduate at 45th annual ceremony. ...Page 26 The Wright Future

Scott E. Schermerhorn, Esquire Douglas Spegman, M.D., MSPH, FACP El Rio Health Debra Youngfelt Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center

Online

A Historic Series of Firsts Young alumna embraces opportunity to serve regional communities. ...Page 46

Scan the QR code to read the alumni magazine online.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Alumni Magazine is available at TheWrightCenter.org/Alumni.

The magazine is distributed for free to alumni and friends. To request a copy, please email TWC-MarCommMagazine@TheWrightCenter.org.

Alumni Magazine 2024

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

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The Wright Center’s mighty mission: Fueling our daily work Dear alumni community,

W

elcome to The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Alumni Magazine, your window into the vibrant lives and careers of your colleagues and our esteemed alumni. Our annual publication celebrates your hard work, perseverance, and, most importantly, dedication to patients and the ever-evolving field of modern medicine.

We are grateful for the stories you’ve shared about your careers, families, and lives. The warm reception of our inaugural edition in 2023 was heartening. The Class Notes section, in particular, has been a hit with over 60 submissions for this edition. Enjoy catching up with your classmates and fellow alumni, and please keep those updates coming!

It’s inspiring to witness how many of you continue to uphold our mighty mission, which began nearly 50 years ago with the Scranton-Temple Residency Program in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As we work to build the primary care physician and interprofessional health care workforce of tomorrow, we are constantly reminded of the importance of our mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.

Alumni Magazine 2024

Throughout this publication, you will find reminders of the significant impact we have on our patients and communities. I am proud to be among the growing number of alumni who have chosen to work at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, one branch of our Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium.

The Wright Center for Community Health, where many of you served diverse patient populations, is

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part of a powerful national movement to ensure individuals of all ages, regardless of insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay, receive affordable, high-quality, nondiscriminatory whole-person primary health services. Today, more than 31.5 million people across the country receive primary care at community health centers just like ours, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).

With nearly 1,400 health center organizations in the U.S., we represent the largest primary care network in the nation, operating sites that provide services to nearly 15,000 medically underserved communities in every state, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories, according to NACHC. These numbers highlight the profound impact we have on the everyday lives of people from all walks of life. We are shaping tomorrow's workforce while enhancing our communities' health and happiness.

This year, we introduce a new feature highlighting the alumni of tomorrow. I am sure you will be proud to read about and see the accomplishments of three young doctors on pages 46 and 49. They embody the spirit of “service before self” and are “eager to do the work.”

In 2021, The Wright Center became the sole affiliate in Pennsylvania for New York University Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program in Advanced Education in General Dentistry.

Since then, we have hosted two dental residents each academic year as part of the largest postdoctoral dental residency program of its kind. Our goal was to increase access to high-quality oral health care, especially for at-risk patients. Mission accomplished!

This August, Michael Regan, DMD, the newest

We also celebrate the enduring contributions of Dr. John Diakiw who, along with his cousin, the late Dr. Sandy Furey, established our Golden Stethoscope Award about 40 years ago. This award honors a graduating senior who most serves as a role model for underclassmen. John’s unwavering dedication to our resident physicians and programs continues to inspire me. Learn more about the award and honorees on pages 12-14.

I hope you enjoy the second annual alumni maga-

zine and that it rekindles memories of your own journey to becoming compassionate physicians, fueled by our mission. Please email the magazine’s editorial staff at TWC-MarCom-Magazine@TheWrightCenter.org to share your personal story.

Let’s continue to do The Wright Things, The Wright Way, for The Wright Reasons.

Thank you,

Jumee Barooah ’13, M.D., FACP Senior Vice President of Education and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Designated Institutional Official The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Alumni Magazine 2024

graduate of the collaborative program, will lead the dental staff at our Teaching Health Center in Wilkes-Barre, the largest in our growing network.

Dr. Regan cited the quality of our dental operations as his reason for staying in Northeast Pennsylvania.

You can read more about him and the program on page 16.

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News & Notes TWCCH earns recognition in quality performance categories

The new fellowship provides experience in pediatrics, mental and behavioral health, infectious disease, and addiction treatment and recovery services at The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations in Clarks Summit, Mid Valley, and Scranton.

The Wright Center for Community Health received recognition from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for quality in 2023 in three performance categories, including its use of health information technology to better serve patients and their families.

The Wright Center also made notable achievements during 2022 in these two categories: providing services to combat the COVID-19 public health emergency and screening patients for social risk factors that can impact their health.

HRSA annually reviews the performance data of health centers across the United States and then highlights the organizations that meet or exceed its goals in categories of special focus, such as improving health equity, access, and other quality measures. It bestows the top performers with its Community Health Quality Recognition badges.

HRSA first awarded badges in 2021, using data from the prior year’s reporting period.

Since then, The Wright Center has earned 10 badges. The three badges awarded to The Wright Center for 2023 are “Advancing Health Information Technology for Quality,” “COVID-19 Public Health Champion,” and “Addressing Social Risk Factors to Health.”

NCQA awards seal of approval for exchanging health data

Alumni Magazine 2024

Reflecting its commitment to the transfer of timely and accurate health data, The Wright Center for Community Health participated in a program to validate information-sharing processes and ensure they meet the rigorous standards set by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

The Wright Center is a member of the Keystone Health Information Exchange (KeyHIE), which includes 35 Pennsylvania

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Spitz Foundation supports Patient & Community Engagement

hospitals, plus dozens of other participating organizations such as physician practices, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, and pharmacies.

KeyHIE, with the support of participants such as The Wright Center, took the necessary steps in 2023 to earn the NCQA’s Data Aggregator Validation certification. The Wright Center is now recognized as an approved “ingestion site” for data transmission. By receiving the Data Aggregator Validation designation, KeyHIE conveys to health plans, providers, government organizations, and others that they can trust the accuracy of aggregated clinical data for use in Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set reporting and other quality programs.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE) was awarded an $8,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation to help alleviate financial pressures on patients and community members, which can help improve the overall health and wellbeing of regional communities.

The grant will support a food donation program and transportation assistance to and from doctor appointments.

Participating in the ceremonial check presentation, from left, are Laura Ducceschi, president and CEO, Scranton Area Community Foundation; Mary Marrara, co-chair, TWCPCE Board; Holly Przasnyski, TWCPCE director; and Cathy Fitzpatrick, grants and scholarship manager, Scranton Area Community Foundation.

The Wright Center introduces nurse practitioner postgraduate fellowship The Wright Center for Community Health is introducing a 12-month nurse practitioner postgraduate fellowship program in family medicine that provides hands-on clinical training experience for newly minted nurse practitioners.

Nurse practitioners who have licenses and are entering their first year of practice can apply to the first fellowship program of its kind in the region. The Wright Center is accepting a limited number of applicants for the cohort. To apply, email twc-np-fellowship@TheWrightCenter.org.

The nurse practitioners chosen for the fellowship will receive increased clinical exposure during the first year of their practice.

The fellowship will help advanced practice nurses develop leadership skills through weekly didactic sessions and specialty clinic experiences.

GME flag hangs proudly at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education now has a presence at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Avoca, Pennsylvania.

On Friday, April 19, 2024, airport officials held a brief ceremony to place the custommade flag on the wall in the airport terminal, among flags bearing the names of colleges and universities across Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Everyone flying into and from the regional

Health centers receive PatientCentered Medical Home certificates Four of The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations received commendations from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for delivering affordable, high-quality, nondiscriminatory whole-person primary health services to people of all ages regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay.

The community health centers that serve Clarks Summit, Mid Valley, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre each achieved the NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home certificate of recognition, acknowledging that they have the tools, systems, and resources to provide patients with the right care at the right time.

NACHC awards gold to TWCCH for second time The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) recognized The Wright Center for Community Health as a Gold Advocacy Center of Excellence (ACE) for the second time.

The Wright Center was first awarded Gold ACE status in January 2022 – the first community health center in Pennsylvania to achieve the recognition. Being awarded a second Gold ACE status, effective Dec. 19, 2023, shows The Wright Center’s continued dedication to advocating for and supporting community health centers that provide responsive and inclusive whole-person primary health services to medically underserved populations in rural and urban areas.

ACE levels recognize consistent engagement, success, and ongoing commitment to prioritizing advocacy. Community health centers that receive the designation are actively engaged with NACHC and forums addressing federal policy issues, as well as their state primary care association and platforms, to address key state and local

The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations undergo a formal review to ensure they comply with the Washington, D.C.-based organization’s high standards.

The Wright Center for Community Health adding new locations The Wright Center for Community Health is expanding access to whole-person primary health services to two communities by opening new health centers in Lackawanna and Wyoming counties.

The Wright Center for Community Health operates nine community health centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties, with the two newest locations scheduled to open in early September 2024 – in Dickson City, 312 Boulevard Ave., on Sept. 3, and in Tunkhannock, 5950 U.S. Route 6, Suite 401, on Sept. 9. The Wright Center also operates a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health.

The Dickson City location is in the former medical offices of Drs. Cynthia M. Oleski and Giovanni Ramos. After deciding to relocate, the doctors contacted The Wright Center about purchasing the practice so patients would not experience interruptions in their care.

Our first location in Wyoming County is in the former Tyler Memorial Hospital. Local businessman Bill Ruark bought the location through a limited family partnership in 2023

and began developing the building as a nonprofit medical facility called Wyoming County Healthcare Center Inc. The Ruark family approached The Wright Center to discuss adding more services for the community.

“It is critical to have these medical services back in the area,” said Wyoming County Healthcare Center’s Sara Ergott. “The goal is to make this space a hub for all types of health care services that are not easily accessible for those in our rural region. With the loss of the hospital in 2021 and the retirements of many local health care providers, there is a great need for this building to curb those deficits. The goal is to fill the space with the types of services that are in demand and, in turn, create a happier and healthier community.”

TWCPCE receives 10,000 pairs of socks from Bombas The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE) received 10,000 pairs of warm, cozy socks from Bombas in April 2024 to distribute to people experiencing homelessness and hardship.

The socks have been distributed to people experiencing homelessness, as well as residents who are experiencing financial hardship or emergency situations.

Participating in the socks’ delivery, from left, are Mary Marrara, co-chair, TWCPCE Board; The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s President and CEO Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, co-chair, TWCPCE Board; Kara Seitzinger, director, public affairs; Helayna Szescila, deputy chief governance officer; the Rev. Ryan Glenn, pastor, Christ the King and Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parishes; and Gerri McAndrew, director, development & relations for community outreach.

Alumni Magazine 2024

airport – more than 180,000 in 2023 alone – policy issues that impact the entities and will see the symbol of The Wright Center for their patients. NACHC awards three levels of ACES: bronze, silver, and gold. The Graduate Medical Education. status is valid for two years.

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‘Leap of faith’ Alumnus applies life’s early lessons as CMIO at The Wright Center “I felt there was a true need for someone to kind of bridge that gap, which was a wide gap.”

His grandfather ended up donating his kidney. Five years later, his aunt successfully underwent a second kidney transplant, surviving for about another six years.

Witnessing his aunt, one of the healthiest people he knew, experience such pain further solidified Dr. Sheth’s career plans, shaping the path that led him to the Scranton-Temple Residency Program in 2006, and 12 years later, one of The Wright Centers’ highest executive positions achieved by an alumnus.

It was after her second kidney transplant that he charted his future: first, medical school to learn the basics, and then a specialty that best fit.

“After high school, we go to medical school; there is no undergrad,” explained Dr. Sheth, whose first language is English and is fluent in Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi. “So I was at a pivotal point in my career. Even though I was young, I had to decide my next steps. … I was motivated to become a doctor by seeing the disconnect in care between the different providers. I wanted to focus on that aspect of care.”

Jignesh Yasmin Sheth ‘09, M.D., FACP, MPH, senior vice president and chief medical and information officer at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, proudly holds a copy of his 2009 contract, marking the start of his career at The Wright Center.

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or the first time, Jignesh Yasmin Sheth ‘09, M.D., FACP, MPH, felt afraid. What if his aunt dies from kidney failure? What if something happens to his father, who, as the older brother, was asked to donate his kidney?

At just 10 years old, he and his family posed many questions to his aunt’s doctors in their native Bombay, India, now called Mumbai. They received few answers.

Yet, amid the worry and fear, a clarity emerged. He saw his future.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“It’s not that I wanted to be just a kidney doctor; I just felt like a coordination of care should be happening at a familydoctor level, and there was no family doctor in the picture,” recalled Dr. Sheth, 43, now dually board-certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, and the senior vice president and chief medical and information officer at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “It seems like the specialists were running the show. … From that experience, I knew where the gaps were. I knew how there was no one my parents could talk to, my aunt could talk to, or our family could go talk to in between those specialist appointments.

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At age 17, he would have to get accepted into Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, more than 430 miles away in Wardha. Competition for acceptance was intense, with about 1.1 million annual applicants in his state, Maharashtra, one of India's 28 states and eight union territories, vying for fewer than 4,000 available central admission seats. On top of that, with about 65% of the spots reserved for lower castes — preferences enshrined in India’s first constitution in 1950 in an attempt to erase inequalities fostered by the centuries-old caste system — he would be eligible in the open category, representing just 35% of the available positions.

After much trepidation, he learned that he had been accepted to the medical college and was on track to become the first doctor in his family. However, uncertainty lingered about how his parents would pay for his education. In India, student loan programs are not common so parents would just pay for their children’s education, said Dr. Sheth.

“I didn't come with a silver or golden spoon,” he said.

“My dad (Yasmin Sheth) has his own hardware and automobile parts store. He started it the same year I was born. He told me years after, ‘when you entered, I did not know how I was going to pay for your medical school. I did not know how we were going to support you. God helped us through each step. Each year, something would come up in the business where I would have some extra money to pay your fees.’

“He took that leap of faith, and he told me later, ‘I did the right thing.’”

Following Dr. Sheth’s 2004 medical college graduation

Yet, he hesitated to immerse himself in U.S. health care without a nuanced understanding of public perception and improved communication skills.

He opted to pursue a master's degree in public health at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb before delving into patient care. His motivation stemmed from witnessing the sporadic acute care his aunt received in atue of Unity St e th India and the abd ite vis D., FACP, MPH, g a family Dr. Sheth ‘09, M. e state of Gujarat, India, durinllest sence of populationth near Kevadia in . At 597-feet, it is the world's ta level thinking in trip in July 2023 health care practices. statue.

During a visit with another aunt in Kingston, Pennsylvania, he met Robert E. Wright, M.D., FACP, who offered him a two-month summer observership in 2005 – an educational program to help international medical graduates adapt to practicing medicine in the United States by accompanying doctors and other medical staff in their daily routines. He completed the program in August 2005 at Community Medical Center Healthcare System in Scranton.

A year later, Dr. Sheth received his master’s degree in public health with a specialization in health promotion in 2006. He applied for several residencies, including his first choice, the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, because of his nearby family. Renamed in 2010 to honor Dr. Wright, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed Dr. Sheth to the program in August 2006.

“Jignesh was a superb resident and is an excellent primary care physician and teacher,” said Dr. Wright.

It was during his residency that he grew close with his mentor, Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, whom he credits for much of his career success. Dr. Thomas-Hemak became The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s president in 2007 and CEO in 2012.

“She’s been a great friend and a great mentor, as well as my first and only boss,” Dr. Sheth said. “She has supported me and mentored me in the right direction. She inspired me to be an outpatient clinician. I was the first

physician she hired. I still have my contract that she signed. I’ve seen everything with her. We’ve gone through a lot of struggles, as well as the growth at The Wright Center. She has supported me through it all. I’ve learned so much from her.”

He points to his historical background with Dr. Thomas-Hemak as aiding him at The Wright Center because he is familiar with her leadership style and the organization’s culture.

“I know I’m working with the best CEO anyone could ask for,” Dr. Sheth said. “I think the CEO should always be a visionary who can bring great ideas to the table.

She is that visionary. And I'm hoping there's always going to be a role for an implementer like me who can turn those ideas into actions.”

Financially, residency was a struggle.

“It was hard,” Dr. Sheth acknowledged. “I had a small, one-bedroom apartment on Clay Avenue in Scranton.

When my mom came to visit, she was like, ‘you don’t have furniture. Where’s the furniture?’ I said, ‘Mom, I don’t need it. … I don’t want to spend money on something like that because I don’t have money yet.’”

His mother, Niru Sheth, did not know the extent of the bills Dr. Sheth faced, from his master’s degree education to his observership. Once she learned about his debt, she settled it and furnished his apartment.

“I can never thank her enough,” said Dr. Sheth. “My parents took really good care of me. … I try to save money wherever I can for the organization because if I wouldn't spend it in my house, I shouldn't spend it at work. My dad always taught me that when you make $5, you spend $2 and you save $3.”

It is just one of many life lessons his father instilled in him that he applies at The Wright Center and in his personal life.

“I’ve always saved money because I came from nothing,” said Dr. Sheth. “I know how important money is.

So, I’m very careful. … My dad and I have a really strong bond. Even to this date, I don't do anything without checking in with my dad and getting his opinion.”

While his parents and younger sister, Binita, 39, who is a fashion designer, live in India, Dr. Sheth and his family visit them almost every year. His mother spends part of the year at the Clarks Summit home she found with her son’s real estate agent and that Dr. Sheth purchased in 2010, shortly after he was hired as a physician-faculty member at The Wright Center.

A year later, in December 2011, Dr. Sheth married Hetal Jitendra Shah. The couple still live in the same Clarks Summit home, now with their son, Zian, 9, and daughter, Jiaa, 5.

“I am deeply grateful to my wife, Hetal, who has been my unwavering support and my true partner in this journey,” said Dr. Sheth. “Her love and encouragement have made it possible for me to do the work I do today.

SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

with honors in biochemistry, medicine, and public health, he relocated to the United States to pursue his interest in internal medicine, believing in the country’s stronger health care provision.

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Doing what is ‘Wright’ guides this alumnus FROM PAGE 9

She has been my greatest strength and my inspiration every step of the way.”

In 2013, Dr. Sheth was named vice president for patient safety and quality, then a year later, vice president for mission accountability, clinical faculty, and ambulatory care provider.

In 2016, he served as vice president of clinical operations and clinical faculty until 2018, when he became senior vice president.

Doing what is right PH, his wife, guides Dr. Sheth in M.D., FACP, Mw 9, and 9, ‘0 h et Sh in , no Jignesh Yasmand their children, Zianreligious festiboth his personal Hetal Sheth, , now 5, celebrate the and professional life. aa Ji , er ht . daug October 2022 He lives by another lesson val, Diwali, in learned from his father: treat the workplace with the same reverence as a place of worship.

“Just as in worship, where we expect rewards and not penalties, we approach our work with a similar mindset,” Dr. Sheth said. “This philosophy has proven true for me time and again. By focusing on doing what's right and striving for excellence in my work, success and prosperity naturally follow. My primary vocation will always be patient care, and everything else serves to support that mission. My greatest rewards come from the satisfaction of my patients and the unwavering support of my staff. Without them, I couldn't fulfill my responsibilities or provide the level of care I aspire to offer.”

Dr. Sheth also plays a pivotal role in training physician residents and fellows, having mentored at least four or five every year for the past 15 years.

“It has always been a pleasure,” he said. “My heart has always been in patient care, and as part of patient care, I can be an educator, a teacher, a mentor to my residents. I enjoy the hands-on part of it.”

Dr. Wright points to Dr. Sheth’s leadership and high standards as being integral to The Wright Center achieving its Federally Qualified Health Center LookAlike designation in 2019, and the Mid Valley primary care community health center in Jermyn receiving the highest accreditation level from the National Committee for Quality Assurance in 2011 as a Level-3 Patient-Centered Medical Home.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“Always aware of developing high standards for health care and teaching, he seeks out new ways to ensure advanced practices for The Wright Center,” Dr. Wright said. “He is respected and loved by his patients and students, and admired by Wright Center staff. … I am very proud of his significant contributions to regional health care.”

10 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Get to know Jignesh Yasmin Sheth ‘09, M.D., FACP, MPH 1. The green thread bracelet on his right wrist, called a Raksha Potli, has a very deep spiritual meaning.

“It's similar to how in Christianity you would wear a cross,” said Dr. Sheth, who is a Jain. “It guides you to be mindful to do the right thing, and it's God's blessing, so it protects you.”

The spiritual aim of Jainism, one of the world’s oldest religions, is to achieve liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth and attain an all-knowing state, called moksha by living a nonviolent life, or ahimsa, minimizing harm to all living beings.

2. His mother taught him to cook.

“I can pretty much cook any traditional Indian dish,” Dr. Sheth said. “I really like to cook. I think sometimes that's a relaxation technique.”

3. He lives in a Barbie world, but he loves Marvel movies.

“My daughter (Jiaa, 5) is all into Barbie,” Dr. Sheth explained.

“So we’ve watched every single Barbie movie and TV show like 15 times. She just watches it again and again. It's like we hear the word ‘Barbie,’ and we have an anaphylactic reaction in my house. ... I’m really fond of all the Marvel movies.

My son (Zian, 9) also loves them. My favority is ‘Iron Man’ because it’s more scientific than just fiction.”

4. If he were a Marvel character, he likely would be Plan Man or Gadget Man. “I always have a plan and backup plans, and I’m very, very organized,” Dr. Sheth said. “But I'm also very good with quick thinking and innovation. I don't mind the unexpected, and I’ll have a solution. ... I love technology. I think the next big technological advancement will be implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily work, and the next five years will be all about the growth. ... And I truly believe that AI is not going to replace humans.”

5. He goes all out at Christmas, and Santa is on his payroll.

“I like to put up lights and decorate during Christmas as well as Diwali,” Dr. Sheth said. “My kids know that Mom and Dad will send Santa Claus a check because I don't want them to have the impression that anything is free in life. And there is a budget. So Santa Claus is only arranging it. Mom and Dad have to pay for it, and if Mom and Dad don’t have money, you may not get gifts. … We have to think about kids whose mommies and daddies cannot pay for gifts because I don’t want my kids to have the impression that Santa was only nice to some kids. … I also want them to learn that we get money for the hard work we do. … So, Santa Claus also has to get money to pay his workers, the elves.”

6. He craves challenges.

“What scares me is waking up one day and not having that drive or the passion,” Dr. Sheth shared. “I don't want to wake up and do the same thing every day where I have no real goals and challenges. I don't want a monotonous life.

Your life becomes monotonous when you become resistant to change. I never want to be that person. I always want to be doing something new. Otherwise, I’ll get bored.”

Visionary leadership

Senior VP and chief medical and information officer develops EHR, telemedicine systems; spearheads COVID-19 response

Yet, the countless visionary ideas and groundbreaking initiatives of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education's senior vice president and chief medical and information officer are attributed with significantly contributing to the improved well-being of patients and communities throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.

cians, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

“I don't want to ever sound like it's just me; it's a team,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to have a team that truly worked hard and gave me so much pleasure being able to be sometimes a leader of the team, sometimes just a navigator, and sometimes just in a support role.”

Among his proudest achievements is his oversight of the comprehensive renovations and expansions at The Wright Center’s primary care community health centers, particularly in Jermyn and Wilkes-Barre. He meticulously reviews blueprints and designs, and regularly meets with contractors to ensure that all changes enhance the patient experience and improve workflow.

"His dedication to transforming our electronic health record (EHR) system, enhancing patient care, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement has set a new standard for health care excellence,” said President and CEO Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, “We went from having just a clinic where patients can FAAP. “Dr. Sheth’s relentless pursuit of innovation and quality has not only advanced our organization but has come and get care to making it an experience,” Dr. Sheth said. “You come in, and you feel welcomed. It’s also served as an inspiration to all of us. His work is a testament to the impact that one committed individual an improved experience in the waiting room to an improved experience in can have on the health the exam room. … I think and lives of countless others."

‘I was fortunate enough to have a team we've gone above and beyond, and that's the that truly worked hard and gave me so right thing to do for our Recognizing the transformative poten- much pleasure being able to be somepatients. Getting servtial of an EHR system ices for them, adding times a leader of the team, sometimes to revolutionize pathings like dental, and just a navigator, and sometimes just in making it sustainable.” tient care, Dr. Sheth led a dedicated team a support role.’

He also developed a to build a robust in– Jignesh Y. Sheth ‘09, M.D., FACP, MPH "true telemedicine" frastructure that conInternal Medicine Residency Program model that has transverted The Wright formed health care deCenter’s rudimentary, livery into a more personalized, empowering, and inefficient digital repository for scanned documents into a dynamic, trackable, and actionable database that proactive experience by integrating personal health devices with cutting-edge technologies. has become a powerful tool for quality health care delivery, data-driven decision-making, and successful An advocate for monoclonal antibody therapy, he orgrant awards. chestrated its rapid rollout to combat COVID-19 clusters effectively and established a COVID-19 EducaIn the larger picture, he adeptly bridged the gap between individual patient care and population health tion and Outreach Command Center in partnership with management. Using the collected data to help clinithe Pennsylvania Department of Health, ensuring that cians recognize their patient populations' true state assisted living and personal care facilities had adequate paved the way for targeted interventions and measurpersonal protective equipment, supplies, and staffing. able improvements.

During the pandemic, Dr. Sheth proactively secured Dr. Sheth then collaborated with The Wright Center’s three years' worth of soap, sanitation supplies, and PPE IT department to develop a business analytics system before prices escalated, monitored vaccine develthat enhanced data-driven decision-making, met fed- opments, and ensured The Wright Center obtained eral reporting requirements, secured grants, and posi- PCR tests and an ultra-cold freezer, making it one of tioned the organization as a model for Federally the few outpatient clinics with such equipment.

Qualified Health Center Look-Alikes, leading to expan“Our service hours never shortened; we never shut sions of sites and services. down a site,” he said. “That was obviously a huge team Dr. Sheth also introduced a comprehensive clinical effort, but I think that's what I'm truly proud of – how we metrics and report card system, covering all staff as a team did everything that the community needed levels, from front desk personnel to resident physius to do during COVID.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

V

isionary is the last word Jignesh Yasmin Sheth ‘09, M.D., FACP, MPH, would use to describe himself.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education0711

Doing Wright in Our Communities

John Diakiw, M.D., FACP, upholds a four-decade family tradition of recognizing a graduating resident physician with the Golden Stethoscope Award

F

orty years ago, Old Forge, Pennsylvania, native John Diakiw, M.D., FACP, and his older cousin Sandy Furey, M.D., FACP, had what you might call a golden idea.

They decided to establish an award to recognize a shining star among the graduating class of resident physicians at the young Scranton-Temple Residency Program, later renamed The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education.

They called it the Sandy A. Furey, M.D., FACP, Golden Stethoscope Award.

“It’s actually a real, gold-plated stethoscope,” said Dr. Diakiw.

“We saw it as a reward for exemplary leadership. It honors the graduating resident physician who – according to the votes of junior residents – has most served as a role model to them and contributed to their training.”

Dr. Furey, who was one of the program’s co-founders and

‘We saw it as a reward for exemplary leadership. It honors the graduating resident physician who – according to the votes of junior residents – has most served as a role model to them and contributed to their training.’

– John Diakiw, M.D., FACP Sponsor of the annual Golden Stethoscope Award

original board members, first presented the award around 1985. In the decades since, much has changed: gold prices skyrocketed, and both The Wright Center and the region’s health care landscape have been reshaped.

Yet the Golden Stethoscope tradition has not lost its luster. It endures as a brief but highly anticipated part of the Graduation Day ceremony, and Dr. Diakiw – a fixture at

Special recognition from the Northeast Counties Medical Society The Northeast Counties Medical Society presented awards to a special friend, a faculty member, and alumni of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education at its 2024 Presidential Reception in March. The honorees at the gala included:

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John Diakiw, M.D., FACP President Northeast Counties Medical Society

Samir B. Pancholy, M.D., FACC, MSCAI Nicholas Ierovante, D.O. Presidential Recognition Award PAMED Top Physicians Under 40 Program Director Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Programs Fellowship Program Classes of 2014 and 2017

12 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Chaitanya Rojulpote, M.D. PAMED Top Physicians Under 40 Internal Medicine Residency Program Class of 2023

Our Residents

the events – continues a remarkable display of support for The Wright Center’s mission and its growing ranks of alumni.

Dr. Diakiw seems content to continue his involvement as an award presenter for many more years. At 71, he has no immediate plans to retire from medical practice, he said. Plus, he buys the special golden stethoscopes in bulk, so he is already supplied for the next several commencements.

“I hope to keep doing the presentation,” he said, “and then when I stop, maybe someone else can take it over. Who knows?”

For him, the Golden Stethoscope Award represents more than a kindness extended to each year’s recipient. It is a part of his family’s legacy.

The ‘accidental physician’ Dr. Diakiw is the son of Ukrainian immigrants. When he was only 8, his father died. He and his mother moved into a relative’s home in Old Forge, where he was raised with Dr. Furey, whom he considered “like a brother.”

John Diakiw, M.D., FACP, and his older cousin, the late Sandy Furey, M.D., FACP, established The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Sandy A. Furey, M.D., FACP, Golden Stethoscope Award in the mid-1980s. Through the years, Dr. Diakiw has been to all but one graduation in 42 years to present the award to a shining star among the graduating class.

Dr. Furey, the older of the two men by about 20 years, had a distinguished military career. He worked at one time as chief of cardiology at a U.S. Army hospital in Georgia, where he served as personal physician to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He then returned to the greater Scranton area, ultimately becoming the first director of medicine at Moses Taylor Hospital.

Meanwhile, Dr. Diakiw took the career path of what he calls “an accidental physician.” He graduated from the University of Scranton with the intention of starting a career as a chemistry teacher. But no job offers immediately materialized.

His cousin played a key role in convincing him to attend medical school, and later – after Dr. Diakiw completed his residency program at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania – the two men SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

“I have been to all but one graduation in 42 years – even before the award was created,” he said. (His perfect attendance streak was snapped, quite literally, in a year when he was hospitalized with a badly broken leg.)

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 13

Decades-old tradition honors a shining star FROM PAGE 13

became business partners. Like many physicians in the area at the time, they both served as volunteer faculty for the startup residency program in Scranton.

Drs. Diakiw and Furey initially paid for the Golden Stethoscope Award from a family fund – established with gifts made in memory of their mothers and other departed relatives.

Few awards were presented to the graduates in those early days of the residency program. Only six to 10 physicians completed the program each academic year, he said. Dr. Diakiw and his cousin sometimes presented the award in tandem. Other years, they took turns.

Dr. Furey passed away in 1998. But the Graduation Day tradition he co-created was lovingly maintained.

The Moses Taylor Medical Staff Inc., an independent business club, began covering the yearly cost of the Golden Stethoscope Award and did so until the club was dissolved about two years ago, Dr. Diakiw said. Dr. Diakiw then assumed financial responsibility for the award’s continuation, making it a purely family affair once again.

Shhh … it’s a surprise The identity of each year’s winner is generally not revealed until the big announcement during graduation. “We try to keep it secret,” Dr. Diakiw said.

“Sometimes it got out beforehand. And sometimes the winners have not been present at graduation because they have already started a fellowship in another community.”

Prior winners of the Golden Stethoscope Award have gone on to distinguished careers. For example, Gerald Maloney ’98, D.O., heard his name called as the award recipient 26 years ago and now serves as chief medical officer for hospital services at Geisinger.

“Receiving the Golden Stethoscope was a great honor,” said Dr. Maloney. “As I made the transition from resident to attending, it gave me confidence in my clinical skills as well as my teaching skills.”

In bygone years, Dr. Diakiw and his partners in the area’s Physicians Health Alliance extended job offers to certain residency program graduates, including some award winners, hoping to retain them in the Scranton community.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“A few of them took us up on it,” Dr. Diakiw said. “We hired them.”

These days, Dr. Diakiw, who is health care consultant, administrator, and past president of the Northeast Counties Medical Society, encounters past Golden

10 14 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Stethoscope Award recipients during his professional activities and trips. More often than not, he recognizes the award winners and knows their names.

Each Golden Stethoscope winner is, after all, much like a member of an extended family.

Golden Stethoscope Awards The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has been presenting the Sandy A. Furey, M.D., FACP, Golden Stethoscope Award since about 1985. The Wright Center needs your help in identifying the recipients for the following years: 1988, 1990, 1997, 2006, and 2010. Do you know who received the award in those years? Please email the Marketing and Communications Office at news@TheWrightCenter.org with your information.

1985: Guy Fasciana, M.D. 1986: John P. Brady, M.D. 1987: Thomas Minora, M.D. 1988: Unknown 1989: Randall G. Brundage, D.O. 1990: Unknown 1991: Anthony Valente, M.D. 1992: Theodore R. Kaczmarczyk, M.D. 1993: Louis C. Adamo, M.D. 1994: James Kosik, D.O. 1995: Anthony Yanni, M.D. 1996: Rajan Mulloth, M.D. 1997: Unknown 1998: Gerald Maloney, D.O. 1999: Timothy Hoffman, D.O. 2000: Mark Lyons, D.O. 2001: Mahmood O. Dweik, M.D. 2002: Husam Issa, M.D. 2003: Nicole Chiappetta, D.O. 2004: Michael Klingerman, M.D. 2005: Arjinder Sethi, M.D. 2006: Unknown 2007: Hossam Algamil, M.D., FACP 2008: Kasim Kasim, M.D. 2009: Glen Digwood, D.O. 2010: Unknown 2011: Himanshu Mittal, M.D. 2012: Nimesh Patel, M.D. 2013: Robin Girdhar, M.D. 2014: Praveen Reddy, M.D. 2015: Michael Saleeb Ibrahim, M.D. 2016: Vimal Ravi, M.D. 2017: Maryyam Ali, M.D. 2018: Afia Babar, M.D. 2019: Mahmoud M. Khalaf, M.D. 2020: Tapan Deepak Buch, M.D. 2021: Mousa Thalji, M.D. 2022: Aaron Jay Simonetti, M.D. 2023: Richard Bronnenkant, M.D. 2024: Sandeep Mandal, M.D.

The Wright Leadership

‘Advocate of the Year’ President and CEO receives prestigious award from NACHC and A.T. Still University

Dr. Thomas received the award at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) Policy & Issues Forum in Washington, D.C., in February.

The Hometown Scholars Program is a collaborative effort between NACHC and A.T. Still University. The program identifies and recruits individuals from areas served by community health centers to pursue professional degrees and become community-minded healers.

“The National Association of Community Health Centers and A.T. Still University have a strategy to dare children to dream, mentor them along their pathway into the health professions, and endorse those with the heart to return and work in underserved communities,” said Gary L. Cloud, Ph.D., MBA, vice president of university partnerships at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. “Dr. Thomas-Hemak and The Wright Center have been exemplary supporters of that strategy encouraging community members, patients, and employees to participate and serve as role models for aspiring healers.”

At participating community health centers, leaders are encouraged to intentionally identify and nominate qualified and motivated premedical, predental, and prehealth professional candidates from their communities for Hometown Scholars Program consideration, providing each with a letter of support. This endorsement, in turn, may give the candidate advanced applicant consideration when applying to medical school or dental school at A.T. Still University’s programs in Arizona or its physician assistant program in California.

“It’s been a privilege for me, on behalf of The Wright Center for Community Health, to nominate individuals from Northeast Pennsylvania to be our health center’s endorsed Hometown Scholars,” said Dr. ThomasHemak. “Because of the Hometown Scholars Program, we’ve been able to identify and mentor aspiring physicians, dentists, and physician assistants from the com-

Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, center, poses with Douglas Spegman, M.D., left, board member, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education; and Gary L. Cloud, Ph.D., MBA, right, vice president of university partnerships at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona.

munities we serve and help them pursue their professional goals. Such pipeline programs promote career access equity, and restore our communities’ public health-minded health care workforce.

“I’m particularly pleased that many of The Wright Center-endorsed scholars are women for whom this program has provided real opportunities.”

Wright Center’s top executive receives Pennsylvania Impact Award Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, received a 2023 Pennsylvania Impact Award from City & State Pennsylvania multimedia news organization in December 2023, recognizing her leadership in social responsibility.

Dr. Thomas-Hemak was one of 75 honorees from across the commonwealth to be chosen by the magazine for its special recognition. She accepted the award during a ceremony in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Impact Award honors residents “who are pillars of sustainability, diversity and inclusion, charity, and community engagement,” according to the organization, known for its coverage of the Keystone State’s business, political, and community leaders.

The influential difference-makers included Pennsylvania state Senator Lisa M. Boscola and Senator Art Haywood; Associate Professor Teresa Hunter-Pettersen, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine; Executive Director Clayton Jacobs, Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter; and President Jessica Ritchie, UPMC Pinnacle Foundation.

Under Dr. Thomas-Hemak’s leadership, The Wright Center remains deeply immersed in community engagement activities, routinely collaborating with dozens of regional, state, and national partners on health care and workforce development initiatives.

Alumni Magazine 2024

L

inda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, received the 2024 Hometown Scholars Advocate of the Year Award in recognition of her passionate, mission-driven efforts to identify and mentor future physicians, dentists, physician assistants, and other health care professionals who are from Northeast Pennsylvania.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 15

The Wright Partnership

Mission accomplished

Wright Center-trained dental resident joins staff to provide high-quality oral care services

M

ichael Regan, DMD, was on a one-year plan when he selected The Wright Center for Community Health for his postdoctoral Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency through its partnership with New York University Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program.

Dr. Regan’s change of heart also stemmed from seeing firsthand the growing need for dentists in Northeast Pennsylvania and developing solid skills while providing affordable, high-quality oral care in The Wright Center’s state-of-the-art dental clinics at its Scranton and Mid Valley locations and aboard the mobile medical and dental unit known as Driving Better Health.

The skills learned from working closely with Caitlin McCarthy, DMD, site director for The Wright Center’s AEGD residency program, are unmatched elsewhere, he said. Dr. Regan also praises the other Wright Center employees he works Michael Regan, DMD with, including Jimmy Browder, dental assistant; Melika Mokhtari, lead expanded function dental assistant; Frances Frankovsky, certiBut after working closely with The Wright Center’s fied dental assistant; and Bernadette Lukasik and dental staff as part of the program’s advanced Dan White, both public health dental hygienists. hands-on training, he cannot imagine delivering oral health services elsewhere.

“The dental team is great here,” said Dr. Regan, an adventurer at heart who worked as a professional Today, Dr. Regan, a Hershey, Pennsylvania native, is dive leader during a 2017 internship in Roatán, Islas leading a team of dental practitioners at The Wright Center for Community Health in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

At a Glance What: The Wright Center for Community The Wright Center rolled out weekly dental services Health’s Teaching Health Center in Wilkesat its Teaching Health Center in downtown WilkesBarre began offering daily dental services in Barre in July 2023 and began providing daily dental August 2024. care on August 6, 2024, when Dr. Regan started his When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday new job. The facility at 169 North Pennsylvania AveWhere: 169 North Pennsylvania Avenue, nue, Wilkes-Barre, offers dental services from 8 a.m.

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

To make an appointment in Wilkes-Barre, call Dr. Regan, his wife, Lydia, who is a physician assistant, 570-491-0126. For more information on denand their two golden retrievers, Keta and Hucktal and other whole-person primary health leberry, will relocate to a community near Wilkesservices at The Wright Center for Community Barre from Conklin, New York, where they live in a log Health’s locations, visit TheWrightCenter.org cabin Dr. Regan’s family built and where he spent or call 570-230-0019. weekends as a child.

His goal was to obtain a required New York State license after completing the yearlong AEGD program in June 2024 to become a primary oral health care provider just over the Pennsylvania border in Broome County, New York, where his parents live.

Alumni Magazine 2024

10 16 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Michael Regan, DMD, reviews X-rays with a patient at The Wright Center for Community Health – Scranton location. Dr. Regan completed his postdoctoral Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency in June 2024 at The Wright Center through its partnership with NYU Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program.

de la Bahía, Honduras, and at Taku Smokeries Fish Processing facility in Juneau, Alaska, in 2018. He also was a Midwestern University Dean’s Research Fellow from 2019 to 2021, researching how adding silver to bioactive glass, which is a bone-grafting material used in dentistry, kills bacteria and helps ‘There’s such a great need for dentists patients heal faster. in the region. A lot of people have had

ment that meets the Commission on Dental AccrediDr. Regan chose The a bad experience with their dental pro- tation (CODA) standards, 80% of Wright Center from vider, or they can’t afford dental care. the residency – a nearly 80 AEGD proThat’s not the case here.

The Wright minimum of 40 gram training sites hours a week for 52 Center provides quality dentistry at a also affiliated with the weeks – is spent Brooklyn, New Yorkgreat rate.’ providing compre– Michael Regan, DMD based NYU Langone.

Graduate, Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency hensive general The world’s largest dentistry treatpostdoctoral dental ment and services to patients at The Wright Center. residency program of its kind, the NYU Langone pro-

The Wright Center, the AEGD program’s sole Pennsylvania affiliate, has hosted two dental residents each academic year since becoming a program partner in 2021.

“I wanted to work at a public health center close to my hometown, and The Wright Center is the only training site in Pennsylvania for the program,” he said.

“My hope was to become a more well-rounded provider and practice comprehensive dentistry. One of the biggest benefits of The Wright Center’s program has been developing a skill set that you wouldn’t get elsewhere.”

It is Dr. Regan’s passion to be the best dentist he can be that makes him stand out, according to Dr. McCarthy. “He didn’t have to do this residency,” she said. “The residency is not a requirement to practice dentistry in Pennsylvania or most other states. But he wanted to do it to learn as much as he could to be a better dentist.”

As part of the program’s clinical curriculum require-

The vast training and experience for resident dentists include: acting as primary oral health care providers; collaborating effectively within interdisciplinary health care teams; coordinating patient-focused care under the supervision of a general practitioner or specialist; directing health promotion and disease prevention activities; assessing, diagnosing, and planning multidisciplinary oral health care for various patients; managing the delivery of patient-focused oral health care; and providing specific dental treatments and services such as restorative dentistry, fixed and removable prosthodontics, periodontal and endodontic therapies, oral surgery, dental emergencies, and pain/anxiety control techniques.

The remaining 20%, or about 250 hours, is coursework, such as monthly lectures The Wright Center offers to enhance residents’ education, online presentations, and live video sessions with other program residents throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Topics include oral health care for pediatric, geriatric, medically compromised, and special needs patients and the latest information on dental procedures and SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

gram trains about 400 residents annually at partner sites, such as hospitals, private dental practices, and community health centers, in nearly 30 states, according to NYU Langone.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 17

Partnership with NYU Langone yields new dentist FROM PAGE 17

practice management, according to NYU Langone.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) also accredits all residency and fellowship programs at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. The ACGME has its own quality standards for medical education. The Wright Center’s AEGD program complies with both CODA and ACGME requirements.

Michael Regan, DMD, completed his postdoctoral Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency at The Wright Center for Community Health, the sole affiliate in Pennsylvania for NYU Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program.

Much of what is learned through the AEGD program, such as advanced oral surgical and endodontic techniques, is not taught in dental school.

“The aim of the AEGD program is to give new graduates more experience with procedures that are more involved or a greater number of procedures than you get in graduate school,” said Dr. McCarthy.

“Since we started offering the program, the residents have greatly exceeded the number of procedures and CODA requirements.”

Dr. Regan and the dental team saw patients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday during his AEGD residency.

“It’s about eight to 20 patients a day,” said Dr. Regan, who received his doctoral degree in dental medicine from Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Arizona. “We do a ton of surgeries – 10 times a day, every day of the work week.”

Individual circumstances have resulted in many patients not taking proper care of their teeth, causing them pain and infections, according to Dr. Regan.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“The best thing about dentistry is being able to take people out of pain,” he said. “A lot of dental practices don’t take all the state insurance (plans) like we do.”

To ensure high-quality oral care is available to everyone, The Wright Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike and safety-net provider, also offers a sliding-fee discount program to those who qualify based on federal poverty guidelines that take family

10 18 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

size and income into account. No patient is turned away because of an inability to pay.

The Wright Center’s hands-on training has also inspired Dr. Regan to think outside the box to try to simplify and shorten procedures. For example, he is researching grants to purchase digital implant technology that uses 3D computer models of the jawbone for a more precise placement and quicker procedure.

“There’s such a great need for dentists in the region,” he said. “A lot of people have had a bad experience with their dental provider, or they can’t afford dental care. That’s not the case here. The Wright Center provides quality dentistry at a great rate.”

The Wright Partnership

From Scranton to Smiles Q&A: Victoria A. Sibalich, DMD

NYU Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program graduate lauds learning opportunities

D

r. Victoria A. Sibalich’s educational journey to becoming a dentist began at Delaware Valley High School in Westfall Township, Pennsylvania, followed by two bachelor’s degrees and a doctoral degree.

program would provide me with the opportunity to complete more difficult procedures … and receive direct mentoring that I did not necessarily experience in dental school.”

Dr. Sibalich recently recounted how completing her residency at The Wright Center fortified her skills and expertise in her position at LaGrange Dental Group, where she has worked since September 2023. The 31-year-old now lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, with her husband, Ryan, their son, Bear, and two dogs, Leia and Yoda.

Why did you decide to pursue an AEGD residency? ”I was in my second year at dental school when COVID hit. Although Temple got us back on track in August 2020, I felt that the pandemic took away from a lot of my clinical education. I did not feel ready to pursue a career immediately after dental school. I knew an AEGD

What were three highlights of your AEGD residency at The Wright Center, and why?

“When we did our implant placement seminar, because it allowed me to learn the procedure from start to finish under controlled circumstances, as well as place an implant for a great patient. I had the X-ray on my fridge for months! … Working with the staff and doctors at The Wright Center. Dr. McCarthy and Dr. U (Upadhyayula) were both great attendings. Dr. McCarthy was always willing to answer my questions and review cases with me when I needed it. The dental assistants and hygienists were some of my SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

Why did you choose The Wright Center for Community Health as your AEGD residency It ended at The Wright Center training site? for Community Health after she completed her postdoc“I chose the Wright Center toral Advanced Education in for a few reasons. One General Dentistry (AEGD) resreason specifically because idency in 2023 through The I grew up in Northeast Wright Center’s partnership Pennsylvania, so I was no with New York University Lanstranger to the Scranton/ gone Health’s Dental Medicine Wilkes-Barre area, and my Postdoctoral Residency Proparents lived just less than gram. an hour away in Milford.

Another reason, I was The Milford, Pike County impressed by the services native is an associate dentist Victoria A. Sibalich, DMD provided at The Wright at LaGrange Dental Group in LaCenter under the direction of Grangeville, New York. She Dr. (Caitlin) McCarthy (site director for The Wright earned her doctoral degree in dental medicine from Center’s AEGD residency program) and, at the time, Temple University Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dr. (Satya) Upadhyayula.

I knew there was an opportuDentistry in 2022. Her two bachelor’s degrees include nity for me to grow as a dentist and provide care to a Bachelor of Science in design and merchandising families who genuinely needed it, which was very imfrom Drexel University in 2014, followed by a Bachelor portant to me, as I wanted to see patients of all ages of Arts in biomedical science from Lewis University in and backgrounds.”

2017.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 19

FROM PAGE 19

favorite people to work with and get to know. ...

The amount of procedures I completed at The Wright Center. My co-resident and I blew our NYU Langone requirements out of the water. We had until March to finish them, but we both completed them in November. We continued to learn and provide care for patients under many different circumstances.”

What unique skills did you learn through your AEGD residency at The Wright Center that you might not have received elsewhere?

“I learned how to work with and on patients of varying special needs and abilities. This is a skill that every dentist should have, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity at The Wright Center. … Treatment planning and providing care for mixed dentition (children). Some residencies I interviewed with did not provide care to children or saw very few. … Exodontia of all different types of teeth and how to navigate surgical extractions and procedures. … Medical management of patients with different medical conditions.”

Did your AEGD residency at The Wright Center prepare you for your current occupation? If so, specifically, how?

“Yes, it did because I see patients of all ages. I have become a more efficient and better-skilled provider due to my residency. I have a better knowledge of procedures and materials than I did before residency.”

Would you like to return to Northeast Pennsylvania to work in your field? Why or why not?

“Perhaps someday I would like to return to Northeast Pennsylvania. I did originally try to pursue a role in the area; however, there was not an ideal opportunity at the time. But as a person born and raised in NEPA, I feel a connection to the area and the people.”

What words of advice do you have for someone considering an AEGD residency at The Wright Center?

“I suggest you welcome the challenges and take the opportunity to learn everything you can. You will be able to experience a practice-like environment with great teachers. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if they seem like something you should already know.”

The Wright Lessons

Technology, quality, and health care PDSA projects launch doctor’s diverse career path

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s an Internal Medicine resident at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Soham Shah ’17, M.D., MBA, CPE, FACP, participated in a Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) project aimed at boosting the rate of colorectal cancer screenings.

That project – and several others focused on improving the health and wellness of the patients and communities served by The Wright Center – set him on his career path. Today, Dr. Shah lives in Bakersfield, California, and works for Roche, a Swiss company, where he explores the intersection of technology, health care, and quality measures.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“The main thing is to problem-solve, but also to figure out how to keep the patient in the center of it,” said Dr. Shah, who also has a consulting firm that focuses on population health, quality management, coordination, and care coordination. “Having to do quality improvement projects, the PDSAs, as a resident, taught me how to try things and, if we fail, what to do to improve on it next time.”

20 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Soham Shah ’17, M.D., MBA, CPE, FACP

Alumnus carves out a niche in medicine As Dr. Shah completed his Internal Medicine Residency, he earned his Master of Business Administration online from St. George’s University in Grenada, where he received his medical degree. He credits Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, The Wright Center’s president and CEO, for encouraging him to pursue his interest on the business side of medicine.

He said she also inspired him to work as a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for a year after finishing his residency in 2017.

In July 2018, Dr. Shah began a yearlong fellowship in clinical informatics through the American Board of Preventive Medicine, where he combined his interests in population health, business, and technology.

“Because it was such a new topic, I was able to carve out a niche for myself,” said Dr. Shah, who also serves as a hospitalist at a network of hospitals in California.

“One of my big projects was using machine learning and social determinants of health to predict the kind of care a patient would need. It was a way to leverage technology and apply it on a large scale.”

He also credits The Wright Center for fostering his interest in health care quality. He became interested in how quality was measured in health care – including through star ratings awarded by the Keystone Accountable Care Organization, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and others – and how those measures could be used to improve care.

At Roche, Dr. Shah is working on two projects that use technology to improve health care: developing a product to predict Alzheimer’s disease and dementia diagnoses earlier and ways to improve remote patient monitoring to avoid hospitalizations and other negative outcomes in low-risk patients.

For the latter, Dr. Shah pointed out possibilities for improved patient care and lower overall health care costs. He explained that delivering care at a patient’s home or a doctor’s office has a lower impact than hospitalization, especially if a health problem can be caught early.

He’s also excited to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can help relieve some of the administrative burden on doctors.

For instance, he said, having AI help craft letters to insurance companies can save time that can be better spent on patient care.

Dr. Shah acknowledged that technology provides possibilities for the future of health care, but study is still needed.

When he’s not working, Dr. Shah enjoys spending time with his wife, Manisha, and their two children, infant Ahana and 3year-old Ishan.

Soham Shah ’17, M.D., lives in Bakersfield, California, with his wife, Manisha, and son, Ishan.

“It’s mostly just family time and spending time with our kids,” he said. “Right now, I’m working on teaching my son to swim.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

“There’s a lot to be determined,” he said.

“There is a lot of research going on about how to make technology clinically viable and, more importantly, valid in terms of how it helps patients.”

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 21

Where are they now?

For this physician, family medicine offers preferred path to career contentment Q&A: Kevin Beltré ’23, M.D. mentor with whom I worked.”

Patients have rated you highly (4.7 out of 5). What is it about your approach that contributes to their positive impressions?

“My philosophy is to treat the patient, not just the disease. I try to listen to everything my patients have to say while consciously trying to minimize interruptions. I’ve learned that if you let patients talk, they will let you know exactly what’s wrong with them. Plus, you give them the opportunity to feel heard, and that’s important for everyone.”

During your medical education training, you had already considered avoiding professional burnout. What activities are Kevin Beltré ’23, M.D., completed The helping you to do so?

Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency “I incorporate a good work/life balance by Program. Dr. Beltré says he plans to stay in making sure that I develop and nurture my medicine for the long run and be “one of personal interests. I take time to visit my those doctors working well into their 70s.” family in Philadelphia. I wind down by going to the gym, walking my dog, playing video evin Beltré ’23, M.D., switched congames, and traveling from time to time. I really enjoy centrations while in medical residency, what I am doing as a family physician, and while burnout convinced that he was probably best is something I’m always aware of, I feel that it won’t get suited to serve patients – and avoid a hold of me as long as I keep my other interests alive career burnout – in family medicine. and well.”

He entered the Regional Family Medicine Residency You completed all of your formal education and Program at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical medical training in Pennsylvania. What advantages Education, where his belief was soon confirmed. He does that offer? found his professional niche and his purpose. Before “I completed all my training in Pennsylvania. I was forcompleting the program, Dr. Beltré received a job offer tunate to be in a state where there is a relative abunand committed to joining Lehigh Valley Health Network. dance of colleges and medical programs. One advantage He started as an attending family physician at its offices this path offers is that your application to a medical in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, in March 2023. school or residency program may be more attractive if they can see you have roots in that city or state.”

The Wright Center recently caught up with Dr. Beltré – whose story of a medical career with “two beginnings” What would you consider as your most important was previously published on The Wright Center’s webtakeaway from your medical education experience site – to ask him to reflect on his journey and life after at The Wright Center? residency.

“My most important takeaway is one of The Wright After nearly one year as an attending physician, Center’s core values: ‘Do the Wright thing.’ As simple as what do you like most about the work? it sounds, this is what I aim to do every day – in and out of the clinical setting.”

“I most like seeing the results. It’s satisfying to see my patients feel better after I treat them for their medical conditions. The Wright Center prepared me for this Scan this QR code to read an in-depth role, thanks in part to vigilant preceptorships. I learned profile story about Kevin Beltré ’23, from all of my preceptors in residency training, and I M.D., while he was a resident physician have been able to develop my own practice style by in The Wright Center for Graduate emulating the different strengths and styles of each Medical Education's Regional Family

K Alumni Magazine 2024

22 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Medicine Residency Program.

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Our Cover Story

Faith, family, & medicine Family Medicine Residency Program alumnus’s new home completes his journey

“We were drawn to The Wright Center in Northeast Pennsylvania because there were two strong Orthodox Jewish communities – one in Scranton and another in Kingston,” Dr. Saul said. “Then we discovered that the one in Kingston had several families who were transplants from Brooklyn (New York), where I grew up.”

The community, which has expanded from approximately 70 families to over 150 families since Dr. Saul and his family arrived in 2019, played a significant role in the primary care physician’s decision to remain in Northeast Pennsylvania after graduating from The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency Program.

“It’s not just a community, it’s a culture,” Dr. Saul said.

“The Jewish culture emphasizes God and family of course, but also personal morals, ethics, and selfcontrol.”

Dr. Saul, who began working for Lehigh Valley Physician Group Family Medicine–Mountain Top in August 2022, has been interested in medicine since he was a small child. He remembers leafing through general medical books and asking his pediatrician dozens of questions about medicine during checkups. As the oldest of eight children, he also attended to his siblings’ small cuts and abrasions.

“I knew the nurturing aspect of medicine,” he said.

“Then I went to college and started realizing that the science of medicine is fascinating, too.”

After completing his studies at a private Jewish school in Brooklyn, he went to a Jewish seminary SEE NEXT PAGE

Solomon Saul ’22, D.O., and his family are members of Bais Moshe in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Dr. Saul is also a board member at the Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston.

Alumni Magazine 2024

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hen Solomon Saul ’22, D.O., began researching places to pursue graduate medical education, he and his wife looked specifically for communities similar to the ones where they were raised.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 23

Alumnus bestows the virtues of primary care FROM PAGE 23

Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, from 2016 to 2019.

in Israel before returning to New York and studying philosophy and biology at Brooklyn College.

He completed medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Saul then followed in his grandfather’s footsteps by joining the U.S. Air Force, where he completed an internship in general surgery at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, from 2015 to 2016, and served as a flight surgeon at Maxwell Air

Dr. Saul has a busy practice in Mountain Top. Outside of work, he, his wife, Margo, and their four children – Dina, 11; Yaffa, 9; Moses, 5; and Batya, 2 – are also deeply involved in Kingston’s Orthodox Jewish community. The three oldest children attend Chader Menachem, where his wife works part time. The family worships at Bais Moshe, and Dr. Saul serves as a board member at the Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston.

When he and his wife married 12 years ago, they envisioned a life much like the one they’ve found in Kingston. “Even though we grew up in two different places, meeting someone with similar values means there’s agreement on certain things,” Dr. Saul explained. “We knew we were going to take care of each other, keep the Sabbath, have kids, and raise them this way.”

Dr. Saul’s faith also informs his work as a doctor. He points to Maimonides, a Jewish rabbi and philosopher in the Middle Ages, who overcame persecution and exile to become a physician whose skills and knowledge were known around the world. Dr. Saul is a member of the Maimonides Society of his alma mater, the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, and served as the group’s president from 2012 to 2013.

‘The biggest bang for your buck in terms of preventing disease or catching disease early is going to be in primary care.’

The soft-spoken, analytical doctor lights up when discussing his interest in medical technology. He offers lectures and hands-on teaching to Wright Center residents about point-of-care ultrasounds, an advanced diagnostic tool physicians can use and interpret at a

“I like to do more handson things, so I was drawn – Solomon Saul ’22, D.O. to surgery,” Dr. Saul said.

Regional Family Medicine Residency Program “But as I learned about flight medicine and patient’s bedside. started flying with the pilots, providing their primary “You can use it to look at different parts of the body care, I started realizing there was a wider array of and get an earlier idea of what’s going on,” he exmedicine that I liked. That convinced me to explore plained, adding that he has been developing his own primary care.” ideas for medical technology and new ways of incorWith a growing family, he matched with The Wright porating point-of-care ultrasounds in primary care.

Center and began his training in Northeast Pennsylvania in 2019. During his residency, he learned from as He noted that medicine sometimes lags behind techmany specialists as possible to incorporate those lesnology, at times rightfully so. He has high hopes for sons into his primary care practice. He asked doctors how medicine and technology will intersect in the he trained under about how they recognized potential coming years and for his own role in adopting and insymptoms of serious illness, hoping to use those exventing cutting-edge techniques to improve his paperiences to improve as a doctor. tients' health and the community's overall well-being.

Alumni Magazine 2023 Alumni Magazine 2024

“The biggest bang for your buck in terms of preventing disease or catching disease early is going to be in primary care,” he said. “Primary care doctors can play a large role in actually saving lives or decreasing morbidity by catching things early and identifying abnormalities and problems.

“You can have a large impact.”

24 24 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

“You have to validate things in medicine. There are so many products in medicine that are innovative, but they’re not helpful,” he acknowledged. “There are some people who are skeptical about something like point-of-care ultrasounds, which can really help patients. It’s not a bad thing to be skeptical about new ideas, but it’s important to innovate.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

Solomon Saul ’22, D.O., started working for Lehigh Valley Physician Group Family Medicine– Mountain Top shortly after graduating from The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Family Medicine Residency Program.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 25

CLASS OF 2024

The Wright Physicians

INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENT PHYSICIANS

Udit Asija, M.D. Maria Rose Dominic, M.D. Jawahar Durrani, M.D. Sadaf Fatima, M.D. Kyle Fistner, D.O. Naeem Ijaz, M.D. Peter Iskander, M.D. Ayushi Jain, M.D. Apeksha Kakkar, M.D. Gursharan Kaur, M.D.

Abhaya Khatiwada, M.D. Aishwarya Krishnaiah, M.D. Aamir Makda, M.D. Sandeep Mandal, M.D. Sajeel Mirza, M.D.

Mohammed Musa Najmuddin, M.D. Sarasija Natarajan, M.D. Lakshmi Pappoppula, M.D. Preya Patel, M.D. Aniqa Raheem, M.D. Khadijah Sajid, M.D. Chilsia Shafi, M.D. Ali Shah, M.D. Sabeeka Shah, M.D. Sumnima Shrestha, M.D.

Mashu Shrivastava, M.D. Shila Simkhada, M.D. Aayushi Sood, M.D. Omar Syed, M.D. Lekha Yadukumar, M.D.

Syed Zaidi, M.D. Jiayi Zheng, M.D.

Alumni Magazine 2024

24 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 26

Jacob Darnell, D.O., M.A. Stephanie Egwuatu, D.O. Joshua George, D.O. Sandya George, D.O.

Katlyn Jones D.O., MPH Joshua Lloyd, D.O. Hsuan-Chieh Jasper Luoh, D.O. Leonardo Mejia, D.O.

Fatema Nassar, D.O. Leon Nguyen, D.O. Alisa Pham, D.O., M.S. Dunal Riveland, D.O.

Enne Shah, D.O. Emily Silberstein, D.O. Mary Tabakin, D.O. Wei-Jen Yankelevich, D.O., Ph.D.

REGIONAL FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENT PHYSICIANS

CLASS OF 2024

NATIONAL FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENT PHYSICIANS

Tony AbdelMaseeh, M.D. Neil Espiritu, M.D. Vivek Gautam, M.D. Ruhi Goraya, M.D. Aniq Hakim, M.D.

Omar Saeed, M.D. Ankit Sethi, M.D. Sahil Sharma, M.D. Safwaan Suleman, M.D.

Alumni Magazine 2024

Anitesh Jaswal, M.D. Amatus Legbedion, M.D. Edwin Mogaka, M.D., Ph.D. Mohana Partheeban, M.D. Nirshanthika Raviendren, M.D.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 27

CLASS OF 2024

The Wright Physicians

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE FELLOW PHYSICIAN

GASTROENTEROLOGY FELLOW PHYSICIAN

Yaser Khalid, D.O.

Fouzia Oza, M.D.

GERIATRICS FELLOW PHYSICIAN

DENTAL

Muhammad Ishaq, M.D.

Alumni Magazine 2024

28 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 24 26

New York University Langone Health’s Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program for AEGD

Rishi Priyanka Mallampalli, BDS

Michael Joseph Regan, DMD

OUR GIFT TO YOU: Scan the QR code to download your free graduation memories.

Your Class Notes Stay in touch with friends and classmates by sharing updates about your career, family, and noteworthy accomplishments in the annual Class Notes section of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Alumni Magazine. Send submission to TWC-MarCom-Magazine@ TheWrightCenter.org.

co-resident with him in the Internal Medicine Residency Program. Their daughter, Mansha, is a dermatologist, and their son, Anshuman, is an orthodontist.

Harneet Sethi ’05, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program alumna, is an internal medicine physician with St. Luke’s University Hospital, East Stroudsburg, PennClass of ’98 sylvania. After graduating from the ScranGhada Mitri ’98, M.D., a graduate of the In- ton-Temple Residency Program, Dr. Sethi helped to start the hospitalist program at ternal Medicine Residency Program, is an Mercy and Regional Hospital in Scranton. internist and assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Her speClass of ’06 cialty is preoperative evaluations. Dr. Mitri’s David Matthew Fedor ’06, D.O., an Interinterests include women’s health, graduate nal Medicine Residency Program graduate, medical education, preventive health, and is a telehealth critical care medicine doctor. quality improvement clinical research.

After graduation, Dr. Fedor went to DartClass of ’02 mouth College for his fellowship. In 2011, he moved to Utah with his wife, Laurel. The Husam Issa ’02, M.D., is the chief in couple wanted to live somewhere where the division of infectious disease at CLS Health in Webster, Texas. He has been mar- they could ski. ried to his wife, Kholoud, for 25 years. The Class of ’07 couple has two daughters, Danya, 22, and Hossam Algamil ’07, M.D., a graduate of Tema, 21, and twin boys, Ali and Ismail, 13. the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is Dr. Issa graduated from the Internal Medithe medical director of the Northeast Recine Residency Program. habilitation Hospital Network’s Hospitalist Class of ’05 Medicine Program in New Hampshire. Dr. Algamil and his wife, Engy, have three chilArjinder Sethi ’05, ’13, M.D., a graduate dren, Ahmed, 20, and twins Kareem and of the Internal Medicine Residency and Lana, 13.

Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship programs, is a noninvasive cardiologist with Class of ’08 St. Luke’s University Hospital, East StroudsJehad Sibai ’08, M.D., an Internal Medicine burg, Pennsylvania. Dr. Sethi was associate Residency Program graduate, is an infecprogram director of the Scranton-Temple tious disease consultant with Beaumont Residency Program from 2005 to 2010, Hospital System in Michigan. until he became one of the first fellows in the Cardiovascular Disease program. His Class of ’11 wife, Harneet Sethi ’05, M.D., was a Anurag Bajaj ’11, ’19, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship programs, is a cardiologist at Monument Health Heart and Vascular Institute in Rapid City, South Dakota. After graduating from his IM Residency, Dr. Bajaj joined The Wright Center as an IM Residency Program faculty member and received several Teacher of the Year awards.

14. Dr. Nimesh Patel said, “I owe my success to the excellent training I received at The Wright Center. I am forever grateful to Dr. (Linda) Thomas-Hemak, Dr. (Robert) Wright, and Dr. (Samir) Pancholy.”

Himanshu Sharma ’12, M.D., an Internal

Nimesh Patel, M.D., and Lovelina Patel, M.D., with their family

Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist with AdventHealth East Orlando, Florida. He loves to garden and travel. Dr. Sharma is married to Sonia. The couple has a son, Rohan, 8, and daughter, Riya, 7.

Class of ’12

Arjinder Sethi, M.D., and Harneet Sethi, M.D., with their family

Nimesh Patel ’12, ’15, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship programs, is a cardiologist at Bon Secour Health System in Richmond, Virginia. His area of expertise is advanced heart failure and transplant. Dr. Patel and his wife, Lovelina Patel ’19, M.D., an alumna of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, live in Glen Allen, Virginia, and have twin daughters, Mahi and Mishti,

Himanshu Sharma, M.D., and family

Class of ’13 Rashita Aggarwal ’13, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is a hospitalist at the Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California.

SEE NEXT PAGE

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 29

Your Class Notes Medicine Program alumna, is working for telemedicine companies OpenLoop Health and Teladoc Health. Her passions are lifeMonodeep Biswas ’13, ‘16, M.D., style medicine and climate health. Dr. Halsey a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Fel- lives in Washington, D.C., and enjoys spendlowship programs, is a cardiac electrophysi- ing time outdoors, traveling, dancing, listenologist at UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute ing to live music, and doing yoga. in Harrisburg and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Yelin Yang ’16, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a primary Dr. Biswas added: “Six years at The Wright care physician at Crozer Health in PhiladelCenter has placed me on a solid foundation phia, Pennsylvania. She is a mother of two to serve as a specialist as well as to pursue further training in cardiac electrophysiology at children, Bella, 18, and Brandon, 16. the University of Baltimore. The culture of inClass of ’17 quisitiveness and innovation has stayed with Juliet Bliss ’17, D.O., a National Family Medime. The entire staff and team at The Wright cine Program graduate, is a family medicine Center were special. Special note of thanks physician at Northwest Washington Family and fond memories of Dr. Linda ThomasMedicine Residency in Washington. She has Hemak and Dr. Samir Pancholy who helped been co-associate program director for the and supported me to realize and achieve my last two years and loves working in graduate goals and dreams. Proud to be from The medical education, helping to grow the next Wright Center coming out of Scranton, Pa.” physician workforce in the Pacific Northwest Class of ’14 Olympic Peninsula. Dr. Bliss and her wife, CaKhaled Elghonemy ’14, M.D., M.Sc., FACP, trina, spend their free time at home on five acres of land with their growing family of two an Internal Medicine Residency Program children, Cordelia, 13, and Jasper, 9; two graduate, is a primary physician at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He is dogs, Jax and Chance; three cats, Charlie, Rocky, and Blaze; and 13 chickens. also an associate professor at Washington State University Medical School. In his spare Erin Gordon ’17, M.D., an alumna of the time, Dr. Elghonemy explores the beautiful Internal Medicine Residency Program, owns Pacific Northwest with his children, Mallak, Erin Gordon MD, a medical aesthetic office 10, Zeina, 8, and Seleem, 6. in Calabasas, California, and works per diem FROM PAGE 29

as a hospitalist at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California. Dr. Gordon and Nayanjyoti Kaushik ’15, M.D., FACC, her husband, David Johnson, welcomed FHRS, a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is a clinical cardiac elec- their first child, Sofia, in August 2023. trophysiologist at CHI Health Clinic Heart Institute, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Class of ’15

Chandra S. Reddy Navuluri ’15, M.D., is an internist at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Matthew Belshe ’16, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is a family medicine physician with North Country Healthcare in the city of Show Low, Arizona.

Alumni Magazine 2023 Alumni Magazine 2024

Annie Halsey ’16, D.O., a National Family

24 30 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Daniel Omire-Mayor ’17, D.O., M.S., MBA, FAAFP, DAOBFP, a National Family Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a primary care lead at Providence Hospital in northeast Washington, D.C. He married Barbara Adair on Columbus Day Weekend in 2019 in a traditional Nigerian and Catholic ceremony. He also recently became a father to a baby girl, Harper. He is the founder and CEO of MedHistoryMadeEasy, a mobile medical application. Dr. Omire-Mayor is also helping to develop the next generation of doctors by serving as clinical faculty for Georgetown University School of Medicine. He recently completed work in Warsaw, Poland, to help Ukrainian refugees who were displaced by war.

Zainab Mian ’17, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is an endocrinologist at Roper St. Francis Healthcare in South Carolina.

Saurabh Patel ’17, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is an interventional cardiologist at Orlando Health Heart & Vascular Institute in Florida.

Class of ’18

Class of ’16

Frederick Chang ’16, D.O., a Regional Family Medicine Residency graduate, is the chief medical information officer at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona. Dr. Chang is also a core faculty member for the University of Arizona’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship, where he teaches artificial intelligence and clinical decision support.

Nafiseh Haghgoo, D.O., and family

Erin Gordon, M.D., and family

Nafiseh Haghgoo ’17, D.O., a National Family Medicine Program graduate, is an urgent care physician at Overlake Medical Center and lab director for all of the Overlake Medical clinics. She married Bagher Afshari, a psychologist, in August of 2022. The couple has a 14-month-old son, Nour.

Afia Babar ’18, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is an internist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She is also an assistant attending physician in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Babar is on the board of directors for numerous nonprofits throughout the world, most recently serving as a board member at The Family Center, a Brooklyn, New Yorkbased, nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen families affected by crisis, illness, and to create a future for their children. In addition, she serves as a physician medical consultant for numerous biotech health startup companies. Dr. Babar loves traveling the world and spending time with family in her free time.

Tanya Balov ’18, D.O., an alumna of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, started a new position at HealthyU Clinics in Gilbert, Arizona. Dr. Balov and her husband, Mark Serey, also purchased Become Better Health, a telehealth company. In addition, she started Adriatique Medical Consulting, to help other physicians with efficiency and their practices.

The couple’s son started kindergarten in July.

Kathleen Fate ’18, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is an outpatient family medicine physician at Neighborcare Health at High Point, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Seattle, Washington.

grams, is an interventional cardiologist at Tyler Cardiovascular Consultants and the University of Texas Health East Texas in Tyler, Texas.

Gursukhman Sidhu ’18, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, completed a fellowship in electrophysiology and is practicing near the Quad Cities in Iowa. Dr. Sidhu enjoys exploring nature and the outdoors with his wife, Shweta, daughter, Habeer, 9, and son, Anhad, 4.

Outside of work, she is a passionate writer who recently won the 12th Taichung Literature Prize in Taiwan, addressing the topic of accessibility of organ transplants between the U.S. and Taiwan, rooted in the cultural differences toward bodies in Western and Eastern societies.

Anam Whyne ’18, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency (NFMR), is a core faculty member for the NFMR program at Unity Health Care in Washington, D.C. In her free time, she enjoys exploring with her husband, Atif, and her son, Ibrahim, 4.

Laura Striebel-Williams ’18, D.O., a National Family Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a family medicine provider at Kettering Health Beavercreek Health Center in Ohio. She is married to Ryan Williams and the couple has three children, Benny, Orion, and JoJo. The family spends their free time riding their horses, Skipper, Magic, and Hollywood Smokin’ LAW. In the summer, Hollywood Smokin’ LAW competed in the American Ranch Horse Association World Championship in Florida.

Angad Madan ’18, D.O., a graduate of the Regional Family Medicine Residency Program, is medical director for St. Peter’s Addiction Recovery Center at St. Peter’s Health Partners in Albany, New York. Dr. Madan completed an addiction medicine fellowship with Metrohealth-Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. He lives in Latham, New York, with his wife, Navroop Kaur, and their daughter, Sirat Kaur Madan, 3.

Gursukhman Sidhu, M.D., and family

Anmol Singh ’18, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Hospital in Lodi, California.

Angad Madan, D.O., and family

Brian Moreaux ’18, D.O., a National Family Medicine Residency Program graduate, works at Osteopathic Consultants in Ashland, Oregon. He completed his fellowship in osteopathic manipulative treatment. Dr. Moreau said, “the values that were emphasized during his residency have guided his practice.”

Gaurav Patel ’18, ’21, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship pro-

Aren Thompson ’18, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, practices family medicine and osteopathic manipulative treatment at Hawaii Island Community Health Center. Dr. Thompson and his wife, Genelle, welcomed their first child, Lily, on Jan. 5, 2023.

Chien-Wen Yang ’18, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is an academic nephrologist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Yang also holds a position as a clinical assistant professor at Ochsner Clinical School of the University of Queensland, Australia.

Laura Striebel-Williams, D.O., and family

Class of ’19 Leigh Anne Costanzo ’19, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is a family physician at ArchWell Health in Mesa, Arizona. She completed her medical degree at A.T. Still University in Arizona.

John Dally III ’19, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist and assistant site director at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Dally and his wife, Andrea, were married November 2019 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The couple has a son, John Dally IV, and is expecting another baby boy in October.

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Alumni Magazine 2024

Taisei Suzuki ’18, D.O., a National Family Medicine Residency Program (NFMR) graduate, has been named medical director at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center in Maryland. Since graduation, he has been with Unity Health Care as the associate program director for the NFMR Program. Dr. Suzuki will work part time at Unity, providing high-quality osteopathic manipulative treatment and acupuncture.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 31

Your Class Notes FROM PAGE 31 Matthew Debo ’19, D.O., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is the department head for the Palliative Care Medicine Program at Bayhealth in Dover, Delaware. He and his wife, Angela, have two children, Nathan, 5, and Fiona, 4 months.

engaged to Cheryl Embree in January at the top of the Washington Monument.

Farrukh S. Kokhar ’20, D.O., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is a hospitalist at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York. Dr. Kokhar was inducted as a fellow in the American College of Osteopathic Internists in 2023. He is actively involved in departmental development activities and continues to enjoy the highest patient satisfaction.

Shweta Sharma ’19, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas. She is married to Manoj Das ‘15, M.D., a nephrologist at The Austin Diagnostic Clinic. The couple has two daughters, Aaradhya, 8, and Aashvi, 7, who are excited to learn how to ride a horse.

Jean Shiraki ’19, D.O., an alumna of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is one of the new associate program directors of the Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD) Family Medicine Residency Program. FHCSD is one of the nation’s 10 largest Federally Qualified Health Centers and has over 20 primary care clinics in the San Diego, California, area. Dr. Shiraki and her husband, Jesse, have a daughter, Mika.

Sana Waseem ’19, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Residency Program, worked for four years as an attending physician at Access Community Health Network, the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Illinois, working with the underserved suburban population of Chicago. Most recently, Dr. Waseem transitioned to Hamdard Health Alliance, a smaller FQHC in Chicago that focuses on serving the immigrant communities.

Alumni Magazine 2023 Alumni Magazine 2024

Kan Yang ’19, D.O., a Regional Family Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a primary care physician at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic in Hermiston, Oregon. Dr. Yang is also a part-time clinical assistant professor at Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine of Washington State University where he teaches rural medicine. He lives with his wife, Amy, and three children, Olivia, 12; and twin boys, Nathan and Felix, 9, in Oregon.

Class of ’20 Vincent Carbone ’20, D.O., a National Family Medicine Program graduate, is starting a new role in September 2024 as director of inpatient palliative care at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. He recently became

24 32 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

recently became a big sister when the couple welcomed their second child, Dylan.

Monica Mallik ’20, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, completed her Nephrology Fellowship at the UPMC Presbyterian Renal and Electrolyte Division. Dr. Mallik now practices nephrology in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She lives with her husband and two children outside of the Steel City.

Vincent Carbone, D.O., and his fiancée

Katherine Chen ’20, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, completed a second residency in emergency medicine in 2023. She is a nocturnist at Providence Swedish in Seattle, Washington.

Lokesh Goyal ’20, D.O., a National Family Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi–Shoreline in Corpus Christi, Texas. He has published 25 scholarly papers and has multiple other articles currently under process for publication in different journals. Dr. Goyal is also a reviewer for numerous journals and has reviewed over 100 articles from various journals. At the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, he serves as an adjunct clinical assistant professor. In his community, Dr. Goyal volunteers as a medical director at Mission of Mercy in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Kelly O’Leary Kazmierski ’20, M.D., and Daniel Kazmierski ’21, M.D., graduates of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, recently moved to Bluffton, South Carolina.

Kelly is the chief of adult medicine and an internist at Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, a Federally Qualified Health Center. She also serves as the regional director of medical education for A.T. Still University. Daniel is the facility medical director at Hilton Head Medical Center and a clinical teacher for A.T. Still University. Their daughter, Morgan,

Monica Mallik, M.D., and family

Rajaram Pattar ’20, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School for the Internal Medicine Residency program at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Class of ’21 Dara Gammon ’21, M.D., B.Sc. Pharm., DABFM, CCFP, a Family Medicine Residency Program alumna, is a hospitalist at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Dr. Gammon focuses on mental health, addictions, and eating disorders. She also works at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital as a clinical associate for psychiatry, providing mental health crisis care in the emergency room. Dr. Gammon and her husband have two sons, Valentine, 5, and Leonidas, 18 months.

Trevor Gill ’21, D.O., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is a hospitalist and clinical quality project manager at Northwell Health–Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York. He married Kate Hesler in Central Park in 2022. The couple bought a home in Manhattan.

Masuma Khawaja ’21, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is an endocrinologist in private practice in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

David Sun-Jae Kim ’21, D.O., an alumnus of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is a geriatric consultant at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

Nisha Kuruvadi ’21, D.O., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a primary care physician in private practice as well as an obesity weight management physician in San Diego, California.

Jimmy Franco ’22, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is employed at El Rio Community Health Center, Tucson, Arizona, and is working with A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine students. In his free time, Dr. Franco likes to travel the world. He has visited more than 30 countries.

Mohammed Faizan UI Haq ’22, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a hospitalist at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in South Bend, Indiana. He married his wife, Amreen, the summer after graduating. In their spare time, they enjoy traveling, spending time with family, and gaming. He might have been spotted on the streets of Tokyo in the summer of 2023 go-karting in a Super Mario costume.

Talha Tariq ’21, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is an internal medicine hospitalist at Geisinger in Danville and Shamokin, Pennsylvania. He married Yumna Tahir in July 2023 in a traditional Pakistani wedding in Jacksonville, Florida.

They enjoy traveling, cooking, and trying new cuisines in their free time.

Class of ’22 John Curran ’22, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a primary care lead at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Myrtle Beach Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dr. Curran bought his first house in 2023.

Komal Ejaz ’22, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, recently completed a fellowship in rheumatology at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Ejaz and her husband, Ali Raza, a physician at the Cleveland Clinic, welcomed their first baby boy, Azlan, in August 2022.

Class of ’23 Ajinkya Buradkar ’23, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, recently completed his training in hospice and palliative medicine at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Dr. Buradkar started his Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Center in July.

Taine Ramirez Diaz ’23, M.D., an Internal Medicine Residency Program graduate, is a second-year infectious diseases fellow at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois.

Liam Gaugh ’23, D.O., a graduate of the National Family Medicine Residency Program, is a family medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in Temple Hills, Maryland.

Nishant Sharma ’21, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, is practicing pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Lee Wagner ’21, M.D., a Regional Family Medicine Residency Program alumna, is a primary care physician at the outpatient clinic of the University of South Alabama in Citronelle, Alabama. She is busy training for triathlons and most recently competed in May’s Lions Club of Mobile Annual Double Tunnel Vision 5K, finishing in first place.

to Aaron Simonetti ‘22, M.D., a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, who is a hospitalist in Naples, Florida.

The couple has two children, Aedan, 4, and Lilliana, 1, with another baby due in November 2024.

Mohammed Faizan UI Haq, M.D., and his wife, Amreen

Gary Oh ’23, B.Sc.Hon., M.D., DipABLM, earned board certification in Lifestyle Medicine from the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Oh is at Parrish Medical Center Cape Canaveral in Florida. “If anyone (in the residency programs) is interested in helping us get to the moon and Mars, contact me on LinkedIn, and I will hook them up,” Dr. Oh said. “Nothing but love and respect as I’m here because of the training I received there (in Scranton, Pa.), and I’m down as alumni to pull up to Florida anyone who is interested in helping us out.”

James Simons ’23, M.D., a Regional Family Medicine Program graduate, is an addiction Humza Quadir ’22, M.D., is a graduate of the Internal Medicine Residency Program medicine fellow with the Geisinger Addand a former chief resident. He is an academic hospitalist at the University of Penn- iction Medicine program in sylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Quadir also was Northeast the keynote speaker for The Wright Center Pennsylvania. for Graduate Medical Education’s 45th He is engaged graduation ceremony on June 22, 2024, at to Maura the Mohegan Pennsylvania Convention Merli, with Center in Plains Township, Pennsylvania. plans for Kristy Simonetti ’22, M.D., a Regional a September Family Medicine Residency Program 2024 wedding. alumna, is a primary care physician with Lee They are pet parHealth in Fort Myers, Florida. She is married ents to Parker.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 33

Our Future Alumni

Match Day 100% successful for regional residency programs

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he Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed 51 new resident physicians into its regional residency programs in March 2024 after achieving a 100% match on National Match Day for aspiring doctors.

The National Resident Matching Program’s Match Day is held annually on the third Friday of March. Medical students nation- and worldwide simultaneously learn at which U.S. residency program they will train for the next three to seven years. It is one of the most important and competitive processes in the medical school experience.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education looks forward to Match Day each year as it learns which medical school graduates will continue their training in our Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited and community-focused residency programs in Northeast Pennsylvania. The Wright Center is one of the largest Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Consortiums in the country, with more than 245 physicians in training.

The Wright Center matched residents in the following regional programs: Family Medicine Residency (13); Internal Medicine Residency (33); and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency (5). Resident physicians began the first year of their residencies on July 1, 2024, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Alumni Magazine 2024

24 34 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

The incoming first-year residents hail from: Bahrain (1); Canada (6); China (1); India (9); Nepal (3); Pakistan (12); Philippines (2); Saint Lucia (1); Saudi Arabia (1); Serbia (1); Uganda (1); United Kingdom (1); and the United States (12).

The residency programs received 5,072 applications and interviewed 516 candidates, or about 10.17% of the applicants. The National Resident Matching Program makes residency matches, using a mathematical algorithm to pair graduating medical students with open training positions at teaching health centers, educational consortia, hospitals, and other institutions across the U.S. The model considers the top choices of both students and residency programs.

“Match Day is one of the most exciting days of the academic year and a celebration to welcome our new residents,” said Jumee Barooah ‘13, M.D., FACP, senior vice president of education and ACGME designated institutional official at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “For the residents, the day represents the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance that began at an early age.

“For The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, it marks

another milestone in fulfilling our mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.”

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model to advance their shared mission to provide whole-person primary health services to people of all ages, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay.

The Wright Center offers ACGME-accredited residencies in three disciplines – family medicine, internal medicine, and physical medicine & rehabilitation – as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, and geriatrics.

Fellows advance careers in their specialty fields The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education added six fellows to its fellowship programs for the 2024-25 academic year, including alumni Udit Asija, M.D., and Peter Iskander, M.D., both graduates of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and members of the Class of 2024.

Vikas Khurana, M.D., program director, and David Reynolds, M.D., associate program director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, welcomed Drs. Asija and Iskander to the program. The Geriatrics Fellowship Program also added Drs. Ogochukwu Ekete, Stephanie Farah, Ahmad Rafiq Khan, and Arun Kumar to the program under Program Director Edward Dzielak, D.O., FACP. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education received 449 applications for the five available positions in the two programs (Gastroenterology, 417, and Geriatrics, 32).

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 35

The Wright Calling

Rx: Resilience, reinvention, repeat Nurse returns to school to fulfill dream of becoming a doctor

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eigh Anne Costanzo ‘19, D.O., BSN, built a career on reinventions. On her 40th birthday, after sharing her goal to teach nursing, a coworker suggested she become a doctor instead. She had toyed with that idea early on in her 21-year nursing career, but the timing wasn’t right, with a husband in construction and two young sons counting on her health insurance coverage.

“Through clerkships, I engaged in gynecology and surgery (rotations), which I really enjoyed,” Dr. Costanzo said. “However, I graduated medical school a few months shy of my 50th birthday. I knew it would be hard, plus I really like sleep.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

She applied for osteopathic and allopathic residencies but did not get an osteopathic match. An email from Lawrence LeBeau, D.O., program director for The Wright Center for GradLater that night, she hopped online uate Education’s National Family and found a chatroom of medical stuMedicine Residency Program (NFMR) dents, including a 43-year-old nurse en- Leigh Anne Costanzo ‘19, D.O., BSN – established through a groundbreaking rolled in a medical school in the partnership with her alma mater, ATSUCaribbean. “I thought, if he can do it, I can do it,” Dr. SOMA, in 2013 as a single residency program operating Costanzo said. at six community health centers across the country – offered a life-changing proposition at El Rio ComWith her sons now young adults, she enrolled in a local munity Health Center in Tucson, Arizona. community college to take required pre-med courses, while still working full time as a registered nurse. Three “They had residency spots open,” Dr. Costanzo said. years and an MCAT later, the only California medical With The Wright Center’s NFMR still in its infancy at the school to accept her was a waitlist offer at Touro Unitime and listed under Pennsylvania and not Arizona, versity California to start the following year. few medical school graduates applied, she said. She With an improved score on her third MCAT, she applied contacted Felipe Perez, M.D., The Wright Center’s asto osteopathic medical schools, mainly because they sociate program director in Tucson, Arizona, who in are reputed for being more accepting of nontraditional turn, contacted Dr. LeBeau. students. She was accepted at A.T. Still University “I was in,” Dr. Costanzo said. “It was kismet.”

School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSUSOMA) in 2012, not far from where her parents had re- After graduation, she moved to Tucson in 2016. The located a year earlier. However, she had just two three-year osteopathic residency not only taught her inmonths before classes began. valuable skills and provided hands-on learning experiences, but she witnessed the program’s transformation “I said yes, but in my head, I went through a myriad of emotions,” Dr. Costanzo said. “I had just two months to to meet the rigorous academic standards required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Educaget everything together.” tion (ACGME), which became the sole accrediting body After her father secured her apartment, she packed up for graduate medical education in 2020. what remained following a yard sale and donation purge and moved to Arizona on July 1. With temperatures hit- “My first year as a resident, they were just growing,” Dr. Costanzo said of the residency program’s ACGME acting 115 degrees, unpacking occurred at 4 a.m., hours creditation process. “By my second year, there were before the baking sun rose. more ACGME changes we had to have.”

“There’s an expression that medical school is like Her nursing background had prepared her for the ‘drinking from the firehose,’” she said. “Nothing could be changes as she was accustomed to working closely more descriptive for that first year of medical school.” with regulatory agencies, including as a senior overShe plowed through for the next four years, focusing on sight compliance consultant for health insurer Anthem learning everything she could and what her specialty Blue Cross, navigating health care reform. would be. Originally family medicine focused, she gravi“I understood we were a cog in the machine, and how tated toward obstetrics-gynecology.

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we fit to get what patients needed,” Dr. Costanzo said. “So, I was OK with the changes. I encouraged my co-residents and explained to them that this is just the way the world works. There will always be an insurance company or regulatory agency that wants you to do something.”

“There are no bad rotations, just a bad attitude,” Dr. Costanzo said of all residency programs. “Even if you feel something is a waste of time, you need to ask a bunch of questions and be fully engaged. ... You only get what you put in it.”

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education's National Family Medicine Residency Program’s June 2019 graduation at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, from left, are Lori Landes, M.D.; Felipe Perez, M.D., associate program director; Veronica Fonseca, D.O., Sonja Cruz, D.O., Leigh Anne Costanzo D.O., Amandip Birdi, D.O., Edward Schwager, M.D., core faculty member; and Douglas James Spegman, M.D., MSPH, FACP, chief clinical officer of El Rio Community Health Center in Tucson, Arizona, and a member of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Board of Directors.

After completing her residency in 2019, she accepted a job offer as a primary care physician with Phoenix-based Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the United States.

“It was a good place to land as a new graduate,” said Dr. Costanzo, who is board-certified through the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians. “There was a lot of support, and they had a lot of D.O.s.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she undertook a demanding role as a physician representative, juggling responsibilities at a COVID-19 testing site and a respiratory clinic, all while continuing to care for her own patients under the umbrella of Banner Health.

strengthened patient-doctor relationships.

“Exactly how it should be,” she said. “But, it was like starting over. Even though I was three years in practice (at Banner), I had been seeing 2,000 unique patients in a year before leaving. ... I came in with zero patients. I had a noncompete clause.”

Dr. Costanzo’s patient panel has steadily grown to around 380. On a typical day, she sees an average of 10 to 12 patients, referred to as “members” within the ArchWell network. Like most ArchWell clinics, her health center sits in a shopping center, predominantly catering to Hispanic shoppers, and provides an array of supplementary services, including social, nutritional, and behavioral health services.

“The centers are set up with activity rooms,” Dr. Costanzo said. “A lot of times, they (patients) are socially isoWhen another transformative career opportunity lated or live alone, so this gives them a place to do emerged in 2022, Dr. Costanzo eagerly joined ArchWell Tai Chi or attend events. … We try to educate them and Health. The Nashville, Tennessee-based, shared-risk have a conversation about what keeps them from exerhealth care enterprise provides holistic primary health cising or taking their medication. I tell each patient, services to Medicare-eligible senior citizens in medically underserved neighborhoods. With a network spanning 51 ‘My lowest goal is to keep you off the gurney. My higher goal is to help you enjoy life at this stage of your life.’ I health care centers, ArchWell Health aims to improve haven’t had a single one say, ‘I want to be on the gurney.’” health care accessibility and outcomes for vulnerable populations, mirroring The Wright Center’s mission.

At age 58, Dr. Costanzo lives her higher goal – whether Dr. Costanzo, a family medicine physician accustomed to it’s playing the piano, spending time with family, teaching caring for patients of all ages, now practices at ArchWell’s as an adjunct assistant professor at A.T. Still University, or Mesa South clinic. Drawn to the organization’s mission caring for her patients at ArchWell. and objectives, she discovered a synergy with her Wright “It feels like it fits me like a glove,” she said. “I love Center residency experiences, particularly in emphasizmaking a difference in people’s lives.” ing whole-person, patient-centered care and fostering

Alumni Magazine 2024

In her role as chief resident during her third year, she remained a steadfast advocate for the residency program, and its continued changes to meet ACGME criteria. She also tirelessly championed the needs of her fellow residents, ensuring their voices were heard and their concerns addressed. Even after completing their residencies, their bond endured.

Now dispersed across Arizona, California, and Montana, they maintain close contact through a dedicated chat group, where they share valuable insights, opinions, and support.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 37

The Wright Home

Resident physician confirms his calling during service trip to Rwanda

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estled between panoramic photos of Rwanda’s lush green hills and videos of zebras on Dr. Udit Asija’s camera roll are extreme close-ups of strangers’ internal organs.

The photos and videos are from what Dr. Asija ’24 calls a career-defining trip to the East African country as part of the global mission GI Rising. The U.S. nongovernmental charitable organization was formed in 2020 to further gastroenterology and hepatology education and care in Rwanda.

Dr. Asija graduated from The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency on June 22 and began his gastroenterology fellowship in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in July.

“I felt alive, doing this GI work,” said Dr. Asija, who plans to return to Rwanda in 2025 with his wife, Anjalika Gupta ‘21, M.D., a graduate of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency, and their son, Aarush Asija. “It didn’t feel like work. I know this is my calling.”

Growing up in Delhi, India, Dr. Asija’s focus on gastroenterology and hepatology was developed through experiences with his grandfather, who died of nonalcoholic cirrhosis of the liver when Dr. Asija was a child, and a cousin who contracted liver disease and died despite receiving a transplant.

Dr. Asija matched with The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2021, several years after his wife joined The Wright Center as a resident physician.

Alumni Magazine 2024

As he advanced through the program, he found an opportunity to learn more about endohepatology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. He credits Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, and Jumee Barooah, M.D., FACP, senior vice president of education and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education designated institutional official at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical

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Dr. Udit Asija ‘24, M.D., a graduate of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, learns to scope at the Munini District Hospital in Rwanda. Dr. Asija said his team saw and scoped up to 60 people daily during his service trip.

The GI Rising trip took Udit Asija ‘24, M.D., far right, to the Munini District Hospital in Rwanda, where he worked with, from left, Peter Rentzepis, a medical student at Harvard University Medical School; Osman Ali, M.D., a gastroenterology and advanced endoscopy fellow at the University of Maryland Medical Center; Emmanuel Nkusi, clinical officer anesthetist from Rwanda; and Erik C. Von Rosenvinge, M.D., gastroenterologist and faculty physician at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

cording to GI Rising.

“Primary care, preventive care is not ideal (in Rwanda),” Dr. Asija said.

Dr. Asija and 111 others from around the world arrived in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, to begin their work for the medical mission trip. He joined a team of five other health care workers and visited four clinics and hospitals.

‘I felt alive, doing this GI work. It didn’t feel like work. I know this is my calling.’

– Udit Asija ’24, M.D. Internal Medicine Residency Program

Education, for guiding him to the elective.

Through the doctors he worked with at the University of Maryland, he met Steven P. Bensen, M.D., a gastroenterologist and professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, who leads GI Rising. After learning more about the nonprofit’s annual two-week medical mission to Rwanda, he enrolled in the program and paid his own way because he was not with an academic program affiliated with GI Rising.

Dr. Asija said a highlight was his visit to a hospital in Munini, about 113 miles from Kigali. The team saw and scoped about 60 people a day. He also became part of a clinical trial on gastric cancer screening in Rwanda. He recorded some of the endoscopies on his phone for learning purposes and to show others what the trip was like.

“These were heavy days. We’d be up at 5 in the morning, be in place by 6, and start seeing patients at 7. We wouldn’t be done until 9 p.m.,” he said. “But it was paradise in the sense that I was doing what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Dr. Asija also managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing at Akagera National Park, the last remaining refuge for savannah-adapted species in Rwanda.

“Elephants, giraffes, hippos, zebras, and they were literally right next to you,” he said.

Liver disease and esophageal, stomach, and liver cancers are among the top 25 causes of death in Rwanda, but the country only has one gastroenterologist and fewer than a dozen internists who have experience with gastroenterological conditions and endoscopic procedures, ac-

While in Rwanda, Udit Asija ‘24, M.D., a graduate of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, toured Akagera National Park, Central Africa’s largest protected wetland. He took this photo of zebras grazing and a tour vehicle in the background.

Alumni Magazine 2024

In 1994, a brutal genocide in Rwanda left more than 1 million people dead in 12 weeks.

Many of the dead were health care professionals. Their loss decimated the country’s health care system.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 39

The Wright Leadership

Physician leader and educator works to provide ‘a very bright future’ for everyone

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s her elementary school classmates dreamed about being firefighters, ballerinas, and movie stars, Erin McFadden’s aspirations focused on the miracles of modern medicine.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“I remember in third grade, writing my first essay on what I wanted to be when I grew The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Erin McFadden ‘12, M.D., received the 2023 Dr. Ann Preston Women in Medicine Award from the Pennup. I wrote that I was going to be a doctor.

My friends and family tease me about that sylvania Eastern Region of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians for promoting ‘career success, leadership, and overall quality of life to this day,” said Dr. McFadden ’12, who now for women in medicine, fostering tomorrow’s women leaders in medicine.’ serves as dean and director of undergraduate medical and interprofessional education and as a At the University of Scranton, she studied biology and core faculty member for The Wright Center for Grad- philosophy and earned her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, uate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine ResPennsylvania. All the while, she worked part-time jobs idency Program. She is also the co-regional director of medical education for A.T. Still University School of – including Fresno’s, Red Lobster, and Starbucks. She said those jobs helped her become a better doctor.

Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA) in addition to being the deputy chief medical officer for “As a waitress, if the customer wasn’t happy, I The Wright Center for Community Health and medi- wouldn’t get tipped. So, I learned to listen, anticipate cal director of the Teaching Health Center in Scranwhat they needed, and read their body language,” Dr. ton and The Wright Center’s location at the Scranton McFadden said, adding that the same principles apply Counseling Center. in medicine. “It’s important to pick up how a patient Dr. McFadden doesn’t know why she chose medicine feels – what they’re not saying, what they’re scared to ask. Medicine is a service, and if we’re not meeting as her calling. She’s the first physician in her family. our patients’ needs, a lot of that is our fault.”

The Northwestern Pennsylvania native credits her father, Mike McFadden, a longtime federal government employee who loved animals and nature, for fostering her love of science and honing her attention to detail.

24 40 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

‘Nerve-racking at first’ After realizing her initial goal of becoming a surgeon wasn’t a good fit, Dr. McFadden sought the advice of Robert E. Wright, M.D., FACP, a family friend. The

founder of the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, which would eventually become The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, recruited her to an internal medicine residency.

“I was nervous because I knew surgery, but I didn’t know how to manage a patient’s chronic illness,” she acknowledged about those formative years. “I studied it, but I’d never practiced it in real life.

So, the residency was a little nerve-racking at first.”

Erin McFadden ‘12, M.D., helps to develop the primary care physician and interprofessional She found her footing and, after health workforce of tomorrow at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education as the graduating from The Wright dean of undergraduate medical and interprofessional education and as a core faculty member of the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Center’s residency program in 2012, worked at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton. She joined The Wright Center for ‘During her residency training, Community Health as a physician and member of she excelled in her responsibilities the Internal Medicine Residency Program faculty in to her patients and colleagues.’

2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

– Edward Dzielak ‘81, D.O., FACP

Mentor and longtime family friend and fellow Wright Center physician Edward Dzielak ‘81, D.O., FACP, is not surprised by her success.

“During her residency training, she excelled in her responsibilities to her patients and colleagues,” Dr. Dzielak recalled. “When I had the opportunity to interact with her on rounds, she was always inquisitive, professional, knowledgeable, and skilled in the care she provided. She quickly distinguished herself as a leader and educator.”

Mentor and Program Director, Geriatrics Fellowship Program

part for her role as a teacher. The award recognizes a chapter member whose outstanding efforts and achievements have promoted career success, leadership, and overall quality of life for women in medicine, fostering tomorrow’s women leaders in medicine.

The award is named after medical pioneer Dr. Ann Preston, a member of the first class of women who enrolled in the Female (later Women’s) Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1850. After the Board of Censors of the Philadelphia Medical Society effectively banned women physicians from the public teaching clinics of the city, she raised funds to start a new hospital where teaching could occur and opened The Women’s Hospital in 1858. She later created a nursing school and was named the first woman dean of the Women’s Medical College in 1866.

“The award resonates with me because, like Dr. Preston, I believe strongly in educating the next generation of doctors,” Dr. McFadden said.

‘The next generation’ In addition to treating patients, Dr. McFadden is the co-regional director of medical education for ATSUSOMA – a unique program where students spend a year on campus in Mesa, Arizona, and then three years in clinical rotations at The Wright Center and other community health centers across the country.

Like The Wright Center, Dr. McFadden believes high-quality whole-person primary health services should be accessible to individuals of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses, including the underinsured and uninsured. The Wright Center’s growing network of community health centers treated more than 35,400 patients in fiscal year 2023-24, improving access to care for individuals of all ages.

In November 2023, Dr. McFadden received the Dr. Ann Preston Women in Medicine Award from the Pennsylvania Eastern Region of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians, in

“Having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, my dream now is to help change the face of health care and expand the services we provide,” Dr. McFadden said. “We have a very bright future.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

The Waverly Township, Pennsylvania, resident quickly emerged as a leader, starting with her participation in a statewide effort to assist personal care, assisted living, and skilled nursing facilities in Northeast Pennsylvania with pandemic care. As COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, Dr. McFadden volunteered to vaccinate fellow health care workers around the region.

She later headed an outpatient infusion center at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in Scranton, providing monoclonal antibody treatment for patients with severe COVID-19.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 41

The Wright Lessons

Giving Back Doctor’s commitment to community shows in son’s musical pursuits

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ihaan Bansal was just 6 years old when he hopped up on stage at the Bucktown Music Festival in his hometown of Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Clad in a black leather jacket and fedora, and backed by a live band, the then first grader belted out a word-perfect rendition of the classic Survivor hit, “Eye of the Tiger,” in front of an appreciative crowd.

Rewatching the three-year-old performance video, Vihaan’s father, Rajiv Bansal ’11, M.D., shakes his head and laughs. The associate program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency Program is surprised by his son’s selfconfidence.

“I wouldn’t be brave enough to do something like that now, much less when I was his age,” said Dr. Bansal, who also serves as the hospitalist director for The Wright ‘I started by Center, based at the learning to play the Commonukulele, and the wealth Health hardest part was it Regional Hospital of hurts your fingers.’

Scranton in – Vihaan Bansal Pennsylvania. Son of Rajiv Bansal ‘11, M.D., and his wife, Diksha Dosaya

In the time since Vihaan made his debut, the fourth grader at St. Mary’s of Mt. Carmel has been honing his skills on guitar and piano. Now, he’s using his musical talent to help the community. He visited local businesses in Dunmore to sing and play guitar, collecting about $250 in donations to assist Scranton police Detective Kyle Gilmartin, who was seriously injured in a January 2024 shooting and is continuing his recovery.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“I want to help people,” the 9-year-old said proudly. “I see my mom and dad do it, and I got inspired to do it, too.”

Vihaan Bansal, 9, center, uses his musical talents to support the communities his father, Rajiv Bansal ’11, M.D., serves at The Wright Center. His mother, Diksha Dosaya, and father have inspired the fourth-grader to help others.

24 42 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Dr. Bansal and his wife, Diksha Dosaya, immigrated to the United States from India in 2008.

The two settled in Dunmore as Dr. Bansal com-

pleted the Internal Medicine Residency Program with what was then known as the ScrantonTemple Residency Program. He’s been recognized for his involvement in Commonwealth Health Moses Taylor Hospital’s Elder Life Program and the American Red Cross.

Dosaya also became involved in the Red Cross, including its fundraising efforts, and taught computer skills to local seniors.

Vihaan Bansal, 9, uses his talents to sing, and play the piano, guitar, and ukulele to benefit the communities of Northeast Pennsylvania.

As the pandemic worsened, the couple was horrified to learn of the conditions in the cities where they grew up and knew they had to act. They collected about $2,500, which they sent to a government hospital in Dosaya’s hometown of Kota in Rajasthan, northern India. The money allowed the facility to buy oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies.

As Vihaan’s interest in music and performing grew, his parents encouraged him to find ways to use his talents to help others. When the family heard about Gilmartin and his long road to recovery, Vihaan wanted to help.

“We talked about it,” Dr. Bansal said. “Vihaan made a poster to support the Scranton Police Department, and he started going door to door around the businesses in Dunmore, asking if he could perform.”

The community’s response boosted Vihaan’s confidence. As he sat on the couch in his sunlight-flooded living room, strumming a child-sized guitar, he reflected on his musical journey so far.

“I started by learning to play the ukulele, and the hardest part was that it hurts your fingers,” he said, showing off small calluses on his fingertips.

The 9-year-old switched effortlessly between the guitar – strumming and singing to “Until I Found You”

by Stephen Sanchez – and a small Yamaha keyboard, where he quickly played a few bars of “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. He returned to the 2023 Bucktown Music Festival and performed a Harry Styles

‘It makes us happy to help others.

It really became important during COVID, with how bad things were in India. People there were dying because of a lack of lifesaving oxygen and ventilators.’

– Rajiv Bansal ’11, M.D. Internal Medicine Residency Program

song. He’s also performed at his school’s talent show.

“All the other students performed in groups,” Dr. Bansal said. “And there’s my son performing solo, no nervousness.”

While Dr. Bansal isn’t sure where his son gets his showmanship, Dosaya said she knows.

“I loved to perform when I was younger,” she said with a laugh. “My sisters and I used to dance in performances just for fun.”

Vihaan made his third appearance at the Bucktown Music Festival in September 2024 and is on the lookout for other opportunities to raise money with his musical talents. As far as the future, the elementary school student has big dreams and the support of his parents.

“I want to be a doctor and maybe also join the Air Force,” he said.

“We want him to do what makes him happy,” Dr. Bansal added. “Time will tell.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

“It makes us happy to help others,” Dr. Bansal said. “It really became important during COVID, with how bad things were in India.

People there were dying because of a lack of lifesaving oxygen and ventilators.”

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 43

Recruiting The Wright Future

Mission-driven journey IM alumna finds niche at community health center in South Carolina

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s an internal medicine resident at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Kelly O’Leary Kazmierski ’20, M.D., questioned the need to learn about billing and coding.

York University Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, New York hired her as a hospitalist.

“I loved my job at NYU Langone, but it was not really patient-centered,” she said.

Alumni Magazine 2024

Finding BJH Comprehensive Health’s mission and goals to be more closely aligned with The reason solidified when a her own, as well as with those South Carolina community of The Wright Center, Dr. health center, BeaufortKazmierski recognized the Jasper-Hampton (BJH) Comimportance of addressing prehensive Health Services the socioeconomic deterInc., hired Dr. Kazmierski in minants of health, such as 2023. poverty, hunger, and trans“Everything I learned as a resportation in health care. BJH ident was so beneficial,” said Comprehensive Health was the California native, who founded in 1970 with a misserved as chief resident in sion to tackle the pressing Kelly O’Leary Kazmierski ’20, M.D. 2019-20 and received her health and living conditions medical degree from St. in Beaufort and Jasper George’s University, Grenada, in 2017. “I came in counties. Over the decades, the Federally Qualified ahead of the curve. The lessons I learned prepared Health Center has expanded significantly, now ofme.” fering 15 health programs across 10 locations spanning Beaufort, Jasper, and Hampton counties.

As a chief resident, she advocated for more funding before congressional leaders in Washington D.C., “They are very patient-centered and patient-foand to “make our voices heard in the (U.S.) Senate,” cused – like The Wright Center,” Dr. Kazmierski said. she said.

“We’re serving an underserved population. Because of The Wright Center, I have a familiarity with how That experience, coupled with her leadership role as things operate.” chief resident, instilled in her a profound understanding of the significance of meeting performance met- BJH Comprehensive Health’s patient-centered rics and navigating the business intricacies within services include a pharmacy with medications availhealth care. She gained valuable insights into the able for as low as 25 cents. Additionally, they estabprocess of applying for grants, further enhancing her lished a Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Health capacity to contribute effectively to improving health Program, featuring a mobile night health clinic that care services. operates from June 1 to July 15, the tomato- and watermelon-picking season at farm labor camps.

“You can’t keep the doors open without primary health care funding,” she said. “Those metrics are Reflecting on her residency experience, Dr. Kazimportant to keep a roof over your head so you can mierski emphasized her time providing care at help patients.” the Care & Concern Free Health Clinic in Pittston, Pennsylvania, further fueled her commitment to After her residency, Dr. Kazmierski became a fullserving at a health center dedicated to giving back time hospitalist at Adfinitas Health at Commonto its local communities. wealth Health Regional Hospital of Scranton while freelancing to provide inpatient care at the Wilkes“There are some very impoverished areas that are Barre Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In 2021, New very underserved because it’s hard to find physi-

24 44 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

cians,” she said of areas near Bluffton, South Carolina, where she lives with her family.

She met her husband, Daniel Kazmierski, M.D., ’21, a native of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, while he was an internal medicine resident physician at The Wright Center. He served as a chief resident from 2020 to 2021, and now practices as a hospitalist at Hilton Head Regional Healthcare. He received his medical degree from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Following their marriage in October 2021, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Morgan, in July 2022. Together with their bulldog, Otis, they relocated to Bluffton in late October 2023. In January 2024, they celebrated the arrival of their second daughter, Dylan.

Somewhere in Time The Scranton-Temple Residency Program (STRP) honored its 1989 graduates during a dinner at the Country Club of Scranton in this Nov. 5, 1989, photo in The (Scranton) Sunday Times newspaper.

Members of the Class of 1989, first row from left, included Edward Dzielak, D.O., STRP coordinator; Carol Glaubiger ‘89, M.D., Julie Speicher ‘89, M.D., and Mary Ann Lynch ‘89, M.D., all graduates; Dr. Stephen Pancoast, STRP assistant director, and Sandy A. Furey, M.D., FACP, Moses Taylor Hospital director of medicine; second row, John Paulish ‘88, D.O., Randall Brundage ‘89, D.O., Michael Montella, M.D., all graduates, and Robert E. Wright, M.D., FACP, director of the training program.

“Even how they approached my maternity leave was very patient-centered,” she said of BJH Comprehensive Health. “They were concerned about the patients and making sure they would be taken care of. ... It has all been very rewarding, and we envision settling down here. That was a big part of the reason we moved here, to settle down here with our kids. We love it here.”

Dr. Kazmierski resumed her duties at BJH Comprehensive Health in March, attributing her success to the solid foundation laid during her residency at The Wright Center.

Alumni Reunion

“I would advise new residents to go into it with an open mind,” she said. “You will learn lessons that will prepare you for your field and you might not realize initially why things are being done. At the end of the day, you’re going to encounter these things down the road, and it will all make sense.”

They met with NFMR graduates Kristina Steele (formerly Kristina Nivus) ’16, D.O., and Leigh Anne Costanzo ’19, D.O., BSN, for a photo. Dr. Steele completed her residency at our Washington, D.C., training site. Dr. Constanzo completed her training at our Tucson, Arizona, location. At the conference, Drs. LeBeau and Suzuki also reunited with Clare Felpel, ’16, D.O., who completed his residency at our Auburn, Washington, site. Pictured, from left, are Drs. Steele, Suzuki, LeBeau, and Costanzo.

Alumni Magazine 2024

Lawrence LeBeau, D.O., program director, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education National Family Medicine Residency Program (NFMR), and Taisei Suzuki, ’18, D.O., MIPH, associate program director, NFMR, attended the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians’ 61st Annual Convention and Scientific Seminars in New Orleans, Louisiana, in April 2024.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 45

The Wright Future

Physician eager ‘to do the work’ of The Wright Center

Dr. Rabat embraces opportunities to serve communities in Northeast Pennsylvania

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or Sandra Rabat ’26, D.O., there’s something comfortable about going first.

She was the first in her family to become a physician.

On her way to reaching that goal, she was in the first cohort of students from A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSUSOMA) to come to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to complete three years of medical school education at The Wright Center for Community Health.

“She is such a light,” said Dr. Thomas-Hemak.

In many ways, Dr. Rabat represents the type of people drawn to learn and work at The Wright Center: compassionate healers who are driven to help underserved individuals and families and advocate for needed changes to America’s health care system.

The Wright Center, founded in Lackawanna County nearly 50 years ago, has become a hub of interprofessional Since she arrived at The Wright health education. It offers Center in 2020, where she is training and learning oppornow a second-year internal tunities to resident and fellow Sandra Rabat ‘26, D.O. medicine resident physician, Dr. physicians from the U.S. and Rabat has continued to be out in abroad, medical school students enrolled in ATSUfront.

SOMA, physician assistants, medical assistants, and others. They work in teams, led by experienced proShe has advocated on public health issues such as fessionals, to provide responsive and inclusive organ donation, encouraging patient-provider diswhole-person primary health services to patients of cussions, and other advanced care planning (ACP) all ages and income levels, including underinsured or services. She has also become a passionate propouninsured individuals. nent of preventive medicine and is working on a project to encourage more patients to receive rouThis Teaching Health Center environment allows tine breast cancer screenings. clinicians like Dr. Rabat and her peers to develop “I wanted to train in a community-based residency program like The Wright Center because there’s important work to be done, and I’m here to do the work,” she said. “I want to be a part of it.”

Alumni Magazine 2024

Her enthusiasm and skills have drawn the attention of the organization’s top leaders, including Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. During a “mission moment” segment of a staff meeting, Dr. ThomasHemak spotlighted Dr. Rabat’s efforts, praising her patient-centered approach to care as well as her quality-improvement project to better promote and deliver ACP services.

24 46 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

their medical knowledge and skills. At the same time, they gain invaluable insights and experiences in the community, connecting with vulnerable populations and often discovering how to be better doctors in the process.

‘A force for change’ For example, as a medical school student and while at The Wright Center, Dr. Rabat was introduced to a supplementary course of study offered by one of its community partners: the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (NE PA AHEC). The NE PA AHEC Scholars Program aims to empower participants “to make a meaningful difference in the lives of vulnerable populations” and “become a force

for change,” according to NE PA AHEC. She jumped at the chance and was accepted into the dynamic two-year program. Participants learn about seven core topics, including the socioeconomic determinants of health, cultural competence, and behavioral health integration.

“I wanted more exposure to those topics. I knew it was going to be important for my medical career, especially because I’m interested in public health and helping to give back to our communities,” said Dr. Rabat. “It just made sense for me to do it, and AHEC made it easy.”

In particular, Dr. Rabat remembers a powerful presentation about trauma-informed care during which she heard from victims of human trafficking.

Throughout her time in the AHEC Scholars Program, she was exposed to lessons that went beyond medical school’s traditional curriculum, which she said “aids in your evolution of becoming a well-rounded physician and taking care of patients.”

‘In memory of my father’

Sandra Rabat ’26, D.O., an Internal Medicine resident physician, was in the first cohort of students from A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA) to come to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to complete three years of medical school education at The Wright Center for Community Health.

Dr. Rabat’s father was in the backyard of the family’s home, gardening with his wife, when he had a heart attack. Neighbors began CPR. Dr. Rabat, then in her first year of high school, called 911.

After days in the ICU, her father died at age 62. He had served on Erie’s water and parking authorities and contributed to the community in many other ways, including by operating the family-owned technical school. Reflecting on the traumatic loss, Dr. Rabat said, “It pushed me to want to do work in preventive medicine and help people with chronic conditions – in memory of my father.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cell biology at the University of California, San Diego.

Next, she tackled medical school at ATSU-SOMA, spending one year on its campus in Mesa, Arizona, before completing her degree in Scranton. Without hesitation, she chose The Wright Center, which at the time had never hosted a class of medical school students.

“I just envisioned myself practicing in Pennsylvania,” she explained. Plus, she can also make car trips from Scranton to visit her family in Erie.

SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Dr. Rabat can trace her still-evolving career journey back to her hometown, where her interest in medicine was borne partly out of personal loss.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 47

Resident embraces community-based program FROM PAGE 47

‘I wanted to train in a community-based residency program like The Wright Center because there’s important work to be done, and I’m here to do the work.’

-Sandra Rabat ’26, D.O. Internal Medicine Resident Physician

Dr. Rabat appreciated her medical school experience, especially the mentorship of many “strong primary care leaders at The Wright Center,” including Erin McFadden ’12, M.D., co-regional director of medical education for ATSUSOMA. Dr. Rabat matched with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education and began her three-year Internal Medicine Residency in July 2023. She currently serves as an advocacy resident leader, a post in which she advocates for her peers and tries to keep them wellinformed about activities throughout the nonprofit enterprise.

Her project involving ACP services began as a basic effort to correct discrepancies in documents and improve processes to eliminate small frustrations for her colleagues and patients, she said. It has since grown in scope.

The project will likely involve an educational campaign among her colleagues to spread awareness and understanding of the value of ACP services, including organ donation and willed body donation programs, to ultimately cultivate a more informed and compassionate health care community.

She hopes to make related forms available in multiple languages at each clinic.

Sandra Rabat ’26, D.O ., an ticipated in the Northeas Internal Medicine resident physician, parCenter’s Scholars Progra t Pennsylvania Area Health Education m.

Dr. Rabat said it is crucial to include con-

versations about ACP services in each Medicare annual wellness visit for patients 65 and older, but clinicians should be prepared to discuss the topic with adults of all ages when requested or warranted.

Alumni Magazine 2024

“It’s going to help patients and their families avoid medical futility and other potential problems with end-of-life decisions,” she said. “This topic is important, and it affects everyone.”

24 48 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

The Wright Center joined forces with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) in March 2024 to advocate for sustained funding for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program. Hear more about the importance of the national program from Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Internal Medicine resident physician Sandra Rabat ‘26, D.O., and how she works to improve community health.

The Wright Future

Better together: Identical twins train in Internal Medicine Residency Program

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rom beginning kindergarten to completing medical school, and moving thousands of miles away from home to begin graduate medical education training in Scranton, Pennsylvania, twins Lavleen and Ravleen Kaur ’25, M.D.s, have always leaned on each other.

The sisters are both in the third year of their Internal Medicine residency with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. The Mohali district of Punjab, India, natives decided to become doctors because of their parents’ deep commitment to improving their own communities. Their mother, Mandeep Kaur, focuses on educating children in disadvantaged and rural areas of India, while their father, Col. Arvinder Singh, recently retired after 37 years in the Indian Army.

“The Indian Army’s motto, and my father’s motto, is service before self,” said Lavleen, who is 20 minutes older than Ravleen. “I think that could be the motto for doctors as well. As doctors, it’s important to give back to the communities.”

After graduating from Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Amritsar, Punjab, the Kaur sisters worked briefly as medical officers in India, where they went door to door in communities to administer polio vaccines, hosted health camps where children could get up to date on medical screenings, and participated in other community health activities. The experience prepared them for their work in their residencies, since The Wright Center focuses on improving community health, especially for underserved populations.

Lavleen Kaur ‘25, M.D., left, and Ravleen Kaur ‘25, M.D., are in their third-

The odds of matching into the same graduate year of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. The twin sisters, from the Mohali district of medical education program are slim. ThouIndia, decided to become doctors because of their parents’ deep sands of medical students worldwide interview Punjab, commitment to improving their own communities. with medical education programs. The candidates rank the list of programs where they would Lavleen and Ravleen, who had never been to the like to train, and programs rank the candidates United States before starting their residencies, knew they want to admit. Every year, candidates learn there was little chance of matching into the same where they matched on the third Friday in March, known as Match Day. SEE NEXT PAGE

Alumni Magazine 2024

“The mission of The Wright Center – to be privileged to serve – resonated with us,” Ravleen acknowledged.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 49

Twins practice motto: ‘service before self’ FROM PAGE 49

residency program. They pursued other residency opportunities separately and were thrilled to learn they matched with The Wright Center.

might be having,” Lavleen said about her new role, adding that it will also build her resume and confidence as a doctor and leader.

“Our parents were happier about it than we were if that The sisters also dove into the world of scholarly reis possible,” Ravleen search, a realm both said said. “It’s just us two, no ‘The Indian Army’s motto, and my they had little exposure to other siblings, so they before joining the Internal father’s motto, is service before were glad we’d be Medicine Residency Progoing together.” self. I think that could be the motto gram. So far, they’ve presented scholarly research at After learning they for doctors as well. As doctors, conferences in Arizona, Hawould be heading to waii, Texas, and Colorado, it’s important to give back to the The Wright Center, and Boston. Ravleen said the twins had much to communities.’

– Lavleen Kaur ’25, M.D. research is important for Internal Medicine Residency Program do in a short amount their growth as doctors in of time. numerous ways.

“We get the match re“Because you’re reading a number of papers first and sults in March, and then by April, they send us all the learning about something you might not be exposed documents, the contracts and everything,” Lavleen to otherwise,” she said, explaining the benefits of said. “We had to find an apartment, and we had to do scholarly research. “It’s such a big world out there. it all online since we were in India.”

People are doing amazing things.”

Although it was their first journey to America, the However, after being together their whole lives, the sisters say they acclimated quickly to life in the twins’ paths may soon diverge. Inspired by her rotaElectric City and at The Wright Center. tion at Hematology and Oncology Associates of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lavleen has her sights “The food took some getting used to,” Ravleen said, set on finding a fellowship in that field once she gradcausing her sister to laugh and shake her head. uates from her current residency. Ravleen is inter“What?” Ravleen responded, laughing. “We didn’t ested in pursuing a fellowship in endocrinology. really cook at home.”

“Who knows what life brings,” Ravleen said, adding Lavleen said any small difficulties in adjusting – from that she and her sister are hopeful they’ll find a probeginning their residencies to getting a car and drivgram where they can stay together and pursue their ers’ licenses – were alleviated by the fact that they rediverging passions. “You can only try.” main together.

“Sister love is unconditional,” Lavleen said. “I think it’s nice to have someone who just understands me. We study together, we help each other along. We’ve just always done everything together.”

In addition to relying on each other, they also spotlight each other’s accomplishments. Ravleen, who served as a resident leader in her first year, bragged about Lavleen’s recent selection as chief resident – a role she was chosen for by her fellow Internal Medicine residents and the program faculty.

“I really want to solve any issues that our residents Alumni Magazine 2024

Learn about their journey Scan the QR code to watch Drs. Lavleen and Ravleen Kaur ‘25 discuss their journeys as doctors and their experiences with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education.

24 50 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Participating in the Wilkes-Barre St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 10, 2024, from left, are Ravleen Kaur ‘25, M.D., Lavleen Kaur ‘25, M.D., Shila Simkhada ‘24, M.D., Sumnima Shrestha ‘24, M.D., and Sonam Gautam ‘25, M.D.

The Wright Mission

Mission-focused activities

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he Wright Center for Graduate Education, The Wright Center for Community Health, and The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement’s resident and fellow physicians, employees, and board members actively live the mission of the nonprofit by participating in special programs and volunteering in the communities it serves in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Some of the activities included a special Blessing of the Hands The Wright Center hosted the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine ceremony on Oct. 17, 2023, in Interest Group Dinner on January 16, 2024.

Scranton; the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Interest Group Dinner on January 16, 2024; the “Leap into a Day of Giving,” a collaborative pop-up food pantry on February 29, 2024, addressed food insecurity in the community; the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Wilkes-Barre on March 10, 2024; and a health fair on April 3, 2024, at Amos Towers in Scranton where resident physicians checked blood Volunteers for the pressure and oxygen levels and ‘Leap into a Day of provided depression screenGiving’ provided ings. nonperishable food

f e hands o blesses th n Maria Rose e rk la C . rian J.T ysicia The Rev. B dicine Resident Ph e M l a rn te In 4, M.D. Dominic ’2

Internal Medicine Residency Program resident physician Keerthy Gopalakrishnan ‘26, M.D., checks the blood pressure of a patient at Amos Towers in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Alumni Magazine 2024

items to members of the community.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 51

The Wright Mission

Second annual charity golf tournament supports Patient & Community Engagement’s mission

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he Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE) raised about $41,000 in support of the nonprofit’s mission during the second annual Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament at the Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, Pennsylvania, on May 13, 2024.

Alumni Magazine 2024

TWCPCE improves the health of regional communities through education, advocacy, and patient-centered services that help individuals overcome food insecurity, homelessness, transportation issues, and other factors known as the socioeconomic determinants of health.

To address these issues, TWCPCE’s team and volunteers hold community outreach activities, including nutritious

24 52 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement’s second annual golf tournament raised about $41,000 in support of the nonprofit’s mission. Scenes from the 2024 tournament include Dr. Linda ThomasHemak, Helayna Szescila, Deborah Kolsovsky, Kara Seitzinger, Mary Marrara, Gerard J. Geoffroy, and Michael Ruane preparing for the shotgun start of the tournament, as well as golfers enjoying a day on the links.

food distributions of nonperishable items and fresh produce, coat and winterwear giveaways, back-to-school distributions of backpacks and classroom supplies, health fairs, blood drives, and other special mission-driven projects.

The captain-and-crew charity golf tournament was in honor of the late John P. Moses, Esquire, a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, native, influential attorney, and longtime philanthropist whose leadership was key in helping facilitate the establishment of The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in WilkesBarre, the largest in the nonprofit’s growing network. The new Luzerne County location opened on January 9, 2023, after the urgent relocation of another community health center from Commonwealth Health’s First Hospital in Kingston, amidst the hospital’s closure.

Moses’ son, Wilkes-Barre attorney Peter J. Moses, served as honorary chair of the golf tournament. The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s President and CEO Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, co-chair, TWCPCE Board, and Mary Marrara, co-chair of TWCPCE and secretary of The Wright Center for Community Health Boards of Directors, served as co-chairs of the tournament.

For information about the 2025 Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament, including sponsorship opportunities, contact Holly Przasnyski, TWCPCE board coordinator, at przasnyskih@TheWrightCenter. org or 570-209-3275. Visit TheWrightCenter.org/events for more information.

53

The Wright Learning Environment

A day in the life of our resident and fellow physicians

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Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium (GME-SNC) Academic Health Centers’ (1) (AHCs) hospital-based, specialty-intense spirit of research, discovery, education and patient care delivered humbling medical advances during the Flexner era. Yet progress from discovery to care continuum has been notably slow, with escalating health disparities and increasing workforce shortages and misdistribution.

Large-scale industrial changes are disorienting and chaotic; physician burnout is at an all-time high. Despite being an intensely change-averse industry, capitalistic forces are decentralizing healthcare, generating community-driven, innovative solutions for high performance and solvency.

Responds to Community Health Needs

Int erp rof es sio na l

re elfa yW nit u m om dC n ha alt He

Optimizes Educational Capacity

GME payment methodologies vary substantially between Veterans Affairs (VA), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and HRSA. The GME-SNC deliberately converges VA, CMS, and HRSA GME resources within one centralized sponsoring institution to fund cohesive educational operations, clarifing clinical and non-clinical faculty time, and trainees’ integration into patient care delivery.

Edu cat ion al a n dC lin ica l Ac cr ed

The GME-SNC promotes value-based payment reform strategies that often redirect hospital utilization to more appropriate, affordable community-based venues. Transparency is ensured by standardized reporting methodologies that harness evolving health information and educational technologies to develop and demonstrate workforce competencies, ensure stewardship of public GME funds to meet highest federal reporting standards, and to monitor and improve population health outcomes.

Leverages Learning Physician-led teams’ value-driven workflow redesign in a scholarly culture leverages learners as clinical system improvers.

Empowered patients and families make meaningful contributions to enhance care delivery and development of comprehensive workforce skills. The GME-SNC demonstrates administrative and operational efficiency with consortium scheduling and time tracking across cost centers and a robust quality improvement management system stimulating learner-driven improvements.

Educational Outcomes

Upholds Public Trust

ation Technology Health Inform

Medic al/Be hav iora l He alth Ho me s

an dS pe c

nt-Centered Outcomes Patie

ent lopm eve ce D for ork dW an ion at uc Ed

The community-based Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium (GME-SNC) is inspired by Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Teaching Health Center program (THCGME). Built on a framework similar to Nasca et al’s proposed Community Health-Academic Medical Partnerships (CHAMPS)2, the GME-SNC immerses trainees in community settings where they’re most needed and increases likelihood of graduates working in such settings.3

ods rho bo h ig Ne ty ial

Title-Funded Services

n tio ita

P o pu lat io n y Opera tional Transparenc

The GME-SNC nurtures an enriched community network of learning venues to improve care coordination and public health while well-preparing an inter-professional workforce. AHCs’ self-directed transformation, through engagement in GME-SNCs as backbone organizations, can lead a fix for America’s healthcare. The GME-SNC can inspire high integrity academic frameworks to build comprehensive networks of inclusive stakeholders aligned around shared purpose and mutually reinforcing action plans. Utilizing Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s seven leverage points and high impact leadership models, the GME-SNC catalyzes large-scale healthcare transformation to address national healthcare work force needs, to actuate the Triple Aim and to refuel meaningful professional practice.4 1. Christianson CM, Bohmer R, Kenagy J. Will disruptive innovations cure health care? Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct 2000: 103-111.; 2. Mullan F, Chen C, Petterson S, Kolsky G, Spagnola M. The social mission of medical education: ranking the schools. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152:804-11. [PMID:20547907]; 3. Rieselbach RE, Feldstein DA, Lee PT, Nasca TJ, Rockey PH, Steinmann AF, et al.

Ambulatory training for primary care general internists: innovation with the affordable care act in mind. J Grad Med Educ. 2014;6(2):395–398 4. Ruddy MP, Thomas-Hemak L, Meade L. Practice transformation: professional development is personal. Acad Med. 2015 Dec 29.

© 2019 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. All rights reserved.

Alumni Magazine 2024

Represents Faculty, Residents, and Students

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education 55

501 S. Washington Ave., Suite 1000 Scranton, PA 18505-3814

10-Year Vision Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums are recognized by the President of the United States as THE Health and Human Services gold standard community-based model for comprehensive primary health care with integrated workforce development by June 30, 2027.

Mission

Vision

Values

To improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve

For our Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium framework that integrates patient care delivery, workforce development, and innovation to be the leading model of primary health care in America

Do the Wright thing Be privileged to serve Be an exceptional team player Strive for excellence Be driven for great results Spread positivity