3 minute read
Scholar spotlight
Scholar spotlight
“My experiences kept leading me toward primary care.”
Nia Long has always known she wanted to be a doctor. As a child, she preferred PBS documentaries to cartoons and, when a heart-related health scare sent her to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she formed a lasting, positive impression of the power of medicine. “I ended up being OK, but seeing the families and children there and going through that experience changed me,” she said.
Nia also knew early on that she would practice family medicine. “I worked with a lot of underserved populations in high school,” she said. “My experiences kept leading me toward primary care. I volunteered at my local homeless shelter and got to see how complex the medical issues were in our homeless populations. So, I knew I wanted to work mostly in community healthcare, but I also wanted to build relationships with patients — not just treating illness and then sending them out to never see them again.”
Nia’s concern for disadvantaged and underserved populations stems from deep understanding and empathy. “I grew up in a low-income home,” she said. “When I was a kid, we had ups and downs. The electricity was turned off and we almost lost our house. So I am very sympathetic — I always knew that my own family could be in a homeless situation ourselves.”
As a first-generation-to-college student, Nia received support from her high school, East Stroudsburg High School South, and advisers at The University of Scranton, where she double-majored in neurosciences and philosophy. When it was time to apply to medical school, once again, she knew just what she wanted.
“I was particularly looking for schools with a focus on primary care,” she said. “I also wanted a program that understood rural health. So, Geisinger was always my first choice. Since I went to The University of Scranton, I knew about the special things Geisinger’s been doing, like the Fresh Food Farmacy and some of the other programs. I knew about the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, as well. And for someone like me, who already knew I wanted primary care and knew how expensive medical school is — for my family, it was a kind of saving grace to be accepted into the program.”
Now one year into medical school, Nia is looking forward to spending more time in Geisinger’s clinics in Dallas and Tunkhannock that resemble her rural hometown.
“I do think the Scholars Program is pretty exceptional in how they transition students into understanding their path in primary care — getting us involved early and then supporting us throughout that process,” she said. “And I love how Geisinger elevates primary care. Geisinger has turned how we think about medicine on its head by showing just how much primary care helps the community, and how much it helps the people you’re trying to serve. And now, as my class goes into clinicals, I think the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program has provided us with enough information to systematically and strategically plan out the next couple of years in a way that’s going to allow us to be successful in whatever path we choose.”
