Journal Summer 2020
The
For alumni, community and friends of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Our journal of the plague year
Alumni feature
Early to the fight Chris Musto, MD, chose early graduation to help battle COVID-19
Fourth year of medical school did not unfold the way Chris Musto, MD, expected. In February, he was looking forward to all of the crowning celebrations that mark the end of four years of academic rigor — particularly Match Day festivities, followed by the ceremonies of commencement. He and his wife planned to cap it all off with a vacation in June. Instead, on March 17, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine closed its buildings. Match Day moved into the virtual space and the outlook on commencement was murky. On March 20 during a Zoom ceremony, Dr. Musto matched into a radiology residency at Geisinger. Now successfully matched and with just a few learning objectives still to accomplish to satisfy his degree requirements, Dr. Musto had a choice. He could let the situation overwhelm and paralyze him, or he could look for a way to help. When he learned he could begin to help Geisinger patients before his residency began in July, he applied to get his degree early. He received his medical doctorate on April 17 and began training at Geisinger just 3 days later. His new role included taking calls on COVID-19 for Employee Health Services, answering questions from his new coworkers about symptoms, return-to-work guidelines and other concerns.
Chris Musto, MD ‘20
He said the decision to expedite graduation in order to enter the COVID-19 fray was an easy one. “It hit me how great the need must be when we were offered early graduation. Geisinger has invested a lot in me and I feel I owe it to the community. It’s perfect for me, especially since I will be staying in this community,” he said. “Naturally, I have some concerns. But others were already taking great risk to help — and it’s what I signed up to do as a doctor. So I was ready.” Geisinger Commonwealth President and Dean Steven J. Scheinman, MD, found that decision inspiring. “We believe students who apply to medical school do so because they want to serve — to promote health and help the sick,” he said. “That is certainly true of Chris.”
A message from the president and dean
The Journal A publication by the Department of Marketing and Communications:
Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt . . the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered . . .They sift out the hidden thoughts of man and hold them up in public to the world. —Thomas Paine, The Crisis I have been thinking much about how the early months of 2020 have tried our resilience, an amalgam of qualities that our school aims to build within its students, staff and faculty. The coronavirus pandemic has challenged us to be resilient by bringing forth some uniquely internal qualities – resourcefulness, stoicism, selfdiscipline. The “firmer habits of the mind,” to use Thomas Paine’s phrase, that COVID required were a kind of personal fortitude that we relied upon to make remote working and virtual learning successful and to help us cope with disappointments like the loss of Match Day and in-person commencement. During those early weeks of the pandemic, our School of Medicine community continually amazed me with its show of individual strength. Out students not only coped, they thrived in the virtual environment. They eagerly sought new ways to connect, an effort that reached its zenith with a virtual picnic and talent show that entertained 300 people and made us forget for a moment our distance. Likewise, within days of the Governor’s order closing our Medical Sciences Building, our faculty found ways to deliver our curriculum remotely without compromising quality or the student experience. As the month of May came to a close, it looked like we had weathered the crisis together. Resilience had triumphed and perhaps a cautious return to normal was possible. Then, of course, came a new crisis. The senseless killings of African Americans, a national disgrace overshadowed for a time by COVID-19, came raging to the forefront again in Minneapolis. Once again, we were called upon to be resilient. This time, however, adapting required a turning out rather than in. This crisis called for virtues based on communal needs – the ability to feel the pain of another, the compassion needed to prioritize action over words, the wisdom to recognize the necessity of putting aside easy arguments in favor of truly listening. As Thomas Paine said, these crises proved to be the “touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy” and have laid bare the myriad virtues that we sum up in the modern word “resilience.” I cannot recall another time in our shared present when there were two crises cutting enough to so effectively expose and test both our internal resolve and our capacity to understand and embrace each other. I am humbled and encouraged by the mettle of our school and of our students. We were tested to the extreme, but in a great show of resilience, we remained connected and kept up a steady and open dialogue. While none are anxious to be so tried again, should adversity come, we know we are ready. In the words of Thomas Paine, our minds have grown firmer habits than before.
Venard Scott Koerwer, EdD Vice President for Strategy & Planning Vice Dean for Graduate Education Professor of Organizational Systems & Innovation Elizabeth Zygmunt Director of Media and Public Relations Heather M. Davis, MFA Director of Marketing and Communications Board of Directors Robert Dietz, PE, Chair Virginia McGregor, Vice Chair Pedro J. Greer Jr., MD V. Chris Holcombe, PE David H. Ledbetter, PhD, FACMG David B. Nash, MD, MBA Deborah E. Powell, MD Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD Steven J. Scheinman, MD Geisinger Health Foundation Nancy Lawton-Kluck Chief Philanthropy Officer Robin Endicott, CFRE Vice President, Philanthropy Mark Hanichak Senior Director Jane Kanyock, MBA, CFRE Director of Major Gifts Chris Boland Director of Alumni Relations Dorothy Williams Administrative Assistant
Journal Summer 2020
The
For alumni, community and friends of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Our journal of the plague year
On the cover:
Steven J. Scheinman, MD President and Dean of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Geisinger Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer
Our Journal of the plague year: How the GCSOM community came together during COVID-19’s darkest days. Read more on page 2
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engaged.
Stay home.
On March 17,
the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) issued this guidance: . . . we strongly suggest that medical students not be involved in any direct patient care activities. Although AAMC’s guidance prevented students from physically entering the clinical space, it didn’t halt their learning. Geisinger Commonwealth faculty and staff creatively found numerous ways to keep students engaged. Long accustomed to technology, the students adapted quickly to their new environment, and academics continued unabated.
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hospital course. Students and residents found that most patients were eager to help with the lessons.
e-ICU… Saving fourth-year students’ required ICU rotations Ashlyn Reiser, MD, was eager for Match Day and ready to close out her required rotations with four weeks in an intensive care unit (ICU) when COVID-19 struck. “My ICU rotation was my last requirement,” she said. “I was very worried. I matched into ophthalmology, but I still need to do a transitional year and it will require time in the ICU. I was afraid my medical education would be incomplete.” Dr. Reiser and her classmates who still required ICU rotations didn’t have long to fret. Peggy Shoemaker, MD, assistant chair of internal medicine and assistant professor of medicine, along with Cass Lippold, MD, a critical care fellow at Geisinger, devised a solution in less than a week. Together, they created a rotation in the e-ICU, giving fourth-year students a virtual experience that included direct patient interaction.
“Dr. Shoemaker was right there with us the whole time,” Dr. Reiser said. “She would send us our schedules for the week. Then we could access Epic to prepare to follow patients, present patients and do handoffs, just as I will in residency. In some ways, I think I learned more than I would have if I had done a normal ICU rotation. We had protected time with the residents. During that time, they weren’t pulled in a dozen other directions. They spent so much time on differing topics, like COVID-19 and mechanical ventilation. I feel well prepared for my residency.” Although participating in the e-ICU placed extra demand on residents’ and fellows’ time, in addition to Dr. Lippold, six other house staff taught medical students rotating in the e-ICU: • Alejandra Garcia-Fernandez, MD, critical care fellow • Alexis MacDonald, MD, critical care fellow • Dan Leopone, MD, critical care fellow • Brandon Nuckles, MD, general surgery resident • John Samies, DO, internal medicine resident • Gregory Stoner, DO, Emergency Department resident
“I can’t say enough about how impressed I was that Dr. Shoemaker came up with a solution so quickly,” Dr. Reiser said. “But I admit, I was a little skeptical about how they were going to pull it off.” In the end, Dr. Reiser said her four weeks in the e-ICU rivaled — and in some ways, exceeded — physically being in the ICU. The cardiac ICU in Danville is equipped with a camera and screen typically used by hospital staff for clinical care purposes. This technology was repurposed to allow students to “enter” the patient room remotely, interact with the patient to conduct a history, and then direct a bedside fellow or resident to obtain a physical exam under the students’ direction. Dr. Lippold said she and her other colleagues gently prompted students if they missed a step by asking questions like, “Are you sure there isn’t anything else you’d like me to do?” Students were granted permission to access “their” patients’ electronic health records in a special platform that allows student practice of note and order entry, as well as following the patient’s entire
Speaking from the cardiac ICU at Geisinger, Cass Lippold, MD, critical care fellow and patient Sara Boreman interact with student Dr. Reiser (not seen).
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Match Day 2020… Zoom and Flickr to the rescue On March 20, 102 students at Geisinger Commonwealth learned their residency placements during the National Resident Matching Program’s “Match Day.” Ordinarily a boisterous familyand-friends event, this year’s Match Day was celebrated virtually by the Geisinger Commonwealth Class of 2020. Despite the constraints of little Zoom boxes and thanks to the efforts of the Student Affairs team, the event was as joyous as any other year and every student enjoyed the most important part of Match Day — having a letter to open. “We are proud of the success of our Class of 2020,” said President and Dean Steven J. Scheinman, MD. “This class deserves added praise for their resilience in the face of unprecedented circumstances. Rather than dwelling on their disappointment in not being able to celebrate together in person, the class has rallied to make the virtual celebration joyous and memorable. I am impressed by their tenacity and happy that they will lead tomorrow’s healthcare.” Geisinger matches: • Gina Baiamonte, emergency medicine • Andrea Borba, dermatology • Angie Chang, anesthesiology • John Curtis, general surgery • Kristin Hare, obstetrics-gynecology • Christopher Musto, radiology-diagnostic • Adam Souchik, transitional year prior to dermatology • Meghan Sutryk, pediatrics • Abigail Urbanik, pediatrics
Distance didn’t dampen new student enthusiasm The School of Medicine’s Admissions team seamlessly maintained processes to welcome the Class of 2024, including the important work of recruiting and selecting our next cohort of Geisinger Primary Care Scholars — despite having to do so virtually. The accepted students’ experiences included everything from virtual meet-and-greet sessions for Geisinger Primary Care Scholars to a Center of Excellence (COE) and Diversity session with Dr. Ida Castro, JD, vice president of community engagement and chief diversity officer, and several COE students. Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD, Geisinger president and CEO, and Steven Scheinman, MD,
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president and dean, provided video greetings, while Bill Jeffries, PhD, vice dean for medical education and vice president for academic affairs, mingled remotely to provide an overview of the MD curriculum and curriculum renewal. Michelle Schmude, EdD, MBA, associate dean for admissions, enrollment management and financial aid, praised current students for ably representing the school, community and curriculum. The virtual setting had no impact on interest in the Geisinger Scholar programs. This fall, 33 students will enter the Class of 2024 as Geisinger Primary Care Scholars.
Commencement 2020‌. Pomp and (Zoom) circumstance Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine graduated its eighth MD class in a virtual commencement ceremony held on May 17. The virtual commencement ceremony was designed in consultation with the Class of 2020. Each class member, wearing their regalia, was draped in the hood that signifies their degree by a loved one at home during the live Zoom event. Geisinger Commonwealth President and Dean Steven J. Scheinman, MD, presided, while Brianna Shinn, MD, Class of 2016, delivered greetings from the School of Medicine's growing Alumni Society.
The keynote speaker was Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD, president and CEO of Geisinger, who praised the students’ resiliency and urged them to hold fast to the most important principles of their new profession: Putting patients first and understanding them as whole, unique individuals. Other prerecorded presentations included an invocation by Bishop Joseph C. Bambera; welcome remarks from the Geisinger board of directors by Mr. Robert Dietz; an address by Dr. Scheinman; and a benediction by Rabbi Larry Kaplan. Recordings of the ceremony are available at geisinger.edu/commencement.
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contact.
Maintain social distance A rollicking virtual picnic made us all feel connected
Student life at Geisinger Commonwealth is more than academics. It’s marked by the close, supportive relationships our students form with one another — relationships that are celebrated and strengthened through frequent socializing. COVID-19 couldn’t stop our sense of community and togetherness. On April 29, student planners combined the school’s annual end-of-year talent show and our annual picnic into one amazing event that drew more than 300 people — just about every member of the school community — and created the deep sense of connection that is a hallmark of the Geisinger Commonwealth experience. Student Affairs noted that even our online MBS cohort joined, demonstrating just how much our school enjoys gathering. Featuring rocking musical performances and displays of art and cooking, the picnic and talent show gave everyone a much-needed party in the midst of the pandemic. Thank you to: Student planners: Tyler Bogaczyk, Ananya Chandra, Irene Lin and Michael Yi Staff support: Justin Collins, Brian Krause and Janis Williams
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Quaran-tales: A weekly mental health check for students Student Health Services (SHS) instituted “Quaran-tales” as a way to support students’ mental well-being early in the pandemic.
A friend indeed… Students know Mike Sulzinski, PhD, as an excellent professor of microbiology and immunology. During COVID-19, they also came to know him as a friend indeed. Dr. Sulzinski said he worried when students were suddenly thrust into an all-virtual environment. Initially, his concern was that prerecorded online lessons curtailed students’ ability to ask questions and interact directly with him. His response was to set up virtual “office hours” where he could work with students one on one.
The weekly check-in for all students was up and running by April 7. Students were able to attend the virtual session over lunch hour to share healthy information among themselves and SHS staff and to encourage and cheer each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were even encouraged to bring their pets! Quran-tales provided an opportunity for peer-topeer support and a way for students to remain connected. Kyle Strobel and Michelle L. Ostroski of SHS facilitated the meetings.
Dr. Sulzinski has always viewed his role as a teacher as being someone who does more than share knowledge. “I am here for my students . . . for all of it,” he said.
Those office hours, for some students, suddenly became a lifeline. “I started to hear from students I never heard from before,” he said. “One student told me I was the only person they talked to each day. Others told me about the many distressing ways COVID-19 was affecting their families — with illnesses, job losses and even deaths.” Far from being reluctant to provide a shoulder to lean on, Dr. Sulzinski said he has always viewed his role as a teacher as being someone who does more than share knowledge. “I am here for my students . . . for all of it,” he said. Although the virtual office hours proved vital to students just seeking human contact, Dr. Sulzinski’s other innovation — live review sessions before each exam — ensured academic support continued, as well.
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busy.
Keep hands clean. Student commitment to service and community is a defining characteristic of Geisinger Commonwealth. What is a socially distanced student to do to keep up volunteer efforts? Let us count the ways.
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Early in the pandemic, students got busy collecting PPE Jessica Baylor and many of her classmates in Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s MD Class of 2022 felt helpless. “Many of us felt we should be doing something,” Jessica said, adding that as the students researched how they could help, they found the website GetUsPPE.org. “That’s where we got the idea to collect gowns, masks, gloves and wipes from businesses like hair and nail salons.” Student volunteers called scores of surrounding small businesses requesting donations and fanned out to pick them up. Jessica said her group is careful to make certain they only pick up personal protective equipment (PPE) hospitals can actually use, “so we don’t take unnecessarily from the community.” Jessica said her fellow members of the Class of 2022, Johanna (Jai) Dungca and Dougan McGrath, worked on their own website and Instagram (@ppe2nepa) sites. Meanwhile, Sara Hunsicker and members of the MD Class of 2023 were working on their own project to make do-it-yourself face masks.
Fortunately, the students found each other — and the community-wide mask-making project called Masked Bandits run by the Lackawanna and Luzerne Medical Societies. They all worked together to collect PPE that already exists in the business community and to produce handmade masks that will protect members of the public. “Tonyehn Verkitus, executive director at the medical society, and her Masked Bandits group did a fantastic job,” Jessica said. “Geisinger Commonwealth student volunteers helped by collecting and distributing supplies like fabric to Masked Bandits, then taking the finished masks to Sarno’s, the tuxedo company in Scranton, where they are being cleaned free of charge.” The freshly cleaned masks were then distributed by Masked Bandits. Jessica said the response from Geisinger Commonwealth students was “incredible.” The PPE collection effort has resulted in numerous N95 masks, hundreds of surgical masks and gowns and more than 2,000 gloves of varied sizes.
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Meals for Medics A group of third-year students wanted to provide meals for staff working at local hospitals. By working with the community organization Scranton Tomorrow, they amassed donations for dinners to be provided by local restaurants. The Meals for Medics’ first project was to provide meals for the frequently forgotten third-shift workers. Workers at Geisinger Community Medical Center were the lucky first beneficiaries of the meals, with workers at Moses Taylor Hospital and Regional Hospital of Scranton soon following.
Students support Women with Children program 10
Medical Student Council volunteers tutored single mothers enrolled in Misericordia University's Women with Children Program. Through the program, Misericordia offers free housing, financial assistance, access to high-quality childcare and an array of social, academic and family enrichment programming to economically disadvantaged single mothers. At present, two Geisinger Commonwealth students are working with Misericordia participants, tutoring them in statistics.
Virtual English language lessons United Neighborhood Centers’ Scranton Council of Literacy Advance provides free adult literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) education to the community. This vital service relies on a cadre of volunteers, including many Geisinger Commonwealth students, to operate. When COVID-19 prevented tutors and their community students from meeting for in-person lessons at United Neighborhood Centers’ (UNC’s) south Scranton offices, the Geisinger Commonwealth mentors quickly adapted to conducting their teaching via phone or Zoom. Amy Hoang, a member of the MBS Class of 2020, has served as an ESL tutor since coming to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Her UNC student, who was born in Mexico, didn’t have the technology to continue her English lessons via Zoom. That meant Amy had to get creative and teach her by telephone. “There were challenges,” she said. “Since my student is a non-native English speaker, sometimes I had difficulty understanding what she said. We had to find workarounds, like text messaging.” Amy said she even added additional time for lessons — beyond the two sessions per week UNC recommends — so that her student didn’t fall behind. At a time when Amy and the other Geisinger Commonwealth mentors are getting used to new ways of learning themselves, adding to their volunteer hours could have been synonymous with adding to their stress. The students insist, however, that serving Scranton’s vulnerable population is energizing and reinforces their commitment to community. “COVID-19 forced a lot of people to stay away from their work and their social life. We didn’t want to leave our neighborhoods without the needed services at UNC as well,” Amy said. “I feel as though that hour out of my day was a time when I could focus on something other than my studies. It actually helped me de-stress. It also reinforced the importance of helping adult English learners who are truly working hard in order to adapt to their new environment. It's the least I could do, as someone who's privileged to have been born in the U.S.” The following students are participating in phone tutoring: Seth Ellison Rachel Evans Amy Hoang Ataya Horn Emilia Jakubek Bridget Keehan Emily Kummerer
A virtual 5K can happen anywhere The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Running Club hosted a “Virtual 5K to Benefit COVID Relief.” How does a “virtual” run work? For a $5 entry fee, participants were invited to “run, walk or crawl” 3.1 miles anywhere, anytime up until June 15. Runners tracked their time with their own watch, phone or app or any other way they typically track miles. When the race was completed, the participant uploaded a picture or screenshot of his or her time and distance. The motivation, of course, is that 100% of the profits went to a COVID-19 relief charity, which the winner chose from a provided list. In honor of fellow runner Ahmaud Arbery, the race is named Run 4 the Frontline, Run with Maud. The event raised $450 for Friends of the Poor, the organization chosen by winner Patrick Feeney. Patrick won with a time of 18:55.
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speak out .
Continue to cover mouth Interrupting COVID-19– related microaggressions By the time COVID-19 reached the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine community, the virus was accompanied by a frenzy of fear — and unfortunately, some bigotry. Students at Geisinger Commonwealth, always encouraged to be advocates, did not remain silent. Ebuwa (Bu) Ighodaro, Medical Student Council (MSC) Diversity and Inclusion chair, coordinated and facilitated a schoolwide Zoom program entitled “Discussing the Medical Perspective of Dealing with COVID-19-Related Microaggressions.” “Some of our Asian-American students were telling MSC that they had experienced racist moments in the community,” he said. “To me, that is unacceptable. I wanted a concerted response — we need to be conscious of what we do and say, especially during times of crisis.” Ebuwa said he drew on lessons learned from the Geisinger Commonwealth curriculum, especially in the areas of professional identity formation and the cultural humility curriculum included in the school’s “Understanding and Interrupting Microaggression” training for all MBS and first-year medical students. During the session, Ebuwa called out specific incidents that have taken place worldwide related to the inequities of COVID-19. He gave visual examples of the impact of microaggression during the pandemic and posed questions to get participants to engage in open and authentic conversations. Vicki T. Sapp, PhD, director of Student Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion and assistant professor, said, “Bu made me very proud that he was able to take his in-class training and make it applicable outside of the classroom. Excellent!” 12
Student National Medical Association AMEC conference goes on Three Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine students, along with Vicki T. Sapp, PhD, who is the director of Student Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion and a faculty member, attended the virtual Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC) in April. The students who participated included Richard Sofoluke and Stephanie Delma, both members of the MD Class of 2023, and Jessie Louis, a member of the MBS Class of 2020. The conference, entitled “The 20/20 Vision: Dynamic Leaders for a Health Revolution,” consisted of interactive workshops and sessions to prepare pre-med and medical students to become influential physicians of tomorrow. The plenary sessions included a presentation of “First Year Cleveland: A collective impact model to achieve equity and reduce maternal and infant mortality among women of color.” First Year Cleveland was established by community leaders alarmed by the number of babies dying in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. In a city with outstanding healthcare and supportive services, these leaders developed an effective, comprehensive and sustainable approach to solving infant mortality. Students also attended sessions about health equity and
health policy; improving how we implement medicine; addressing sex and gender disparities in medicine; tools for success as first-year medical student; how to choose a medical specialty; “Let’s have a hair talk;” navigating healthcare with natural hair; and COVID-19 and advocating during a pandemic. Also, despite being a virtual conference, organizers still found ways for the nationwide gathering of students to meet and interact through game nights, karaoke sessions and online speed mentoring. View a conference recap and student reflections at youtu.be/bIHomcFl8X4. The conference is associated with the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). SNMA is committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians. SNMA, now an independent corporation, was founded as a subdivision of the National Medical Association, the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and their patients in the United States.
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The show must go on New club leadership doesn’t let COVID derail plan When School of Medicine’s new American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) club leadership took over in March, they had ambitious plans. According to Natalie Rothenberger, Class of 2023, AMWA would launch a Women in Medicine Roundtable series to host women physicians in informal small group settings. “The idea was to foster candid, interactive discussion about the physicians’ personal stories and challenges,” she explains. “We also hoped to get personal and professional advice from our guests. Our plan was to have each event focus around a certain specialty to allow for conversation specific to clinical training, as well.” Then, on March 17, Geisinger Commonwealth was required to close its Medical Sciences Building and suspend all in-person gatherings as a result of COVID-19 mitigation efforts. It appeared AMWA’s new plans were dashed. Ironically, club leadership ended up exhibiting the very qualities their first roundtable guests would cite as absolutely necessary for a woman — or any — physician: resiliency and adaptability. On May 5, two months into their new leadership roles, AMWA did indeed host its first roundtable via Zoom. The subject was internal medicine and guests were Christin M. Spatz, MD, FASN, director of clinical advising and assistant professor of medicine, and Jennifer M. Zangardi, MD, assistant professor of medicine.
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Ms. Rothenberger acknowledges the event was as much a morale booster as it was a professional development opportunity. “I felt the roundtable helped build a sense of community among women, and I really valued how willing Dr. Spatz and Dr. Zangardi were to share their stories so we could have a more authentic view of residency and what is to come,” she says. “Their stories opened up dialogue about topics unique to women in medicine and were honest and yet very encouraging. We gained an understanding of what an internal medicine residency would entail, but more importantly strengthened relationships and created connectedness even during this unprecedented time.” Fellow student leaders Rachel Evans and Maia Giombetti agree. “Dr. Zangardi and Dr. Spatz demonstrated the need for adaptability and resilience,” Ms. Giombetti says. “Everyone’s career path is different and subject to change at any moment. Each path is as unique as an individual’s goals and priorities. You have to figure out what works best for you and be ready to change as circumstances change.” “I think my biggest take away is that as a physician, particularly as a female physician, you simply cannot do it all,” Ms. Evans says. “It is absolutely necessary to ask for help to balance family and work and your own mental health, and it is OK to do that.”
Students, faculty present at 18th Annual AADMD virtual conference Student Rachel Bockol presented with leadership award A team that leads National Curriculum Initiative in Developmental Medicine (NCIDM) grant activities at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine presented curriculum enhancement projects at the school and their impact at the 18th Annual American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) virtual conference June 5 - 7. In addition, Rachel Bockol, a member of the Geisinger Commonwealth MD Class of 2023 and president of the AADMD student chapter at the School of Medicine, won the AADMD Future Leader Baton Award. The award recognizes a student member for his or her contribution and leadership to advance the advocacy for people with an intellectual and developmental disability.
5. Interprofessional Elective Course: Fourth year students conduct a two-week rotation at Geisinger Medical Center’s Comprehensive Care Clinic to practice providing health care for children and adults with IDD. Dr. Cho acknowledged that the team’s work was only possible with support and participation from all students and faculty at Geisinger, as well as community organizations.
AADMD is a membership organization of interdisciplinary health professionals, including primary physicians, medical specialists, dentists, optometrists, nurses, and other clinicians, committed to improving the quality of health care for people with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). The grant team includes Drs. Douglas Wells and Avisha Shah, both members of the MD Class of 2020; Emily Herman, a member of the MD Class of 2021; Tonoya Sengupta, an alumnus of the MBS program and a Geisinger Commonwealth research assistant; Michelle Cornacchia, MD, co-principal investigator and a physician at Geisinger Comprehensive Care Clinic; and Youngjin Cho, PhD, co-principal investigator and a medical educator at Geisinger Commonwealth. Because the conference occurred virtually, almost all curriculum and research findings were presented as poster presentations. The Geisinger team won first place award in the best poster presentation category. The winning poster was entitled, “Enhancing Medical School Curriculum on Care for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.” It examined five curricular enhancements incorporated at the School of Medicine: 1.
Patient presentations by individuals living with IDD to better understand the impact of the disease on quality of life.
2. Standardized Patient Experience to practice obtaining history and physical exam skills with patients with IDD. 3. Family Centered Experience in which students meet with volunteer members of the community with IDD outside of a medical setting to help them better understand the socioeconomic aspects of their condition. 4. Quality Improvement Projects: community projects involving individuals with IDD to understand barriers to care.
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Reflection on the plague Pandemic gives student new appreciation for call to serve Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, second-year student Mark Mandel was mainly focused on his looming Step 1 exam. But the spread of the virus, and the response by medical practitioners, reminded him of the importance of service and sacrifice on the part of all healthcare providers — reflections that drove home messages delivered in Practice of Medicine (APM) and Patient Centered Medicine (PCM) classes taught by Denny Dawgert, MD. “I thought my ‘big science’ classes were the ones that would most directly affect the type of physician I would be,” Mr. Mandel says, explaining that by “type,” he means medical specialty. “Then, when the pandemic hit, I saw doctors and nurses — some of my own family members — going to work every day at great risk to themselves. It made me wonder if I’m brave enough or compassionate enough to match their efforts and sacrifices.” He adds, “COVID has opened my eyes to the fact that sometimes you may be a patient’s only hope, and you have to act in a manner that prioritizes the health and autonomy of your patient while quelling panic
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and preventing others from being infected — all while following ever-changing guidelines.” Healthcare providers’ response to the pandemic also reinforced Mr. Mandel’s understanding of classroombased lessons about the importance of teamwork. Dealing with COVID-19 is “too big a job for a single person and underscores the necessity of both interpersonal communication and interprofessional teamwork,” Mr. Mandel notes. “It’s all of the things in the APM course that will truly define what type of doctor I will be.” He adds, “Perhaps my classmates already felt this way and were able to appreciate the gravity of what being a doctor means from the start. On a personal level, the pandemic has made me feel unknowledgeable and uneducated, but more importantly it has inspired me to extend my medical education beyond the textbook. I wanted our faculty to know how much more I am now able to appreciate everything they do to create the PCM and APM content and environment.”
An historical perspective Prehistory
Evidence suggests that about 5,000 years ago, an epidemic wiped out two villages in China. The archaeological site called “Hamin Mangha” and is one of the best-preserved prehistoric sites in northeastern China. (LiveScience, March 20, 2020)
Plague of Athens: 430 B.C... Was it
typhus? Ebola? Historians don’t know, but the Plague of Athens claimed the city-state’s leader, Pericles and Athens never recovered.
Antonine Plague: 165-180... Good governance during this outbreak of what was most likely smallpox saved the Roman Empire.
Plague of Cyprian: 250-271... The
Plague of Cyprian is estimated to have killed 5,000 people a day in Rome alone, but this time, it contributed to the fall of Rome.
Plague of Justinian: 541-542...The
plague is named after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian is the first recorded occurrence of the bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis).
American Plagues: 16th century...
The American Plagues are a cluster of Eurasian diseases brought to the Americas by European explorers. These illnesses, including smallpox, contributed to the collapse of the Inca and Aztec civilizations. Some estimates suggest that 90% of the indigenous population in the Western Hemisphere was killed off.
Smallpox: 1767... According to Robert Massey’s biography of Catherine the Great had heard of Thomas Dimsdale and his book The Present Method of Inoculating for the Small Pox, and invited the author to St. Petersburg, where she was inoculated. “My objective was, through my example, to save from death the multitude of my subjects who, not knowing the value of this technique, and frightened of it, were left in danger,” she said. AIDS pandemic and epidemic: 1981-present day... What did we
The Black Death: 1346-1353... Did
the world’s most famous pandemic give rise to the middle class? Historians have suggested that the Black Death spared so few farmers and other laborers that survivors successfully demanded better working conditions from the ruling class.
Great Plague of London: 16651666... “This day, much against my will, I did
in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and ‘Lord have mercy upon us’ writ there; which was a sad sight to me, being the first of the kind that, to my remembrance, I ever saw.” Samuel Pepys, Diary, June 7, 1665.
Spanish Flu: 1918-1920... According
to the National WW2 Museum, in the decades following the 1918 pandemic, “scientists did not forget the danger of influenza, and worked to develop a better understanding of the disease.” The big break came in 1931, when researchers at Vanderbilt “found ways to grow the influenza virus in fertile chicken eggs.”
learn from AIDS?” That “infectious diseases were a problem for the third world but not for us;” anti-H.I.V. drugs that became a milestone in antiviral treatment; a far better understanding of the primary immune cells called T-lymphocytes; and complex links between cancer, immunity and infection.
THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020
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Student news
Class of 2024 Geisinger Primary Care Scholars
Sean Alventosa
Hometown: Setauket, N.Y. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Cornell Interests: Family medicine Why Geisinger? Family medicine is his interest because of its focus on long-term care and keeping people well. Geisinger’s big-picture focus on these things is the reason he was attracted to Geisinger.
Cara Anzulewicz
Hometown: Scranton, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Scranton, BS and MS Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? The REACH-HEI program was what really gave me the courage to face the obstacles in my path and follow my calling. Geisinger’s values align with her own.
Alison Barrett
Hometown: Scranton, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University, Schreyer Honors College Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Its social responsibility. Interesting fact: Was a Patient Navigator for the National Health Corps in Philadelphia
Burke Beauregard
Hometown: Export, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Worked for an organization that provided support to families of children with cancer. Came to appreciate the importance of doctor/patient relationship to getting well. Values Geisinger’s focus on giving primary care physicians more time with their patients.
Patrick Callaghan
Hometown: Broomall, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Pittsburgh Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? As a value-based health system, Geisinger places emphasis on improving health outcomes above all else.
Matthew Carnevali
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Pittsburgh Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? In working at Children’s Hospital, I currently live out Geisinger’s mission to provide interprofessional and patientcentered care, and their values of community health and social responsibility resonate with me.
Miranda Chen
Hometown: State College, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? As a student who has always wanted to be a family practitioner, she is drawn to Geisinger’s innovative approach to primary care 18
Irene Cho
Hometown: New York, N.Y. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: New York University Interests: Family medicine Why Geisinger? Attracted to Geisinger’s community-centered, patient-centered approach to care.
Christopher Conroy
Hometown: Harrisburg, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Clark University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Its integration of precision medicine and social responsibility.
Sophia Costan
Hometown: Clarion, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Chatham University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Collaborative primary care programs designed to better understand and manage the specific needs of patients.
Bryan D’Ostroph
Hometown: Whispering Pines, N.C. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Washington and Lee Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? He shares Geisinger’s focus on social determinants/root causes of disease.
Irene Ganahl
Hometown: Lewisburg, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Wellesley College Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Geisinger has been my local hospital for my whole life. Therefore, I have had the experience of being a patient at Geisinger. Because of this experience, I know that primary care physicians at Geisinger are passionate about developing deep connections with their patients which is what interests me the most about Geisinger’s approach to primary care.
Sean Gilhooley
Hometown: Clarks Summit, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Wilkes University/MBS from GCSOM Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Geisinger’s focus on improving the health of the people of Scranton.
Thomas Gonzales
Hometown: Houston, Texas Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Likes its solution-oriented approach to the primary care physician shortage.
Emily Grimes
Hometown: Summertown, TN Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Tennessee Knoxville Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? “The Geisinger Primary Care Scholars Program is revolutionary . . . Geisinger’s commitment to primary care is unparalleled. I am honored to be part of such an incredible system.”
Mindy Gruzin
Hometown: Baltimore/York, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Penn State - York Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Geisinger seems to share my idealism when it comes to primary care. Geisinger appreciates and is acting on the overwhelming empirical data pointing to psychosocial wellbeing as a profoundly influential contributor to health.
Tice Harkins
Hometown: Sewickley, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Shares his interest in disease prevention.
Zhi-Shan Hsu
Steven Reehl
Hometown: Summit Hill, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Elizabethtown College Interests: Family medicine Why Geisinger? Community-based medical education and medicine.
Lizbeth Sandoval
Hometown: New Rochelle, NY Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Pennsylvania State University Interests: Medicine/Pediatrics Why Geisinger? Geisinger understands that primary healthcare isn’t simply about “treating diseases” but instead it places emphasis on the holistic approach to patient
Hometown: Newton, NJ Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Princeton University Interests: Internal Medicine Why Geisinger? GCSOM’s commitment to understanding diversity and connecting with the community
Hamzah Shariff
Alysse Machalek
Erli (Jessica) Tang
Hometown: New Providence, N.J. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Scranton Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Its patient-centered, team-based approach to primary care.
Joshua Mills
Hometown: Downingtown, PA Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Saint Francis University Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? I truly felt a connection with the faculty and mission of Geisinger
Frank Monney
Hometown: Hagerstown, Md. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Maryland/MBS from GCSOM Interests: Uncertain. Internal medicine or Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Experiences in home country, Cameroon, inspired a ddesire to serve vulnerable populations. Geisinger’s focus on community aligns with that vision.
Merlin Paz
Hometown: York, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Temple Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Multi-disciplinary teams.
Jaclyn Podd
Hometown: Scranton, PA Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Binghamton University, GCSOM MBS Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? I also appreciated the fact that the school and Geisinger as an institution was evolving to take care of the community’s need for primary care providers.
Clement Rajakumar
Hometown: Jackson, N.J. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Georgian Court University Interests: Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Likes Geisinger’s focus on wellness. “Beginning at a very young age I was able to see the impact doctors were able to make in my village in India. I have waited in lines that have spread over half a mile to see a single physician with a medical workspace located in their house.”
Hometown: Holland, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Virginia Interests: Internal Medicine Why Geisinger? Geisinger’s emphasis on preventive medicine. Hometown: Boston, Mass. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Pennsylvania Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Worked in a cancer research laboratory, so is drawn to MyCode. Geisinger’s focus on primary care.
Audrey Valentine
Hometown: Orwigsburg, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: University of Pittsburgh Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? As a native of Schuylkill County, she and her entire family are life long Geisinger patients. She feels it a great honor to now become a Geisinger physician.
Justina Warnick
Hometown: Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Dickinson College Interests: Family medicine Why Geisinger? Was already interested in primary care and “was pleased to find that Geisinger offers so many unique programs to transform the way in which physicians can care for their patients.” Interesting fact: Served as an English/Spanish interpreter for a migrant health clinic
Shauna Wassmus
Hometown: Medway, MA Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Boston University/MBS from Tufts Interests: Family medicine or Med/Peds Why Geisinger? Community focus/concern for social determinants.
Mitchell Weber
Hometown: York, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Bucknell Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Refusal to accept status quo regarding approach to primary care.
Cecelia Weingart
Hometown: New Castle, Pa. Undergraduate/Graduate degree: Washington and Lee Interests: Internal medicine Why Geisinger? Has personal experience with an individualized health plan based on genetic testing, so the MyCode project is of particular interest to her. Read about Primary Care Scholar Alison Varano on the back cover. THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020
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Campus news
Never more relevant: GCSOM students earn MPH degrees from Jefferson On June 19, four Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine students presented their Master of Public Health (MPH) capstone projects at Thomas Jefferson University. These students took a gap year between their third and fourth years to pursue their MPH, an opportunity provided to them thanks to the school’s partnership with Jefferson. A fifth GCSOM student presented his capstone project in March. All are members of Geisinger Commonwealth’s MD Class of 2021.
Getting an MPH in the midst of a pandemic where public health has suddenly jumped into the limelight was very serendipitous.
“My capstone project revolved around foster care. I worked with a Philadelphia foster care agency to analyze the feedback and needs of foster parents, in order to ultimately develop a standardized foster parent training curriculum,” said participant Vanessa Thiel. “Through this project and through my participation in the program, I’ve learned so much. Not only have I learned about different public health issues, but I’ve gained the tools to help assess and tackle the issues — from a more in-depth look at biostatistics, to learning about health literacy, to learning how to develop effective policy. I’ve learned how to be a more effective patient advocate and I’ve learned how to look at issues from a different lens.” Student Nathan Hoff described his project with Philip Gehrman, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania‘s Sleep Neurobiology and Psychopathology Lab, “My project is an offshoot of a larger study that Dr. Gehrman and his group are conducting to understand the antidepressant mechanism behind acute sleep deprivation therapy. I performed data analysis on a subset of the research participants to look at what characteristics might increase the odds of someone responding to this treatment. I really enjoyed my time at Jefferson. Also, getting an MPH in the midst of a pandemic where public health has suddenly jumped into the limelight was very serendipitous. The biggest takeaways of the program for me were a stronger foundation and understanding of epidemiology, data analysis and statistical skills I learned in Dr. Brandon George’s course, and developing a more robust toolkit for approaching healthcare quality and safety.”
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“We love having these students in our program and look forward to future collaborations,” Dr. Frasso said. “We believe their public health training will be an asset to them and others as they return to GCSOM and move into residency.” “The past year at TJU was truly amazing and I’m so excited to begin my pediatric career with this additional education,” Thiel said. The dual degree students were engaged in a number of research and practice endeavors related to their capstone projects: Sahil Pandya presented his project, Caring for Older Adults During COVID: A Rapid Review. He worked with a team from TJU’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College on a project exploring telemedicine. Sean Farrell’s project, completed in partnership with a TJU medical student and mentors from the HepB Foundation, explored the needs of patients with HepB and HepD. He delivered it in March.
Cynthia Ciccotelli’s presentation, The REACH Study: Measuring Usability and Outcomes of the Merckengage Internet Diabetes Education Tool, explored the utility of an internet-based Type2 diabetes education tool. She worked with TJU faculty on the project.
Nathan Hoff presented Predicting Response to Acute Sleep Deprivation Therapy for the Treatment of Depression. He worked with TJU colleagues at Penn on a project looking at sleep deprivation as treatment of depression.
Vanessa Thiel completed her capstone, Fostering Feedback: Using Focus Groups to Develop a Standardized Foster Parent Training Curriculum, working with Rosemary (Rosie) Frasso, PhD, CPH, associate professor and Public Health Program director, and Steve DiDonato, PhD, a faculty member in the Department of Counseling and Behavioral Health. The project focused on improving the care for foster children.
GME receives HRSA grants Rural pipeline program: The Geisinger Lewistown Family Medicine Residency received federal grant funding that will help build pipeline programs, as well as recruitment and retention strategies, to better meet the needs of rural and underserved populations. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded Geisinger a $2,487,103 Primary Care Training Enhancement (PCTE) grant for expansion of the Geisinger Lewistown Family Medicine Residency program over the next five years. Addiction medicine: Federal funding awarded to Geisinger through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be used to increase and strengthen treatment for substance use disorders in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. The Geisinger Addiction Medicine Fellowship program received $2,759,235 from HRSA that will grow the addiction medicine workforce through an expansion of the Geisinger Addiction Medicine Fellowship program. The grant application represents a collaboration between Geisinger and the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (WCGME). Addiction medicine fellows will train at 16 sites in areas with demonstrated need across numerous counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania, including six counties with drug overdose rates higher than the national average of 21.7 per 100,000 population.
New Cares Act funding for Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in response to COVID-19 U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) on May 20 announced the release of $150,000 in new federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act’s Centers of Excellence COVID-19 program. These awards come from funding authorized by the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, which Cartwright helped enact as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Health centers funded by HHS may use the awards to help communities across the country detect the coronavirus; prevent, diagnose, and treat COVID-19; and maintain or increase health capacity and staffing levels to address this public health emergency. “This new funding is an important part of keeping our health centers equipped as they continue their quest to identify and care for those with the coronavirus,” said Rep. Cartwright. “I applaud Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine for continuing to play a critical role in charting our path to recovery in northeastern Pennsylvania.” “Center of Excellence COVID-19 funds will help us understand the impact on medically underserved communities and how to best serve them,” said Ida Castro, JD, vice president for community engagement and chief diversity officer at the School of Medicine. “Training our students and clinical staff to educate and advocate for these communities is crucial to the overall wellbeing of our region. This grant will allow us to pilot important new initiatives in this area.” THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020 21
Residency news
Central Region House Staff Fellow Teacher of the Year Kenneth Snell, MD, critical care chief fellow, said that his medical specialty demands its practitioners be flexible, adaptable and empathetic. He said he learned all of these things growing up in the foster care system. “My hometown could be the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” he said. “When you grow up in a situation where you are shuffled from family to family, you learn to adapt. I learned to be flexible and adapt to an ever-changing environment. I can’t tell you how important this is to critical care, and now to pandemics. On another note, adversity makes you personable and empathetic. Every patient in an ICU is facing adversity. My experience with adversity helps
me to connect and help patients through their current horrible one,” he said. Dr. Snell’s ability to empathize also makes him a dedicated and patient teacher, adding that, at Geisinger, teaching in critical care is challenging because the subject is so diverse. “Geisinger has several ICU units — med/surg, trauma, cardiac. And we have a diverse group of learners, from medical students to a variety of residents,” he said. Together with critical care program director Frank Lodeserto, MD, Dr. Snell devised a pioneering way to avoid “learning by PowerPoint” by taking time to individualize learning for each student. “I ask, ‘What do you want to learn?’ At the beginning, a learner usually lists just a few things. It’s amazing how every week we add to that list. By the time the month is over, their portfolio is two or three pages long. It’s so rewarding.”
Central Region House Staff Resident Teacher of the Year Edward “Ward” Cook, DO, was inspired by his own childhood doctor to be both a teacher and a pediatrician. Dr. Cook, who is finishing his pediatric residency and will remain at Geisinger to serve a year as chief resident, said his pediatrician taught him how to tie a tie and was a cornerstone of his childhood, extending beyond medical treatments including the “talk.” That early example has influenced his career ever since. “If I didn’t go into medicine, I would have been a teacher,” Dr. Cook said, adding that he even took a “fifth year” at medial school to serve as a teaching fellow at the University of New
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England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Although that passion for education is clearly why his peers chose him to receive a teaching award, Dr. Cook said he doesn’t really have a particular approach. He prefers to find out what motivates each individual learner. “In medical culture, preventing burnout is critical,” he said. “I think we need to find the fun and encourage curiosity in medicine. Too often we lose sight of why we wanted to do this in the first place. I try to reinvigorate student and resident curiosity and encourage questions. I try to lead by example; to show that it’s OK to ask questions and to not know the answer or be wrong. If students leave each day happy, having learned something and with a smile on their face – that’s a win.”
Northeast Region Teacher of the Year: Jarrod Buzalewski, DO Jarrod Buzalewski, DO, remembers the awkward role of a medical student on a surgical rotation. “I remember what it’s like to sometimes feel in the way or forgotten,” he said, adding that those memories inspired him to include the medical students shadowing him and make them active participants in his surgeries. “I try to make sure to teach my students one new concept a day. It might be about gallbladder disease or diverticular disease. I ask them questions and prompt them to do some research. And I always follow up,” he said. “I also try to involve them actively in surgeries. Maybe they hold the camera during a laparoscopic procedure. That may seem trivial, but they get to see what is going on during the procedure. Seeing is important. I also get them technically involved by asking them to close the incision.” Dr. Buzalewski’s active teaching style has earned him the admiration of his students — and his peers have noticed. They honored him with the Northeast Region Teacher of the Year award.
Award criteria includes: 5 Willingness to teach 5 Effective use of constructive criticism
House Staff Appreciation Week Although residents and fellows couldn’t celebrate with formal graduations this year due to COVID19, house staff still enjoyed a special appreciation week, June 1-5. On June 1 (Thank a Resident/ Fellow Day for all House Staff), this year’s Resident Teacher of the Year and Fellow Teacher of the Year were honored with spotlights on social media channels and throughout the hospitals Congratulations to Ward Cook, DO, pediatrics and Kenneth Snell, MD, Critical Care Medicine at Geisinger Medical Center, along with Jarrod Buzalewski, DO, general surgery at Geisinger Wyoming Valley. Other events during the week included a socially distanced picnic, a T-shirt give-away and free coffee and ice cream days. Appreciation Week photos were posted to a special Flickr account.
5 Creative and innovative ways of implementing teaching strategies 5 Differentiating instruction for each individual member that they work with 5 Approachability for feedback and support 5 Supporting all areas of academic growth 5 Exhibiting care and compassion with patients
THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020
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Please note:
Class notes
MD Class Notes Alumni Society Board of Directors
Elections for GCSOM’s new Alumni Society Board of Directors were held recently and several alumni received the nod to represent their class on the board. Representatives are: Class of ’13: Melissa Rader Buck, MD, and Tom Churilla, MD Class of ’14: Pat Connors, MD, and Annie Kate Misiura, MD Class of ’15: Sarah Bashaw-Hayek, MD, and Rachel Silverstein, MD Class of ’16: Robert DeGrazia Jr., MD, and John Mangan, MD Class of ’17: Aditya Eturi, MD, and Angela DiBileo Kalinowski, MD Class of ’18: Dan Loughran, MD, and Max Vogel, MD Class of ’19: Akin Olagunju, MD, and Jake Parrick, MD
Alumni speaker Brianna Shinn, MD ’16, a GI fellow at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, delivered the alumni address at the virtual MD Commencement on May 17.
Publications Kathryn Schmidt, MD was recently published in Practical Gastroenterology. The article, entitled “Low Lying Rectal Stents: How Low Can You Go?” examined whether self-expanding metallic stents are a feasible alternative to surgery for patients with low-lying rectal obstruction due to malignancy. Her coauthor at the University of Utah School of Medicine is Douglas Adler, MD. Dr. Schmidt was recently visited in Salt Lake City by fellow alumnus of the Class of XX, Kasi Hartman, MD, an emergency medicine resident in Jacksonville, Fla.
Alumni Weekend, including the five-year celebration for the Class of 2015, scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 25–27, has been canceled for 2020 due to public health concerns and Geisinger guidelines. We hope to host these events in the fall of 2021.
Career Mark Ayzenberg, MD ’13 finished his fellowship in Los Angeles in 2019 and returned to start practice with Premier Orthopaedic Associates of Southern New Jersey. He continues his side business in photography. Stephanie Ferimer, MD ’13 completed her pediatric rehabilitation medicine fellowship in July at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She has accepted a faculty position at West Virginia University in Morgantown, where she will be responsible for helping the interdisciplinary team of physicians and therapists build rehabilitation services in the state of West Virginia. Doug Zaruta, MD completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery residency at University of Rochester and is moving to Florida with his wife Brittany and their son Jake to complete a sports medicine fellowship at Orlando Health. Sean J. Wallace, MD ’14 and MBS ’10, graduated from integrated residency in plastic & reconstructive surgery from Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown in June. While in residency, Dr. Wallace held many leadership positions locally and nationally in the plastic surgery community. He authored and coauthored several peer-reviewed journal articles and textbooks. He will commence a one-year fellowship in reconstructive microsurgery at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.
Laura Wingert, MD ’17 graduated from her pediatric residency at Akron Children’s Hospital and have been named chief resident for the upcoming academic year. She also received the pediatric critical care award from the Division of Critical Care at Akron Children’s.
Matthew Cunningham-Hill, MD ’16 matched into fellowship in vascular surgery at West Virginia University. Emili Delp, MD ’19 was named education chief for her PGY2 year and received the String of Pearls, a medical student–elected teaching award. 24
Births Jeremy Celestine, MD ’13 and wife Theresa announced the birth of their second child, Annabelle Celestine, on March 22. Her brother, Alexander, is 3. Tom Churilla, MD ’13 and wife Tara Churilla, DO, announced the birth of their first child, Edward Michael Churilla, on May 12. Steven Aussenberg, MD ’15 began his own family medicine practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. He initially saw patients solely via telemedicine, but will eventually open to in-person visits. He accepts patients living in Arizona, California, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Pat Courtright, MD ’15, Jenni Xu, MD ’15, and Jill Berlin, MD ’15 met up in New Haven, Connecticut for a combined birthday celebration for Jenni and Jill (the event has been termed the BBBB since medical school days). Pat is graduating from a regional anesthesiology and acute pain fellowship and will be working at Good Samaritan Medical Center as an anesthesiology attending physician. Jenni is currently an OB/GYN attending at Brockton Hospital. Jill is also graduated from a regional anesthesiology and acute pain fellowship and will be working at Yale New Haven Hospital as an anesthesiology attending.
Tadeusz Witek, MD and wife Jess welcomed their second child, Jacob, in February. He also completed his cardiothoracic fellowship at University of Pittsburgh in June and will join the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at University of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor.
Marriages Amanda McKenna, MD ’18 married Lt. Brian Powers in February in Jacksonville, Fla. She is in her second year of Internal Medicine residency at Mayo Clinic Florida. Emily Amendola, MD ’18, was a bridesmaid in the wedding. She is a PGY-2 at University of Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine.
Carol Fouad, MD ’15 graduated from her orthopaedic surgery residency at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and will begin a hand & upper extremity fellowship at Allegheny General in Pittsburgh. Sideris Facaros, MD ’16 graduated from an internal medicine residency at Summa Health in Akron, Ohio. He was presented with the Resident of the Year award and entered a cardiology fellowship at Summa Health for next three years. He was named chief cardiology fellow for the next two years. His second child, Anastasia, joined her 3-year-old brother Yianni in April. Shrut Patel, MD ’16 graduated from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School – JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute’s physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program in June. He served as chief resident during final year of residency and is moving on to complete a one-year ACGME-accredited Sports Medicine fellowship at Geisinger Northeast (Wilkes-Barre). Rob Decker, MD ’17 finished his internal medicine residency at Lehigh Valley Hospital Network and began a hematology oncology fellowship at there in July. Julie Mercadante Tondt, MD ’18, Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) emergency medicine, and husband Justin Tondt, MD ’18, EVMS family medicine, were both selected for chief residents of their respective programs for the 2020–2021 year.
Ronald Bogdasarian, MD ’15 married Mercy Otien, RN, on Dec. 30 in Nairobi, Kenya. Mercy is an ICU nurse at Rutgers. The couple met while Ron was completing his residency at Rutgers. Nicholas Calder, MD ‘15, and Ozan Toy, MD ‘15, celebrated him with as groomsmen. Missing was Nicholas Drayer, MD ‘15, Peter Boor, MD ‘15, and Allen Cheng, MD ‘16, who were unable to make the long trip to Kenya. Ron has one year of plastic surgery training ahead before the couple heads to New England where Dr. Bogdasarian will begin practice.
Alumni, to share your good news, visit geisinger.edu/AlumniUpdate
THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020
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Class notes
MBS Class Notes Joseph N. Lipat, DO, LT, MC, USN, a member of the MBS Class of ’15, graduated from NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University in May and was promoted to lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He will begin his family medicine residency at Naval Hospital Jacksonville in Florida. Whitney Washington, MBS ’17 has been accepted to the Medical University of South Carolina School of Medicine Class of ’24. John Coulter, MBS ’18, MD Class of ’23, gave the alumni address at the virtual MBS Commencement ceremony on June 28. Lipat
Frank Monney, MBS ’19 was accepted to his top five choices for medical school while working for a biopharmaceutical company in Maryland. He will enter Geisinger Commonwealth’s MD Class of ’24. Christine Rittenhouse, MBS ’19 has been promoted to director of product development at Greene Street Pharmaceuticals, a company with which she began working while a student at the Doylestown campus. She developed a transdermal drug delivery system, also known as a transdermal patch, to deliver a nonnarcotic drug used to treat pain and muscle spasms. Her goal for developing the product was to reduce the negative gastrointestinal intestinal side effects seen in the oral form of this drug. Clinical trials have just been approved and began this spring.
Rittenhouse
Vanessa Nansamba, MBS ’18, is the 2019/2020 Miss Uganda North America Beauty Queen. She won the Miss Talent Competition at the 2019 Beauty Pageant, which was held in her hometown of Chicago at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Vanessa said, “My multifaceted identity as a first-generation Ugandan American woman who grew up in a Christian and Islamic home fostered a mind eager to learn. I have had the privilege of being exposed to people of diverse backgrounds. Those experiences shaped my view on becoming the person I envisioned myself to be.” Vanessa’s work with GCSOM’s Behavioral Health Initiative inspired her competition platform of promoting mental health. She wants to use the Miss Uganda North America Platform to “bring mental health awareness to the Ugandan community at large.” “I plan to start discussions normalizing therapeutic practices by utilizing resources already within the community,” she said. “During my reign, I want to leave a legacy in my community of achieving and maintaining mental wellness. Overall, I aim to reduce the stigma around mental illness, increase the awareness of methods for managing mental health, and improve access to quality healthcare.”
Nansamba
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Primary Care Scholar From birth to death: Building connections for future primary care providers Kim Kovalick, DO, loves her work as a family medicine practitioner, especially the way she gets to practice it in a Geisinger clinic. Geisinger’s focus on team-based primary care gives her more time with patients, building the longlasting and trusting relationships that make her calling a joy. Now, as assistant dean, primary care and assistant professor of family medicine in Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Education, Dr. Kovalick can share that passion as she shapes future family doctors.
this fall, Dr. Kovalick hopes all 29 mentors convey that message. “Family medicine is about caring for the whole person,” she said. “You need to understand everything about a patient — medical, social, family life. It really is the most challenging specialty, but it is also the most rewarding.”
She is leading the effort to create a network of mentors for Geisinger Commonwealth students in the school’s growing Geisinger Primary Care Scholars program. This fall, in addition to herself, she will have 29 mentors to pair one on one with incoming Primary Care Scholars. The mentors will form a close bond with their students and act as advisors as the students progress in their education. “The mentor role is not a teaching role,” Dr. Kovalick said. “The mentor will be there to talk to students about their aspirations and to guide them on their journey.” In addition to acting as a mentor, Dr. Kovalick is also a preceptor, teaching third-year Geisinger Commonwealth students in her clinic in Kingston. As a teacher, she hopes her students will appreciate the breadth of care a family doctor provides. “We see everyone, from birth to death,” she said. “No other specialty is like that. Family docs really earn the trust of their patients. They come to us about everything. Even when they get advice from a specialist, they want to talk to us about it.” Helping her students to begin to build that trust is one of the things Dr. Kovalick enjoys most as a teacher. “I try to teach students to talk to the patient the way they would want a doctor to talk to their family member — with kindness and respect. It helps that our patients have been very positive about helping students to learn. It’s a joy to see them begin to build that confidence to have the more difficult conversations.” These intimate human connections make Dr. Kovalick’s role as both doctor and teacher deeply satisfying. When the newest Primary Care Scholars begin their studies
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Match results Anesthesiology • • • • • • • • • •
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, CA Geisinger, PA Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY Icahn School of Medicine St Luke’sRoosevelt, NY The George Washington University, Washington, DC University of Chicago Medical Center, IL University of Louisville School of Medicine, KY University of Maryland Medical Center, MD University of Southern California, CA Westchester Medical Center, NY
Child neurology • UPMC Medical Education, PA
Dermatology • Broward Health Medical Center, FL • Geisinger, PA • Loyola University Medical Center, IL
Emergency medicine • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Baystate Medical Center, MA Christiana Care, DE (2) Crozer-Chester Medical Center, PA Geisinger, PA Guthrie/Robert Packer Hospital, PA Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, CA Kern Medical Center, CA Medical College of Georgia-Augusta University, GA Medical University of South Carolina, SC St. John’s Riverside Hospital, NY Thomas Jefferson University, PA University of Rochester/Strong Memorial, NY University of Virginia, VA UPMC Medical Education, PA West Virginia University School of Medicine, WV Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Wright State University, OH Zucker School of Medicine-Northwell NS/LIJ, NY
Family medicine • • • • • •
Guthrie/Robert Packer Hospital, PA Kaiser Permanente-Napa/Solano, CA Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine, ME UPMC Altoona Hospital, PA UPMC Medical Education-Susquehanna, PA Ventura County Medical Center, CA
General surgery • • • •
Bassett Medical Center, NY Christiana Care, DE Geisinger, Wilkes-Barre, PA Louisiana State University School of Medicine-New Orleans, LA • Spartanburg Regional Healthcare, SC • University of Rochester/Strong Memorial, NY
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• University of Tennessee Health Science Center–Memphis, TN • Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, VA
Internal medicine • Christiana Care, DE • Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, NY • HCA Healthcare/University of South Florida Morsani Graduate Medical EducationTrinity, FL • Kaiser Permanente–San Francisco, CA • Loyola University Medical Center, IL • Massachusetts General Hospital, MA • MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC • Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein, NY • Orlando Health, FL • Penn State Hershey Medical Center, PA • Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University, RI • The George Washington University, Washington, DC • University of Miami/Jackson Health System, FL • UPMC Medical Education, PA • Westchester Medical Center, NY
Orthopaedic surgery • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, PA • SUNY Upstate Medical University, NY • University of Tennessee Health Science Center–Memphis, TN
Otolaryngology • Thomas Jefferson University, PA
Pathology/combined-anatomic & clinical • Yale-New Haven Hospital, CT
Pediatrics • Geisinger, PA (3) • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY • Jefferson Medical College/duPont Children’s, PA • Medical University of South Carolina, SC • UCLA Medical Center, CA • UPMC Medical Education, PA • Zucker School of Medicine–Northwell Cohen Children’s, NY
Pediatrics/psychology/child psychology
Medicine-pediatrics
• Indiana University School of Medicine, IN
• Case Western/MetroHealth Medical Center, OH • Maine Medical Center, ME
Preliminary
Medicine-preliminary
Psychiatry
• Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, CA • Pennsylvania Hospital, PA
Medicine-primary • Virginia Mason Medical Center, WA
Neurodevelopmental disabilities • Baylor College of Medicine–Houston, TX
Neurology • Maine Medical Center, ME • Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, FL • Temple University Hospital, PA • Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, VA
Obstetrics-gynecology • Cooper Medical School of Rowan University/Cooper University Hospital, NJ • Geisinger, PA • Lankenau Medical Center, PA • Penn State Hershey Medical Center, PA • Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, MD
Ophthalmology • Larkin Community Hospital, FL • UT–Southwestern, TX • West Virginia University Eye Institute, WV
• University of Chicago Medicine– NorthShore University Health System, IL • Lehigh Valley Hospital, PA
Radiology-diagnostic • Boston University Medical Center, MA • Geisinger, PA • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, PA • West Virginia University School of Medicine, WV
Surgery preliminary • Medical University of South Carolina, SC • MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, DC • Temple University Hospital, PA
Transitional • • • • •
Geisinger, PA (3) John Peter Smith Hospital, TX Lehigh Valley Hospital, PA Nassau University Medical Center, NY University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Holy Cross, FL • West Virginia University School of Medicine, WV (2)
Urology • Penn State Hershey Medical Center, PA • Westchester Medical Center, NY
Those who remained. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, one team remained at GCSOM's Medical Sciences Building, handling deliveries, keeping the premises clean and disinfected and making sure students, staff and faculty had a safe building to welcome them upon their return.
Left row (front to back): Mike Kroll, Al Crown, Heath Warring, Trent Colan and John Gorczyk Right row (front to back): Leif Cortright, MaryAnn Babinski, Earl Krisovitch, Steve Jarbola and Bill Reuther Missing from picture: Chris Davis
THE JOURNAL / SUMMER 2020
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525 Pine St., Scranton, PA 18509 geisinger.edu/GCSOM
Geisinger Primary Care Scholar Spotlight Alison Varano, MD Class of 2023
Hometown: Mount Carmel Undergraduate: Bucknell University; GCSOM MBS When Alison Varano was in high school, a bizarre kayaking accident resulted in a lacerated liver — which led to a love of medicine, forged during her weeklong hospitalization. “I’m accident-prone, so that’s probably a good thing,” she says. She added that her new appreciation for medicine made her take another look at her hometown. “I grew up in a very small, rural community,” she explains. “So, I became interested in family medicine. I want to bring care to my own community.” As a student at Bucknell, Ms. Varano knew she had the desire to study medicine, but it was as a captain of her championship-winning track and field team that she discovered how she wants to practice it. “We had an 80-person team, and everyone had a part to play,” she says. “You compete individually but you win as a team. I think that spirit is the same with team-based care. I am very glad to see that this is a focus of primary care at Geisinger. And because I have such deep roots in the area, the Geisinger Primary Care Scholars program is a great opportunity for me to achieve my dreams.”
To make a donation or for more information, contact the Development Office at 570-271-6461 or visit geisinger.edu/GCSOMdonate. Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is committed to non-discrimination in all employment and educational opportunities.
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