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Abigail Geisinger Scholars news
Geisinger School of Medicine welcomes new Abigail Geisinger Scholars
On Sept. 28, Geisinger hosted the medical school’s new Abigail Geisinger Scholars and their families for a Welcome Breakfast and Pinning Ceremony.
Speakers included Kim Kovalick, DO, assistant dean of primary care and assistant chair of family medicine, and Julie Byerley, MD, MPH, who emphasized the importance of compassion and resilience in the medical profession.
The highlight of the morning was the pinning ceremony, led by Dr. Kovalick, Anja Landis, MD, director of the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, and Nino Cimino, curriculum coordinator for primary care. Dr. Landis had the honor of attaching the Scholars pins onto the students’ white coats, symbolizing their commitment to primary care or psychiatry and to the patients they’ll serve within the Geisinger footprint in the future.
First Abigail Geisinger Scholar will work in Tunkhannock clinic
Return begins to fulfill goal of closing physician care gap
In September 2025, Geisinger will begin welcoming back what will start as a trickle and soon become a flood of Abigail Geisinger Scholars in primary care clinics and offices.
The first is Steven Picozzo, MD ’22, who is completing a family medicine residency at St. Luke’s. He’s been working with a largely rural population and has found the experience fulfilling and rewarding.
“I’ll be working in Geisinger’s Tunkhannock clinic,” he said. “Right now, I’m in a rural family medicine program and it was the right fit for me. I’m getting a broad range of experiences and I’ve seen how stretched things like behavioral health resources are. Family docs can’t just refer, refer, refer, so we end up taking on a lot of those preliminary responsibilities. As a result, I’m comfortable prescribing things like medication for mental health issues. I realize that primary care is the first line of defense when it comes to making sure these things don’t slip through the cracks.”
Dr. Picozzo is already familiar with the Tunkhannock community, having spent time in the Geisinger clinic there as a medical student.
“It’s a farm community, so I expect the challenges will be similar to what I’ve learned in residency,” he said. “You have to meet people where they are, and you often find these communities are very independent.”
As he prepares for the next stage of his career, Dr. Picozzo said he has one overriding feeling about Geisinger and the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program — gratitude.
“It’s been an absolute blessing to me,” he said. “Coverage for the loans is priceless and the monthly stipend allowed me to gain a good degree of financial independence. I saved up, so when I got into residency, I was able to coordinate my finances. I was able to do things like contribute more to my retirement funds and give charitably. Whenever I think about the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, it’s always in a positive lght. I'm always humbled by the generosity and that Geisinger is freely giving to people who want to pursue primary care."
