Geisinger Scholar Programs - March 2020

Achieve your dreams with Geisinger Scholar Programs

Imagine being free to serve the communities you love, working in a system driven by kindness, excellence, learning and innovation — without the burden of medical school debt.

The Geisinger Scholar Programs relieve the burden, giving you the opportunity to pursue your dreams without worry.

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The Geisinger Primary Care Scholars Program: What happens when better health is built on primary care?

Medical students like you overwhelmingly share the same dream. You want to build lifelong personal relationships with patients and to be a pillar of your community, someone neighbors see as a trusted source of knowledge and compassion.

Geisinger supports the ideals of its future doctors in an environment that places primary care where it belongs — at the forefront and as the leading concern of every innovation and technological advance that happens within Geisinger’s walls.

Through the Primary Care Scholars Program, we back that pledge with relief from all medical school tuition and fees, as well as a $2,000 per month stipend during your years at Geisinger Commonwealth.

Our primary care physicians lead entire multidisciplinary teams dedicated to preventing disease and keeping people well and strong.

And because we believe precision medicine is best practiced in the primary care setting, our MyCode® project delivers a patient’s genome right to the medical chart. Our primary care physicians also access a universe of data that, thanks to Geisinger’s powerful analytics, has been translated into useful, actionable information.

geisinger.edu/primarycarescholars

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Here are some of the unique, primarycare-focused programs in which we immerse our students:

Primary Care Redesign Focuses on team-based care, population identification and risk stratification while incorporating analytic support and electronic medical record solutions with the goal of caring for our patients in our communities.

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Fresh Food FarmacyÂŽ Offers prescriptions for free, nutritious groceries to help food-insecure patients control diabetes and enjoy better health.

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MyCode Community Health Initiative This precision medicine project analyzes the DNA of registered patient-participants.

Through this project, we are already improving healthcare by finding ways to diagnose medical conditions earlier — even before symptoms appear — and new treatments or medications to manage these diseases.

Geisinger at Home™ An at-home care program that delivers care where Geisinger Gold members with complex, difficult-to-manage health conditions need it most: Right where they live. Through this service, our team of doctors, nurses, dietitians, social workers and other medical professionals help keep patients healthier and better connected to care by delivering it right to their doorstep.

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Geisinger 65 Forward Primary care clinics tailored to meet the unique needs of those age 65+. People get longer appointments, social activities, wellness classes and VIP-level, personalized care.

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The Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program: Don’t let debt divert you from your dreams

The Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program allows you to graduate without tuition debt, provided you become a Geisinger physician upon completing your residency training: one year of service equals one year of support, with a two-year minimum.

As an Abigail Geisinger Scholar, you may pursue any medical specialty. However, we encourage you to consider specialties that represent areas of greatest need in the regions Geisinger serves.

“I vividly recall the school opening when I was in grade school and remember being awed that my hometown had its own medical school.

I remember being really excited that I might one day be able to train with my childhood physicians to care for a community I hold so close to my heart. And now, with the Abigail Geisinger Scholars program and with the burden of medical school debt lifted, I feel even more comfortable pursuing a career in primary care.”

— Rachel Evans, Class of 2023

“The Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program is too good to be true. It’s an incredible opportunity for me to grow with the school and work with Geisinger mentors. I am so happy to be able to help with the area’s physician shortage and remain in my own community. And Geisinger is a system on the rise. I’ll love being on the ride up.”

— Syed Qadri, Class of 2023

geisinger.edu/AbigailScholars 8

You have choices.

Both the Geisinger Primary Care Scholars Program and the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program: l

Are inspired by federal military and U.S. Public Health Service scholarship programs. Full tuition is awarded to selected students, in most cases for the full four years, depending on continued qualification. However, the Geisinger Primary Care Scholars Program also bestows a $2,000 per month stipend, which is not available to recipients in the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program.

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Oblige the award recipients to practice as Geisingeremployed physicians upon completion of residency training. One year of service is required for each year of support, with a two-year minimum commitment.

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Calculate the amount of loan forgiveness on a pro-rata basis as recipients complete their employment obligation.

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Accrue no interest or payments during medical school or residency training. The interest rate during the forgiveness period (employment after residency) is based on the applicable federal rate published by the Internal Revenue Service.

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Give recipients specific consideration in curricular assignments. For example, for their clinical experiences, recipients will be prioritized to Geisinger sites, assigned a Geisinger clinician as an advisor for their four years and offered opportunities to pursue research projects with Geisinger investigators.

Other considerations for both scholars programs l

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For Geisinger Primary Care recipients only: Must choose one of these three medical specialties: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medicine-Pediatrics (med/peds).

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For Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program recipients only: Geisinger will provide recipients with a list of specialties the clinical system expects will be in consistent demand. Recipients who match to a specialty on that list will receive — after the residency match but before graduation — an additional loan payment of $25,000.

Select terms and conditions*

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For Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program recipients only: Geisinger will retain the option not to hire a recipient who may be training in a specialty that Geisinger does not need. In such cases, Geisinger will inform the recipient of the decision not to hire at least two years before the end of the recipient’s residency training to allow the recipient the opportunity to seek other employment. In these circumstances, the amount awarded must be repaid with interest equal to the rate set for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans with a monthly payment obligation over a 10-year period.

Application requirements By the announced deadline, applicants must complete and submit their application materials, which include: l

Completed application

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Curriculum vitae

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Authorization to allow the committee members to review the AMCAS application

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Letter of recommendation

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Taxes – During the service forgiveness period, the amount forgiven would be taxable to the recipient (unlike the federal programs) and would be treated as compensation for tax purposes.

Essay answering the question “What would this scholarship mean to you regarding the advancement of your professional goals?”

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Private Education Loan Applicant Self-Certification Form

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Failure to honor service obligation – Should a recipient be offered but reject employment by Geisinger or become employed by Geisinger but fail to complete the required employment period, the amount of the award received but not yet forgiven must be repaid to Geisinger with interest equal to the rate set for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans and a monthly payment obligation over a 10-year period.

Mandatory attendance at an informational session is required.

Applicants selected for the Geisinger Primary Care Scholars Program or the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program must have a FAFSA (www.fafsa.gov ) including parental information on file in the financial aid office for the upcoming academic year.

Performance and quality concerns – If an award recipient has a documented performance concern, either in medical school or residency, the service award is terminated and any award amounts already received must be repaid with interest equal to the rate set for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans with a monthly payment obligation over a 10-year period that begins after completion of residency.

Selection criteria:

b Financial need

b Merit (academic performance)

b Likelihood of staying at Geisinger past the years of obligation (to be determined by selection committee)

b Diversity

Visit our website for more information: geisinger.edu/PrimaryCareScholars geisinger.edu/AbigailScholars *This list of terms and conditions provides a brief overview.

A comprehensive list of frequently asked questions is available at geisinger.edu/AbigailScholarship.

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What happens when better health is built on primary care?

Inside Geisinger’s plans for healthier communties In 2017, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Richard Levin, MD, offered a blunt observation about the current state of healthcare: “Doctors enter the profession to help and care for humans,” he said. “They do not sign up to be scribes or billing agents.” His statement struck at the heart of what plagues modern medicine, and particularly primary care — namely, inefficiencies and bureaucratic barriers that frustrate both doctor and patient and make good healthcare anything but easy.

Three years ago, a team at Geisinger led by J. Edward Hartle, MD, chief medical officer, began the process of restoring the bond between primary care doctor and patient that should be at the heart of good health.

According to Dr. Hartle, the process, called “primary care redesign,” had two simple goals: to make primary care a joy to practice for doctors and to ramp up the level of care patients received in primary care settings. For patients, ramped-up care means more intermediate care services – like IV infusions – and behavioral health services available right in the clinic. For physicians, primary care redesign removed the constant electronic distraction – excessive administrative burden on the physician – that negatively affects provider well-being.

Today, Geisinger’s transformed clinics are frustrationfree zones staffed by interdisciplinary teams that make primary care easier for patients and more rewarding for doctors. For example, patients long annoyed and deterred by having “homework” like getting lab work or a prescription handed to them after a visit can now get all of these services and more in one visit. Everyone has more time with their doctor, and seniors even get things like social activity and a gym at special Geisinger 65 Forward Health Centers. And the physician inbox that once pestered clinicians with its constant electronic chatter is now a responsibility shared among team members.

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“When I think about when I started 22 years ago, it was mostly up to the physician to get everything done for the patient,” said Kim Kovalick, DO, a primary care physician at Geisinger Kingston. “Prior to redesign, it was a physician seeing multiple patients every 15 minutes. It was hard to get through the day. Now, we have such a care team surrounding patients. From the moment I walk in the door, I have a biller embedded right in my office and my nurses who will order immunizations, blood work and preventive screenings such as mammograms and bone densities. I go in the room and there’s a lot already done for me. We are taking more time for patients with complicated medical conditions and bringing the team members in for things like scheduling if somebody has mental health needs. If patients are complex in the sense that they have congestive heart failure or diabetes, we have case managers who can do that education. It definitely decreases the burnout.”

The supportive environment and more measured pace of primary care at Geisinger is important to clinical learning for Geisinger Commonwealth medical students. Steven Picozzo, a member of the Class of 2022, is particularly inspired.

“Thanks to my second-year LCE (longitudinal clinical experience) at Geisinger Tunkhannock, I can see the value of forming long-term relationships with patients,” he said. “I’ve been so impressed with primary care since starting my LCE. Everybody at the clinic is happy, they enjoy working together, and it seems like they are having a good time taking care of the patients in their community. It’s very appealing to me.”

For Geisinger doctors, primary care redesign means the paperwork threatening to drown them is now triaged and handled in part by nurses, case managers and other members of the interdisciplinary team. The effect this has on physician happiness cannot be overstated. The inbox, coupled with the demands of the electronic health record (EHR), has the power to erect a barrier between doctor and patient and routinely ranks among the chief contributors to physician burnout. Per JAMA: Physicians spend approximately half of their clinic time on clerical and administrative tasks, including processing electronic messages delivered via EHR system–based inboxes. Such inboxes function similarly to email but deliver messages to clinicians, such as test results, messages from staff and other clinicians, medication refill requests, direct messages from patients via patient portals, and additional computer-generated messages. Management of the EHR inbox can add a substantial amount of time to physicians’ work lives. Primary care physicians spend between 49 and 85 minutes per day managing their inbox. Some inbox messages are irrelevant to the recipient and can reduce their ability to quickly identify important and timely information.

Meet the Admissions team Michelle Schmude, EdD, MBA

Associate Dean for Admissions, Enrollment Management and Financial Aid & Associate Professor

Amanda McIver

Administrative Assistant 570-955-1313 amciver@som.geisinger.edu

Suzanne McNamara Director of Financial Aid

mschmude@som.geisinger.edu

570-504-9682 smcnamara@som.geisinger.edu

Kristen Greene, MS

Roxanne Seymour, MBA

Director of Admissions and Enrollment Services

Associate Director for Financial Aid

570-504-9683 kgreene01@som.geisinger.edu

570-504-7303 rseymour@som.geisinger.edu

Stanley J. Kania III, PhD, MBA

Janice Richardson, MA

Enrollment Management Recruiter 570-558-3954 skania@som.geisinger.edu

Financial Aid Advisor

570-504-9611 jrichardson@som.geisinger.edu 11

Geisinger Primary Care Scholars recipients Sajal Datta MD Class of 2022

Hometown: State College Undergraduate: Brown University Although Sajal Datta’s father is a hospitalist at Mt. Nittany Medical Center, he didn’t push his son toward medicine. So Sajal initially studied applied math at Brown.

“I was interested in using math to model biological systems,” he said. “But I realized I wanted to form bonds and build trusting relationships. Internal medicine offers these opportunities.”

Scott Delenick MD Class of 2023 Hometown: Pottsville Undergraduate: Penn State

Scott Delenick taught high school chemistry, biology and astronomy while spending his summers at Cape May as a lifeguard. His life changed when his summer job suddenly required him to get EMT certification. “When I worked as an EMT and we’d wheel the patient toward a waiting doctor, I thought, ‘I’d like to be that guy,’” Scott said.

Tiffany Garcia MD Class of 2023

Hometown: Reading, PA Undergraduate: Franklin and Marshall College, GCSOM MBS Tiffany Garcia’s family first emigrated to New York City from Colombia, and later relocated to Reading, Pa. There, Tiffany observed some of the inequities in medicine. “I am drawn to primary care because it’s the center point for patients. The primary care doctor guides patients and knows everything about them,” she said.

Joseph Hagedorn MD Class of 2023 Hometown: Rochester, MN Undergraduate: Swarthmore College

Joseph Hagedorn spent four years working as a management consultant in Philadelphia after graduating from Swarthmore College with degrees in chemistry and Spanish. His job at Archetype Solutions Group involved understanding the impact of systems and structures on healthcare.

“I could trace a line from my work to the health and well-being of people, but I wanted more direct impact,” he said.

Christopher Kropiewnicki MD Class of 2022 Hometown: Nanticoke Undergraduate: Wilkes University, GCSOM MBS

Christopher Kropiewnicki was in Lawrence, Kansas, pursuing a PhD in computational biology when he got the sinking feeling that he was chasing the wrong dream.

“The program was very heavy on math and physics,” he said. “But I missed the human dimension. I began to reflect on the way all of my interests seemed to center on medicine and internal medicine’s close relationships and rapport.”

Automm Lombardo MD Class of 2023 Hometown: Yardley Undergraduate: Ithaca College

A disparate set of experiences led Automm Lombardo to abandon a PhD program in molecular engineering in favor of a career in medicine. “At Ithaca College, my advisor suggested a PhD program. I found the research interesting, but I missed interacting with people. I began thinking that I should pursue medicine,” she said. The Geisinger Primary Care Scholars program is a dream come true for Automm and it arrived just as she found her true calling.

Steven Picozzo MD Class of 2022

Hometown: Moscow Undergraduate: The University of Scranton Steven Picozzo’s original career intent was to become a physician assistant, but he soon decided he wanted more. He transferred schools, changed majors and hasn’t looked back. “I’ve been so impressed with primary care since starting my LCE. Everybody at the Tunkhannock clinic is happy, they enjoy working together, and it seems like they are having a good time taking care of the patients in their community.”

Kara Romanowski MD Class of 2023

Hometown: Swoyersville Undergraduate: The University of Scranton Kara Romanowski helped launch a science program for fourth-grade students in Scranton. Today, she mentors pre-med undergrads through Geisinger Commonwealth’s Pre-medical Mentoring and Advising Program. “I knew I liked kids and I enjoy acting as a mentor, but I didn’t really know how that would all work in a medical specialty until Dr. Thomas Davis and (Geisinger Commonwealth alumna) Dr. Alex Chop came to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine to talk about med/peds. I feel very strongly about it now,” she said.

Thomas Timmerman MD Class of 2023 Hometown: Newtown Undergraduate: Duquesne University

As a student at Duquesne, Tom Timmerman volunteered with the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery, driving cancer patients to their appointments.

He found fulfillment in developing relationships and knew he wanted to practice medicine grounded in these trusting connections. So, when he had a chance to work in Dr. Thomas Davis’ Comprehensive Care Clinic, he knew med/peds offered everything he desires in a future career.

Alison Varano MD Class of 2023

Hometown: Mount Carmel Undergraduate: Bucknell University, GCSOM MBS As a student at Bucknell, Alison Varano knew she wanted 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. You compete individually, but you win as a team. I think that spirit is the same with team-based care.”

Calum Wallace MD Class of 2023

Hometown: Stewartstown Undergraduate: Virginia Military Institute, GCSOM MBS As a child, Calum Wallace had asthma and severe eczema, which kept him from vigorous physical activity. As his asthma improved, Calum decided to make up for lost time by challenging himself. He applied to the highly selective Virginia Military Institute (VMI) because he loved its ethos of “going beyond your limits and then some. Because I was sick as a child, physicians were my first mentors. And VMI taught me a love of service. Not just military – any kind of service.”

525 Pine St., Scranton, PA 18509 geisinger.edu/GCSOM

Contact us Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Admissions Office

570-504-9068 geisinger.edu/gcsom admissions@som.geisinger.edu Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is committed to non-discrimination in all employment and educational opportunities.

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