Student spotlight: Jordan Salvato

Jordan Salvato

Jordan Salvato has always been interested in the big questions: life, death and why we’re here.

It began when he accompanied his father on a disaster relief trip to Brazil. “We spent a few weeks on the Amazon River setting up medical clinics along the way,” he said. “Just the idea that a mother would walk three days with her child on her back to this clinic for antibiotics made me see how much hope can change people’s lives. What do we make of this? How do we make sense of suffering?”

Those big questions led Salvato to study theology as an undergrad. But he couldn’t look away from people’s health. “No matter where you went, there were people in need, and I wanted to address physical needs. It was just a step here and a step there, little by little, until I was like, ‘Oh man, I feel like I should go into medicine.’”

While at Columbia University, Salvato lived in the Bronx. “I worked in an urgent care clinic during the pandemic. Again, I saw that people didn’t have access to health resources. So when I started looking for a medical school, I was looking for something that was engaged in the community in a more dynamic capacity.”

That’s how Salvato found Geisinger. “I found that Geisinger is actually making a difference, and its medical students engage in the community, even early on. Whenever I would talk to the students and faculty, they all seemed happy,” he said. “At some other medical schools, it felt like they were just way too stressed. Geisinger has a collaborative environment and people actually want to help you — the administrators all the way down to the students. Everyone is on your side.”

Today, as a third-year student, Salvato is leaning toward general surgery. And he’s engrossed in several research projects to prepare for this competitive specialty. “I was fortunate to meet a surgeon early on. I’ve done a few different kinds of projects with him,” he said.

But the research Salvato is proudest of combines science and his love of the “big questions.” As part of the Medical Research Honors Program, he’s been documenting the oral histories of retired medical professionals and their reflections on their careers in medicine. He’s presented the research at two conferences and is readying a paper for publication. Salvato is also building an audio library where his subjects’ loved ones can listen to their stories.

“With the oral history project, I didn’t really know I could put it into qualitative research. I wasn’t very familiar with that. But Dr. Ian McCoog said, ‘This is how you can turn it into research and make it sustainable.’ So even if it’s just a wild idea you have, people here will help you turn it into something and learn the skills you need, from getting it IRBapproved to presenting at conferences and writing bigger papers and chapters.”

The retiring physicians he’s interviewed have helped Salvato know he’s on the right path. “The overriding theme is gratitude,” he said. “For me, it’s very moving for somebody, after 40 years working as a doctor through all the ups and downs, to say it was worth it and that they still remember patients saying, ‘You changed my life.’ That’s the kind of change I hope to be a part of.”