Geisinger College of Health Sciences

The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) chapter of the American Women's Medical Association (AMWA) recently held its annual Rose-A-Palooza to benefit the Women's Resource Center. During the Rose-A-Palooza event, students, faculty and staff at GCSOM are encouraged to remember someone they appreciate and then purchase roses to send them in order to promote healthy relationships. The proceeds are donated to Women's Resource Center (WRC), which provides services to adult and child survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence in Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) faculty member, Dr. F. Dennis Dawgert, and three fourth-year GCSOM medical students recently completed a mission trip to Mandeville, Jamaica. Dr. Dawgert provided primary medical care services and supervised the patient care provided by GCSOM students Nichole Ogojiaku, Kate Larrabee, and Tina Roy. Each student who accompanied Dr. Dawgert is a recipient of The Jennifer A. Sidari, M.D. '13 Global Health Award.

Four third-year medical students are the first Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) cohort to be accepted to the Jefferson College of Population Health (JCPH) Master of Public Health (MPH) program in Philadelphia.

Student leaders at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine planned and organized an "Africans in the Diaspora" bazaar in which all members of the GCSOM community were invited to partake in and celebrate the cultural customs, music and food of Africa. In addition to crafts, such as making beaded jewelry and learning the art of creating a traditional African head wrap, the event included Wilkes University's African Cultural Association performing dance and offering tutorials to the gathering.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Pediatric Trainees (SOPT) announced Amelia Mackarey, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) MD Class of 2020, was elected to the position of District III medical student assistant district representative for 2019. Medical student assistant district representative is a two-year position, wherein Mackarey will become the medical student district representative for 2020.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine student leaders announced they have created an Interfaith Prayer Room, which all members of the GCSOM community are welcome to enjoy. GCSOM Medical Student Council (MSC), acting on student requests, researched methods to accommodate the requests and worked with school facilities personnel to create a quiet, private space for prayer and reflection. The Interfaith Prayer Room is open 24 hours a day. Student leaders who led the project include: Somiah Almeky, a member of the MD Class of 2020. Shradha Chhabria, a member of the MD Class of 2021 and MSC Executive Board Diversity and Inclusion Chair. Carolena Trocchia, a member of the MD Class of 2021 and MSC Executive Board Health and Wellness Chair. Navindra Tajeshwar, a member of the MD Class of 2021 and its Diversity and Inclusion Chair.

Alyssa Muchisky of Eynon, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD Class of 2021, is co-author of an abstract published in a supplement to the January 2019 edition of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Abstracts in the supplement were published in advance of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) 39th annual Pregnancy Meeting in Las Vegas, which will be held Feb. 11-16. Muchisky's co-authors will present the poster at the meeting.

Four medical students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) were named to the Geisinger Diversity and Inclusion Council. The council includes a cross section of representatives drawn from Geisinger's more than 33,000 employees. The GCSOM students will provide a voice for Geisinger's 400 medical students.

Nine Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) students and a faculty member participated in GCSOM's annual "cultural explosion" fashion show, an event that caps off the school's Diversity Week celebration. During the event, the students shared their cultural dress while the audience learned about the garments' origins and were entertained with regional music as the models walked the red carpet.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) announced that six fourth-year medical students at GCSOM have successfully matched into residency programs. While most of the MD Class of 2019 will learn the locations of their residency programs at noon on Friday, March 15, several "matches" occur prior to the national residency event, including for military matches and matches for specialties like ophthalmology and urology.

In the spring of his first year at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), medical student Scott Schoenborn was walking past a "Be the Match" table in the school lobby and decided to stop. "It was some paperwork and a cheek swab that would be used to determine a potential match for bone marrow donation. It took just a few minutes and I forgot about it soon after," he said. Eighteen months later that casual decision to stop had a huge impact on someone a continent away.

Five students and a faculty member at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) have published an article in the Jan. 17 edition of PeerJ, the Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences. PeerJ is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes primary research and reviews in biology, life sciences, environmental sciences and medicine.

The future just got a lot brighter and healthier for the communities that Geisinger serves. Through the innovative Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) has announced that 10 doctors-in-training have committed to staying in the region to practice medicine with the unique blend of personal caring and scientific sophistication that has become synonymous with Geisinger.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) master of biomedical sciences (MBS) student Dane Fishburn and Dr. Michael Prendergast,medical director of the Mobile Intensive Care Unit at Hunterdon Medical Center, recently presented a research poster at the 2018 New Jersey National Conference of EMS in Atlantic City, N.J.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) students Sarah Dwyer and John Piserchio, both members of the MD Class of 2022, were selected to participate in the STARS Leadership Summit in Austin, Texas from Jan. 11 through Jan. 13. At this summit, the GCSOM students, along with other medical-student leaders, will share ideas and resources related to Choosing Wisely, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation. Choosing Wiselyseeks to advance a national dialogue on avoiding unnecessary medical tests, treatments and procedures. They will also learn about creating local and regional change in the areas of medical waste and overuse and drive change at their medical schools to improve the value of patient care.

On Nov. 17, 23 students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) traveled to Drexel University's College of Medicine to attend the 2018 Racism in Medicine Conference. Since 2015, medical students from Pennsylvania and New Jersey have collaborated to host the conference, whose purpose is to provide an opportunityfor people in healthcare or related fields to examinethe ways that racism affects the health of marginalized peopleand to develop strategies to oppose it. It is the second year GCSOM has participated.

On Nov. 17, Ashanti Littlejohn, a first-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), traveled with 22 other GCSOM students to Drexel University's College of Medicine participate in the 2018 Racism in Medicine Conference. At the conclusion of the event, Ms. Littlejohn was appointed to represent GCSOM on the annual conference's Inter School Planning Committee.

On Nov. 16, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) master of biomedical sciences (MBS) students, Amalie (Molly) Kropp of Westminster and Mary Taglieri of Spring Grove, participated in the Fall 2018 Keystone Symposium.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) medical students hosted their ninth annual Turkey Trot 5K/10K run in downtown Scranton on Sunday, Nov. 4. The event also featured a Tiny Trot, including crafts, games, face painting and relay races, for children ages 13 and younger. Proceeds benefitted Friends of the Poor's holiday food giveaways. Student organizers reported that 261 runners and walkers participated. Also, a series of fundraisers at local restaurants, a penny war and a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders event preceding the run helped augment monies raised from race registrations to make the 2018 Turley Trot the most successful to date, with close to $17,000 raised.

Alexa Bolock of Waverly, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) MD Class of 2021, was elected a national delegate to the American Association of Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) for the Northeast Region. Her election gives GCSOM students a powerful voice within academic medicine at a national level.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) recently participated in LMSA's Policy Summit held in October in Washington, D.C. Second-year medical students Jasmine Santos and Andres Rodriguez are co-presidents of GCSOM's chapter. Third-year student, Yoseph Aldras, who served as president in his second year, is now external liaison for LMSA's national Policy Committee. In that position, he helped plan the summit, developed promotional materials, worked with invited speakers and reviewed policy resolutions drafted by attendees at the three-day event.

Students from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) were well represented at the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) annual House of Delegates meeting in Hershey on Oct. 26. During the meeting, PAMED's Medical Student Section held elections for statewide offices. Several GCSOM students were elected to leadership positions.

Based on a national initiative started at the University of Washington, the Death Over Dinner project was created to explore aspects of death and dying that we tend to avoid in our everyday lives but that might make all the difference for ourselves and our loved ones when the time does come.Given that 80 percent of people would like to have end-of life conversations with their doctor when seriously ill, yet only 7 percent report having this talk, event organizers hope to help future care providers be open to frank discussions with their patients.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine students have planned and organized the school's ninth annual Turkey Trot, which will take place on Nov. 4. All proceeds benefit Friends of the Poor.

The American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) held its Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) on Sept. 15. The theme was, "Be the First Domino." The purpose of the AMWA conference was to provide networking opportunities for future medical professionals and to provide career strategies and negotiation skills to advance careers.

Jee Moon of North Wales, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) MD Class of 2019, was invited to present at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions' (SCAI) Annual Scientific Sessions in San Diego in April.

Christian Bohan of Danville, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD Class of 2019, publisheda case presentation in a recentedition of the medical journal, Cureus. The case presentation highlightscase of an elderly woman with weakness in her left upper extremity.

Kristina Borham of Oxford, a third-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), first became interested in the subject of human trafficking when she worked on a donation drive to support Free the Girls, an organization that encourages and empowers women freed from sex trafficking. Following that experience, Kristina attending two trainings on sex trafficking with the American Medical Women's Association's (AMWA) Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans. Kristina said that the more she learned about human trafficking, the more strongly she felt that other medical students needed education on the topic. To that end, she recently implemented and delivered a curriculum on human trafficking to second-year medical students at GCSOM.

Antonio Adiletta of Lancaster, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD Class of 2019, published a case report in the August 2018 edition of the Journal of Surgical Case Reports published by Oxford University Press. His coauthors are Timothy J. Farrell, M.D., chief of surgery at Geisinger-CMC and Matthew T. Fisher, D.O., a Geisinger surgical resident.

Preserving health and having fun are the twin goals of the seventh annual Steamtown Health Fair. The health fair, hosted by second-year medical students from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) in partnership with Scranton Primary Health Care Center, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the school's Medical Sciences Building, 525 Pine St., Scranton. The event is free and family friendly.