Geisinger College of Health Sciences

Dr. Emily Amendola received the Dr. Lester Saidman Award for Excellence in Emergency Medicine at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) May 5 awards ceremony honoring students and faculty. Dr. Jakob Saidman, also a member of GCSOM'S MD Class of 2018 and the third generation of physicians in his family, presented the award, which the Saidman family established to honor Dr. Lester Saidman's service to the medical profession and the community.

Four master of biomedical sciences students were honored when Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine held its annual end-of-year awards ceremony for students and faculty on May 5.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine bestowed its annual end-of-year awards upon deserving students and faculty on May 5. Four students received military commissions.

Adit Singhal of Ashburn, a member of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD class of 2020, received an Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Carolyn L. Kuckein Research Fellowship. After a highly competitive application process, about 50 awards are made annually "to foster the development of the next generation of medical researchers." AOA is the national medical honor society.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's (GCSOM) chapter of the Minority Association of Premedical Students (MAPS) won the 2017-2018 Student National Medical Association (SNMA) national MAPS Chapter of the Year award. The group also won Chapter of the Year for MAPS Region 8, which includes Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.

Nick Maffetone of New Hope, a master of biomedical sciences (MBS) student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus, recently completed a Community Health Research project and presented a poster of his findings, entitled "Source Perception, Socioeconomic Factors, and HPV Literacy," at Geisinger Commonwealth's Research Day. Community Health Research projects require students to identify unique population health needs in their own communities and conduct research aimed at finding solutions. Maffetone's project involved performing a literature review and then identifying gaps in current research regarding public attitudes and understanding of thehuman papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is implicated in nearly every case of cervical cancer.He also developed methods to analyze the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) database to answer research questions.

Nicholas Maffetone of New Hope, a master of biomedical sciences (MBS) student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus, recently served as a "medicine and health" judge at the Lehigh Valley Science and Engineering Research Fair (LVSF) held on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem. The mission of LVSF is to increase awareness in the areas of mathematics, science, technology and engineering, while motivating students in grades 6 through 12 to pursue careers in these field. More than 100 middle school and high school students from various school districts in the Lehigh Valley region participated. Judges evaluated projects, provided guidance and feedback, and encouraged the students in their pursuit of scientific exploration.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) will host the sixth annual NEPA Trans Health Conference on Tuesday, April 17. Student organizers include Alexa Bolock of Waverly; Brandon Bombar of Scranton; Angie Chang of Thousand Oaks, California; Sarah Heisey of Arlington, Virginia; Kailee Kerr of Tracy, California; Steven Lam of San Jose, California; and Tripti Soni of Boyds, Maryland.

A Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine faculty member and three fourth-year medical students recently completed a medical mission trip to Mandeville, Jamaica. The students examined patients, assisted with patient triage, recorded patient complaints, took vital signs, distributed medicines and helped with clinic logistics. Each student who accompanied Dr. Dawgert is a recipient of The Jennifer A. Sidari, M.D. '13 Global Health Award.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) student ambassadors, Sheream Reed of Philadelphia and Mariamawit Yilma of Chelsea, Massachusetts attended a recent Delaware Valley University network night. The purpose of the event was for Delaware Valley students to learn about future educational and career options. During the event, the student ambassadors spoke to undergraduates interested in careers in health and biomedical sciences about GCSOM programs and services. Both student ambassadors are master of biomedical sciences students at GCSO's Doylestown campus.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) master of biomedical sciences student, Mariamawit (Maria) Yilma of Chelsea, participated in the Cupid Chase, 5K run in Philadelphia. The race supports Community Options, a nonprofit helping people with disabilities by providing housing, as well as educational and employment opportunities through increased advocacy and fundraising. Yilma is a student at GCSOM's Doylestown campus.

On March 16, fourth-year medical students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (Geisinger Commonwealth) learned their residency placements during the National Resident Matching Program's "Match Day." It is an event at which all fourth-year M.D. students around the country simultaneously open their envelopes to learn where they will spend the next three to seven years training in specialties. Residencies typically begin July 1.

Eduardo Ortiz, a third-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, has organized a free skin cancer screening slated for April 21.

Three master of biomedical sciences (MBS) students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus recently served as judges for the Bucks County Science Research Competition held at Delaware Valley University.

A group of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine students planned and organized the school's first Freedom Seder, held on March 12. It is the students' intent to make the Freedom Seder an annual event. Freedom Seders intertwine the archetypal story of the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in ancient Egypt with more modern liberation struggles.

Mikael (Mickey) Horissian of Lewisburg, a third-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and Anne Horissian, research assistant at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, received two prestigious awards at the recent Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians Research Day, held March 3 in Philadelphia.

Merly Cepeda of Miami, a master of biomedical sciences (MBS) student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, recently led a fundraiser to combat childhood cancer.

Nick Maffetone of New Hope, a master of biomedical sciences (MBS) student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus, recently chaired a food drive event. The event was sponsored by Geisinger Commonwealth's Doylestown Graduate Council and the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute. The food drive collected more than $990 in cash and gift cards and 403 food items. The drive benefited the Bucks County Housing Group, which currently serves more than 120 families in Bucks County.

Fourteen members of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's MD Class of 2018 have been inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). The mission of GHHS is to recognize individuals who are exemplars of humanistic patient care and who can serve as role models, mentors, and leaders in medicine. GHHS honors medical students, residents, fellows, role-model physician teachers and others who demonstrate excellence in humanistic clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service. GHHS currently has more than 25,000 members in training and practice.

Amelia Mackarey of Clarks Summit, a second-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, was named co-editor-in-chief of in-Training, an online magazine for medical students. Ms. Mackarey's co-editor is Nihaal Mehta, a medical student at Brown Alpert Medical School.

Two members of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Class of 2018 published a paper in the March 1 edition of BMJ Case Reports.

Geisinger cardiologist, Dr. Stephen Voyce, chief of Cardiology at Geisinger Community Medical Center for the Geisinger Heart Institute and Stephen Long, a second-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, recently presented a research poster at the interventional cardiology conference, Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) 18.

The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine chapter of the American Women's Medical Association (AMWA) recently held its annual Rose-A-Palooza to benefit the Women's Resource Center.

First year medical students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine donated and packaged baby hats for the Little Hats, Big Hearts project, sponsored locally by Cross Valley Federal Credit Union.

Master of biomedical sciences (MBS) students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus recently attended a research seminar presented by David Ledbetter, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Geisinger. Dr. Ledbetter visited the Doylestown campus to present on "Geisinger's Precision Health Initiative." Members of the student body attended, as did the scientific and research communities at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, in which the Doylestown campus is located.

Master of biomedical sciences (MBS) students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine's Doylestown campus recently volunteered at a Hepatitis B screening event. The screening was hosted by the Hepatitis B Foundation, Hep B United Philadelphia and African Family Health Organization in northeast Philadelphia.

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine master of biomedical sciences (MBS) students at the Doylestown campus recently attended a movie screening of "HILLEMAN - A Perilous Quest to Save the World's Children." The screening was hosted at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute by the Hepatitis B Foundation, which regularly provides educational events for the community and its partners. The "Hilleman" screening was part of the foundation's effort to improve awareness of vaccines. After the event, the film's director and producer, Donald Rayne Mitchell, joined Paul A. Offit, M.D., chief of the division of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, in a panel discussion.

Adit Singhal, of Ashburn, a second-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, was the lead author of research published Feb. 7 in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Second-year medical students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, organized the seventh annual ALLEY-OOP FOR AUTISM three-on-three charity basketball tournament. The event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Byron Recreational Complex at The University of Scranton.

Students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine organized the school's first Super Science Saturday for Girls, a free event for local seventh- and eighth-grade girls to sample a wide array of scientific disciplines. The girls will get to interact with each other and women doctors, researchers, medical students, graduate students and other professionals in healthcare throughout the day.