Internal Medicine Physicians Join The Wright Center for Community Health

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Internal medicine physicians Kristina Tanovic, M.D., and Ivan Cvorovic, M.D., recently joined The Wright Center for Community Health’s Scranton Practice, where they will provide comprehensive primary care.

Dr. Tanovic graduated from University of Belgrade School of Medicine, Serbia, and completed her internal medicine residency at Icahn School of Medicine at James J. Peters VA Medical Center, a Mount Sinai School of Medicine-affiliated facility in the Bronx, New York. She is fluent in English and Serbian.

Dr. Cvorovic graduated from University of Belgrade School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency training at Icahn School of Medicine, where he served as chief resident. He speaks three languages, including English, Serbian and Macedonian.

Drs. Tanovic and Cvorovic will see patients at The Wright Center’s Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave. To schedule an appointment, call 570-941-0630.

Director of Primary Care & Behavioral Health Integration Announced

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David Eisenberg, M.D., Named Wright Center’s Director of Primary Care & Behavioral Health Integration

David Eisenberg, M.D., a physician with clinical and administrative experience working on interoperability between multiple disciplines of healthcare, has been named Director of Primary Care and Behavioral Health Integration for The Wright Center for Community Health.

In this newly developed role, Dr. Eisenberg leads The Wright Center’s extensive behavioral health program to ensure cross-collaboration between primary care and mental health services. He will serve as a mentor to providers offering comprehensive, fully integrated healthcare in the patient-centered medical home model that allows families and individuals to fulfill all their medical and mental health needs in one place. Dr. Eisenberg will also develop, evaluate and monitor key performance dashboards to more effectively track health outcomes and improve patient care.

Dr. David Eisenberg

Prior to accepting this leadership role, Dr. Eisenberg served as physician advisor to The Doctor’s Channel in New York City and as a member of the Physician Advisory Board for CareMesh, Reston, Virginia. He also is the co-founder of the smartphone app PreMD Tracker, a platform that provides pre-medical career planning for undergraduate students. A Dickson City resident, Dr. Eisenberg earned his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience with a chemistry minor from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton. He also studied at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education as a psychiatry resident.

Psychiatrist Vinod Sharma, M.D., Joins The Wright Center for Community Health

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Vinod Sharma, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist, has joined The Wright Center for Community Health to treat both children and adults.

At The Wright Center, Dr. Sharma will provide consultations and evaluations to develop behavioral health and medicinal care plans that help patients suffering from depression, anxiety and various mental illnesses and disorders. Additionally, Dr. Sharma will serve as physician-faculty for resident doctors and fellows training with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, giving clinical guidance to physicians-in-training that integrates mental and behavioral health with primary medical care.

A graduate of Government Medical College, Amritsar, Punjab, India, Dr. Sharma completed his general psychiatry residency at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas. He also completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois.

Dr. Sharma is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association. He is fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

Dr. Sharma is accepting both children and adults as psychiatric patients at The Wright Center’s Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, which is open 365 days a year, and its Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave. To schedule an appointment, call 570-230-0019.

The Wright Center for Community Health Welcomes New Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners

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Two certified registered nurse practitioners with more than 35 years combined experience in general nursing and acute patient care have joined The Wright Center for Community Health to provide primary care to people of all ages.

Drums resident Christine Wysocky joins The Wright Center’s Wilkes-Barre practice at 250 Old River Road. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Misericordia University, where she is currently a doctoral candidate scheduled for completion in December. Wysocky is a board-certified registered nurse practitioner and a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She most recently worked as a registered nurse in the general cardiovascular intensive care unit of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

At The Wright Center, Wysocky will see infant, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients. To schedule an appointment with Wysocky at the Old River Road Wilkes-Barre practice, call 570-826-5038.

Scranton resident Kelly M. Worsnick joins The Wright Center’s Clarks Summit practice, 1145 Northern Blvd., South Abington Twp. She earned her associate and bachelor’s degrees in nursing from The Pennsylvania State University, and her master’s degree as a family nurse practitioner from Misericordia University. Worsnick is a board-certified registered nurse practitioner and member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the Nurse Practitioners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Emergency Nurse Association. She most recently served as director of emergency services at Regional Hospital of Scranton. At The Wright Center, Worsnick will provide family practice care to patients of all ages. To schedule an appointment with Worsnick at the Clarks Summit practice, call 570-585-1300.

Wright Center for Community Health’s Kingston Practice Welcomes Two Pediatricians

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Board-certified pediatricians Kabir Keshinro, M.D., and Vijay Prasad, M.D., have joined The Wright Center for Community Health’s Kingston Practice, where they will treat newborns to 18-year-olds for sick and well visits.

Dr. Keshinro is a graduate of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, and completed his pediatric residency at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, New York. He most recently served as a pediatric hospitalist and faculty member for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency Program (formerly known as Wilkes-Barre Academic Medicine). He also has served as an assistant clinical professor for The Commonwealth Medical College, now known as Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton.

Dr. Prasad graduated from Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital, India, and completed post-graduation studies in pediatrics at Patna Medical College and Hospital, India. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Isenberg School of Management at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Prasad completed pediatric residency training at Woodhull Medical Center, an affiliate of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, as well as two years of neonatology fellowship training at University of Illinois, Chicago. He served as an assistant clinical professor for The Commonwealth Medical College (now Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine), Scranton. Dr. Prasad is a pediatric hospitalist at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and serves as a pediatric faculty for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. Both Dr. Keshinro and Dr. Prasad are accepting pediatric patients at The Wright Center’s Kingston Practice, located inside the First Hospital building at 2 Sharpe St. To schedule an appointment, call 570-491-0126.

The Wright Center Partners with UCLA for Local Alzheimer’s & Dementia Clinic

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The Wright Center for Community Health’s new Alzheimer’s and Dementia Clinic is one of only eight health systems across the country selected as an adopter of the innovative Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program created at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

UCLA’s award-winning Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program is designed to help patients and their families with the complex medical, behavioral and social needs of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.  Advanced Practice Providers (nurse practitioners or physician assistants) and Dementia Care Specialists are at the heart of the program, and work with the patient’s primary care doctor/specialist to create and implement a personalized care plan.

By adopting the UCLA program, The Wright Center’s Alzheimer’s and Dementia Clinic now offers dementia patients an individually tailored care plan that builds in medical needs, solutions for caregiver stress and cultural traditions unique to each person and their family.

“This new program will help vulnerable older people who tend to get overlooked. So many elders don’t get the attention and care that they need – and deserve – for chronic conditions. Seniors face unique healthcare challenges, including social isolation and lack of support services, that must be addressed to preserve their ability to age in place with dignity. For cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias, early detection and diagnosis enables access to symptomatic treatments, more time for critical care planning, better disease management and an opportunity for diagnosed individuals to have a voice in their future care,” explained Susan Scanland, CRNP, who brings nearly 40 years of experience with dementia and geriatrics to the Wright Center’s care team.

The Wright Center’s Alzheimer’s and Dementia Clinic offers 90-minute consultations with a dementia care manager who assesses, evaluates and provides a comprehensive analysis of the patient’s needs; a personalized care plan developed for the patient’s primary care provider; and follow-up care in the patient’s home or at Wright Center clinics. Support is also provided to family members and caregivers in the form of a designated care coordinator who organizes all treatments and in-home services, as well as access to advice and assistance available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which may reduce the need for emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Clinic operates out of The Wright Center’s Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn; its Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave.; and its Clarks Summit Practice, 1145 Northern Blvd., South Abington Twp. Appointments are now being scheduled by calling 570-941-0630. The new Alzheimer’s and Dementia unit is just one component of The Wright Center’s new Geriatric program, already recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an Age-Friendly Health System Partner for providing a full spectrum of comprehensive, safety-net primary health and support services for seniors, and for serving as a trusted primary health advisor for seniors and their families to support independent living. The unprecedented growth rate of Pennsylvania’s aging population – compounded by a shortage of doctors and care teams who specialize in the physical, mental and behavioral health challenges specific to seniors – compelled The Wright Center to create a new geriatrics program, which also includes a new geriatrics fellowship program directed by Edward Dzielak, D.O. An alum of The Wright Center’s original residency program and a faculty-physician, Dr. Dzielak leads efforts to develop age-friendly practices as standard operating procedure for The Wright Center’s older adult patients.