The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education celebrates Class of 2024 during 45th annual graduation ceremony

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Class of 2024 Graduation Photo

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Class of 2024

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education recognized 65 resident and fellow physician graduates during its 45th annual commencement ceremony Saturday, June 22, 2024 at Mohegan Pennsylvania Convention Center in Plains Township.

The Wright Center honored and recognized graduates from six disciplines: internal medicine, 32; national family medicine, 16; regional family medicine, 14; cardiovascular disease, one; gastroenterology, one; and geriatrics, one.

About 350 family members, staff, and others attended the ceremony.

Dr. Humza Quadir, of Philadelphia, a hospitalist and clinical instructor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center who graduated from The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency in 2022, delivered the keynote address. He also serves as an instructor at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and received his medical degree from Ziauddin University in Karachi, Pakistan, in December 2014.

At The Wright Center, Dr. Quadir served in several leadership roles, including chief resident, vice president of the house staff council, a voting member of the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC), and a member of GMEC’s Quality and Safety Committee.

Dr, Isklander Takes Selfie with Graduates.

Peter Iskander, M.D., a member of the Internal Medicine Residency Program’s Class of 2024, takes a selfie with his fellow classmates at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s 45th annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 22, at Mohegan Pennsylvania Convention Center.

In his keynote address, Dr. Quadir stressed the importance of primary care, community health, and serving at-risk populations. He encouraged the graduates to create a supportive health care environment.

“As physicians, our calling isn’t just about the diagnosis and treatment of diseases; it is also about fostering compassion and service with every interaction,” he said. “Each patient who walks through our doors is not just a case to be treated but a member of a larger community — a community that relies on us for care, compassion, and support. Whether we practice in urban or rural areas, let us remember our responsibility to serve and uplift the communities we call home.”

Dr. Saeed standing in front of diploma

Family Medicine Residency graduate Omar Saeed, M.D., poses for a picture next to an image of his diploma.

Other speakers included: Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education; Jumee Barooah, M.D., FACP, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education and a 2013 alumnus of its internal medicine residency program; and Chief Resident Chilsia Shafi, M.D., a 2024 graduate of The Wright Center’s internal medicine residency program.

“The Wright Center’s journey began in 1977, with our inaugural class of six internal medicine resident physicians,” Dr. Barooah said in her speech. “The noble goal was to address the shortage of primary care providers here. Since those humble beginnings, we have grown to provide graduate medical education in communities from coast to coast, with residents and fellows expanding their knowledge and abilities in our Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited programs.”

Challenges in graduate medical education and the delivery of primary care continue, including the American Medical Association’s forecasted shortage of up to 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034 and its associated misdistribution of physicians that limits access to care for many individuals, she said.

“Health Professional Shortage Areas are also prevalent, including here in our region, affecting the health and quality of life of our neighbors and friends,” Dr. Barooah said. “These are daunting issues, but ones The Wright Center is working to address thanks to our more than 1,000 alumni, including our 65-member strong Class of 2024.”

Dr. Thomas-Hemak thanked the graduates for their dedication and countless contributions in the delivery of The Wright Center’s noble mission: To improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.

Dr. Burke presents Chilsia Shafi with diploma

Timothy Burke, D.O., FACOI, associate program director for the Internal Medicine Residency, presents Chilsia Shafi with her diploma.

“As healers, we must always strive to be beacons of hope and forces for positive change,” she said. “I am deeply humbled and profoundly grateful that you have shared a part of your life path, energy, and immense talent with us at The Wright Center.”


Graduates honored include:

Internal Medicine Residency

Udit Asija, M.D.; Maria Rose Dominic, M.D.; Jawahar Khan Durrani, M.D.; Sadaf Fatima, M.D.; Kyle D. Fistner, D.O.; Naeem Ijaz, M.D.; Peter Iskander, M.D.; Ayushi Jain, M.D.; Apeksha Kakkar, M.D.; Gursharan Kaur, M.D.; Abhaya Khatiwada, M.D.; Aishwarya Krishnaiah, M.D.; Aamir Makda, M.D.; Sandeep Mandal, M.D.; Sajeel Qayum Mirza, M.D.; Mohammed Musa Najmuddin, M.D.; Sarasija Natarajan, M.D; Lakshmi Priyanka Pappoppula, M.D.; Preya Patel, M.D.; Aniqa Raheem, M.D.; Khadijah Sajid, M.D.; Chilsia Shafi, M.D.; Ali Shah, M.D.; Sabeeka F. Shah, M.D.; Sumnima Shrestha, M.D.; Mashu Shrivastava, M.D.; Shila Simkhada, M.D.; Aayushi Sood, M.D.; Omar Syed, M.D.; Lekha Tejaswi Yadukumar, M.D.; Syed Muhammad Hussain Zaidi, M.D.; and Jiayi Zheng, M.D.

National Family Medicine Residency

Jacob Darnell, D.O., MA; Stephanie Nkiruka Egwuatu, D.O.; Joshua K. George, D.O.; Sandya George, D.O.; Katlyn Jones, D.O., MPH; Joshua Ryan Lloyd, D.O.; Hsuan-Chieh Jasper Luoh, D.O.; Leonardo Ivan Mejia, D.O.; Fatema Osama Nassar, D.O.; Leon Nguyen, D.O.; Alisa Pham, D.O., MS; Dunal Richard Riveland, D.O.; Enne Shah, D.O.; Emily Beth Silberstein, D.O.; Mary Grace Tabakin, D.O.; and Wei-Jen Chua Yankelevich, D.O., Ph.D.

Regional Family Medicine Residency

Tony AbdelMaseeh Tanagho AbdelMaseeh, M.D.; Neil F. Espiritu, M.D.; Vivek Gautam, M.D.; Ruhi Goraya, M.D.; Aniq Rahibul Hakim, M.D.; Anitesh Jaswal, M.D.; Amatus Aria-Ona Legbedion, M.D.; Edwin Nyamwaya Mogaka, M.D., Ph.D.; Mohana Preesha Partheeban, M.D.; Nirshanthika Raviendren, M.D.; Omar Saeed, M.D.; Ankit Sethi, M.D.; Sahil Sharma, M.D.; and Safwaan Suleman, M.D.

Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship

Yaser Khalid, D.O.

Gastroenterology Fellowship

Fouzia Oza, M.D.

Geriatrics Fellowship

Muhammad Ishaq, M.D.

Wright Center sponsoring Nittany Lion Summer Impact Camp

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Summer Impact photo 1 2024

The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education also sponsored the 2023 camp at Riverfront Sports.

The Nittany Lion Summer Impact Football Camp, with sponsorship support from The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, is bringing the third annual program to Scranton on Saturday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Riverfront Sports, 5 W. Olive St., Scranton. Registration begins at 10 a.m.

The camp will feature hometown football hero Dominic DeLuca, a special teams captain, linebacker, and Wyoming Area High School graduate, and offensive lineman Nick Dawkins, a Parkland High School graduate who was named Mr. Pennsylvania Football Lineman of the Year as a senior. Penn State’s hockey team will also be represented at the camp, with skaters offering demonstrations and autographs.

The free youth camp hosts more than 300 local children for a day with Penn State Nittany Lions football players. It is designed to foster personal growth, develop skills, and ignite passion for the game of football in boys and girls in fifth through eighth grades. Attendees will have the chance to learn from members of the 2024 squad who are aiming to secure a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff National Championship.

Previous Nittany Lion Summer Impact Football Camps have attracted NFL talent, including Green Bay Packers Quarterback Sean Clifford and Chicago Bears Safety Jaquan Brisker, who also attended and played for Lackawanna College.

Proceeds from the camp support local charities, including the Allied Pediatric Rehabilitation Program, the Center for Independent Living Center’s Ican Bike Program, and Penn State’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) program.

“Our annual camp invests in the future and empowers the next generation of athletes and leaders in our region,” said Kenneth Gentilezza, M.D., managing partner of Northeastern Rehabilitation Associates and program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) program. “We look forward to a fun-filled day of football, friendship, and community building with our friends from Penn State University.”

Resident physicians from The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s PM&R program will also be available at the event, offering their assistance to the young athletes participating in the football drills. To register for the third annual Nittany Lion Summer Impact Football Camp, go to forms.lvhn.org/241796149703969.

In addition to The Wright Center, the following local community organizations made the camp possible: Northeast Rehab, Allied Services, MyCIL, Fidelity Bank, PNC Bank, Lehigh Valley Health Network, and Riverfront Sports.

Summer Impact Camp 2024 photo

In 2023, about 300 local children participated in the Nittany Lion Summer Impact Camp at Riverfront Sports.

Grant support enables Healthy MOMS program to expand in Wilkes-Barre

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The Wright Center for Community Health received a $62,000 grant from the Wilkes-Barre City Health Department to expand a program that helps moms and their babies build a solid foundation to begin their lives in recovery from opioid use disorder.

The Wright Center’s Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (Healthy MOMS) program will receive funding through a two-year grant. The grant is provided by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Services block grant, which the state allocated to the city’s health department for distribution.

The Healthy MOMS program is a multi-agency effort that The Wright Center co-founded in 2018 to help combat the opioid crisis. It was launched in Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties but has grown to serve women and their families throughout much of Northeast Pennsylvania. The program is modeled after a program of the same name in Ohio and aims to help pregnant women and new mothers achieve and maintain sobriety. To date, it has supported more than 500 mothers and 282 babies, including 137 mothers in Luzerne County.

“When I started working with Healthy MOMS in 2020, we had five moms in Luzerne County. Now, just four years later, we have 38 active moms,” said Marcella Bicksler, the lead program manager for the Healthy MOMS program. “We know there’s a huge need. Our goal is to help 50 Luzerne County mothers this year, and this grant will make that goal achievable.”

To expand the Healthy MOMS program in Luzerne County, The Wright Center will leverage its existing behavioral health services and its state-designated Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence (COE) to provide extensive community outreach, education, prevention efforts, and opioid pregnancy recovery and medication-assisted treatment services. The program provides access to prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum care and access to certified recovery specialists, psychiatrists, board-certified addiction medicine physicians, licensed social workers, and licensed clinical social workers.

“We’re uniquely qualified to lead these initiatives,” said Maria Kolcharno, The Wright Center’s Healthy MOMS program manager and director of addictions services. “Our work helps dismantle the stigma frequently linked to addiction and boosts mothers’ self-esteem during and after pregnancy, aiming to enroll them in recovery support services for two years to prevent relapse.”

Marcella Bicksler

Marcella Bicksler, Healthy MOMS lead program manager at
The Wright Center for Community Health

Maria Kolcharno headshot on a blue background

Maria Kolcharno, Healthy MOMS program manager and
director of addictions services at The Wright Center for Community Health

Kolcharno said the program’s success can be attributed to The Wright Center’s approach to delivering whole-person primary health services and connecting Healthy MOMS clients with a variety of wraparound services — from help with housing and utility bills to access to food pantries, clothing supply closets, and many other social services — that encourage healthy behaviors for the mothers and babies.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown said he looks forward to seeing the work The Wright Center will do in the future to help build strong families. “We are pleased to be a community partner with The Wright Center to provide a much-needed service for moms-to-be and their babies,” said Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown. “This program provides a core foundation for all aspects of a healthy mom and baby so they can thrive successfully in our community.”

For more information about the Healthy MOMS program, visit healthymoms.org.

The Wright Center for Community Health welcomes medical students from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

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LECOM students

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine students, from left, are Sulav Shrestha, Tazeen Malik, Katherine Weir, and Elena Myalo.

The Wright Center for Community Health welcomed four medical students from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), who will complete rotations at the nonprofit’s health centers and other locations throughout the region. This year marks the launch of the partnership between The Wright Center and LECOM, which is open to third- and fourth-year medical students. “The goal is to train these medical students in underserved communities, and hopefully, they will stay in Northeast Pennsylvania to complete their medical residencies after graduation,” said Carla Blakeslee, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s clerkships coordinator.

The Wright Center for Community Health welcomes community health workers through National Health Corps program

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Community health workers working with The Wright Center through the National Health Corps.

From left, Community Health Worker Harry Yanoshak; Nicole Lipinski, director of The Wright Center’s Geriatric Service Line; Kathleen Doyle, director of patient-centered services; Community Health Worker Kristin Zaorski, and Lou Strazzeri, community and agency referrals coordinator, at The Wright Center for Community Health – Mid Valley.

Two new community health workers (CHWs) are offering specialized services to patients at The Wright Center for Community Health and residents of Northeast Pennsylvania, thanks to a unique program through the National Health Corps (NHC).

Harry Yanoshak of Plains Township to work with The Wright Center’s geriatric care teams and Kristin Zaorski of Covington Township will collaborate with The Wright Center’s behavioral health teams.

Both CHWs are funded through the NHC’s Community Health Fellowship, a grassroots community health service program that trains local community residents as CHWs. The new employees are committed to addressing the unmet needs of underserved populations and honing their skills as community health leaders.

The Wright Center employs CHWs to help connect patients and community members to various resources. In addition to connecting them to food pantries and helping them find safe, affordable housing, CHWs can also help patients address utility bills, transportation to and from doctor’s appointments, health insurance applications, and a variety of other needs. 

“They bridge the gap,” said Kathleen Doyle, director of patient-centered services at The Wright Center. “They help address basic needs so patients can focus on their health and medical needs. This ties in directly to The Wright Center’s mission.” 

The NHC program funds CHWs to work in specialized areas to facilitate integration with The Wright Center for Community Health’s whole-person primary health services.

“This is one more step in offering whole-person, integrated care,” said Lou Strazzeri, community and agency referrals coordinator for The Wright Center. “We can now offer a CHW who can focus specifically on what a patient being seen by our geriatric care team might need or what one of our behavioral health patients may need.”

Nicole Lipinski, director of The Wright Center’s Geriatric Service Line, looks forward to the unique resources and support Yanoshak will be able to offer to patients and their families.

“We are able to help this vulnerable population navigate through the care continuum as they age in place or require additional assistance with care in facilities,” she said. “Having a CHW will only enhance what we can offer.”

CHWs are one of the fastest-growing occupations in today’s health care field, with a projected 12% increase in jobs between 2021 and 2031, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Participants in the AmeriCorps-funded NHC program must complete 1,700 hours of service within a term spanning 42-46 weeks. They also must complete a CHW training course offered by the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center. They receive a living stipend and are eligible for food and child care assistance, tuition reimbursement, and access to health insurance, including medical, vision, and dental.

The Wright Center, headquartered in Scranton, operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical and dental vehicle called Driving Better Health. Its locations offer integrated whole-person primary health services, meaning patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services. For more information, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019. 

Wright Center for Community Health doctor elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians

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Dr. Kristina Tanovic, a board-certified internal medicine hospitalist at The Wright Center for Community Health, has been elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the society of internists. The distinction recognizes achievements in internal medicine, the specialty of adult medical care.

Dr. Tanovic was elected upon the recommendation of peers and the review of ACP’s Credentials Subcommittee. She may now use the letters “FACP” after her name in recognition of this honor.

Dr. Tanovic sees patients of all ages at The Wright Center for Community Health – Scranton Counseling Center, 329 Cherry St., where she is accepting new patients. Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Obesity Medicine, Dr. Tanovic is also a core faculty member of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency, where she trains the physicians of tomorrow. The Wright Center’s residency and fellowship programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Dr. Kristino Tanovic

Kristina Tanovic, M.D., FACP

A graduate of the University of Belgrade School of Medicine in Serbia, Dr. Tanovic 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.

Dr. Tanovic and her husband, Dr. Ivan Cvorovic, live in Scranton, with their daughter Iskra Cvorovic.

ACP is the largest medical specialty organization and the second physician group in the United States. ACP members include 143,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physician are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. For more information about ACP, go to acponline.org.