Dr. Ivan Cvorovic, 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. Cvorovic was elected upon the recommendation of peers and the review of ACP’s Credentials Subcommittee. He may now use the letters “FACP” after his name in recognition of this honor.
Dr. Cvorovic sees adult patients at The Wright Center for Community Health – Scranton Counseling Center, 329 Cherry St., where he is accepting new patients. Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Cvorovic is also a core faculty member of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Ivan Cvorovic, M.D., FACP
A graduate of the University of Belgrade School of Medicine, Dr. Cvorovic completed his internal medicine residency training at Icahn School of Medicine in New York, where he served as the chief resident.
Dr. Cvorovic and his wife, Dr Kristina Tanovic, 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 physicians 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.
An alumnus who works as a University of Pennsylvania hospitalist and clinical instructor will be the keynote speaker for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s 45th graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 22, at Mohegan Pennsylvania Convention Center in Wilkes-Barre.
The Wright Center’s graduation ceremony will honor and recognize 67 resident physicians from seven disciplines: 32 in Internal Medicine; 14 in Regional Family Medicine; 16 in National Family Medicine; one in Psychiatry; one in Cardiovascular Disease; two in Geriatrics; and one in Gastroenterology.
Keynote speaker Dr. Humza Quadir of Philadelphia graduated from The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency in 2022. He joined the staff of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and is also affiliated with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
At The Wright Center, Dr. Quadir served in several leadership roles, including chief resident during the final year of his three-year residency. He also served as 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. Quadir received his medical degree from Ziauddin University in Karachi, Pakistan, in December 2014.
“Dr. Quadir is a leader who understands the importance of our mission ,” said Dr. Jumee Barooah, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “He’s carried those same values to his roles as a hospitalist and clinical instructor. We’re looking forward to hearing the wisdom he will impart to our graduates as they embark upon the next chapter of their careers.”
Dr. Humza Quadir
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, The Wright Center is one of the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums in the nation.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s residency and fellowship programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. For more information, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-866-3017.
Dr. Erin McFadden, center, collaborates with Dr. Ketaki Pande, a resident physician in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency, during an examination with patient Nicole Ammons at The Wright Center for Community Health – North Scranton. Drs. McFadden and Pande see patients together as part of The Wright Center’s new program that places medical residents on care teams to elevate the standard of care for all patients.
The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education have launched an innovative program to enhance patient care while nurturing the skills of tomorrow’s physician workforce.
Medical residents at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education are now members of “care teams” that provide whole-person primary health services to people of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses. The novel initiative elevates the standard of care provided at The Wright Center’s nine community health center locations in Northeast Pennsylvania while providing a platform for residents to refine their skills as compassionate healers.
By seamlessly integrating hands-on experience with comprehensive training, the program embodies The Wright Center’s mission.
“Patients get two sets of eyes – the resident and the doctor,” said Dr. Timothy Burke, a primary care physician at The Wright Center for Community Health – Mid Valley in Jermyn, Pennsylvania, and the associate program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency. “Seeing the same resident and the same doctor each time means the patient doesn’t have to repeat their medical history over and over. Both know who you are, the care you’re receiving, and the obstacles you face.”
Patients will benefit from building personal relationships with The Wright Center’s resident physicians, according to Dr. Erin McFadden, a primary care doctor who also serves as deputy chief medical officer and medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations in Scranton, North Scranton, and the Scranton Counseling Center.
“That’s the beauty of primary care. It’s not just learning the medicine, it’s learning how to develop the relationship with the patient,” Dr. McFadden said. “It’s important to build that patient-doctor trust so you can see how their health is changing and, hopefully, improving.”
Dr. McFadden, for example, said a resident physician will prescribe a patient with diabetes a particular drug to help with blood sugar levels. Now, as part of the patient’s care team, they can monitor how effective that medication is – and what side effects the patient may or may not experience – at subsequent appointments.
The Wright Center recently launched the care team model to enhance the delivery of whole-person primary health services to patients while nurturing the skills of tomorrow’s physician workforce. Internal Medicine resident physician Dr. Ketaki Pande, left, examines patient Nicole Ammons as Dr. Erin McFadden monitors the patient visit.
“We’re giving an opportunity to our patients and our resident physicians to build a relationship,” she said. “If you want to take care of a disease and improve health, you need multiple pictures over time to watch cause and effect.”
The care team concept is not new at The Wright Center for Community Health, which typically integrates medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services, at a single location for the convenience of patients. To ensure residents could become more involved in patient care teams, The Wright Center collaborated with its Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendor to redesign the scheduling of patient appointments to honor patient continuity.
The program also means changing the way resident physicians are scheduled for rotations, which are completed at The Wright Center’s community health centers, local hospitals, and other medical settings in the region. Typically, resident physicians cycle through a number of assignments, each lasting a few weeks to a month. Now, the residents who are part of the new care teams are assigned to their doctor’s clinic location once a week.
“That came from a buy-in across the medical residency program leaders that continuity was important and a priority, so no other rotations were going to supersede their regularly scheduled continuity clinics,” said Tiffany Jaskulski, vice president of health innovation and strategic initiatives at The Wright Center.
First-year Internal Medicine resident Dr. Ketaki Pande sees patients at The Wright Center for Community Health – North Scranton on Fridays with Dr. McFadden. She’s enjoyed getting to know patients on a deeper level and says the team approach is helping her become a more effective physician.
“One of the big parts of primary care is managing chronic conditions,” Dr. Pande said. “For example, not everyone responds to a particular medication the same way. So, I prescribe something, and now I can follow up weeks and months later, to see how it’s working and if something else is needed.”
Scholarly researchers at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education received a certificate of merit from the American College of Physicians for an abstract one of the authors presented at ACP’s Internal Medicine Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The authors, from left, Drs. Ali Shah and Lehka Yadukumar, Internal Medicine residency physicians; Dr. Milos Babic, associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency; and Dr. Maimona Chaudhary, an Internal Medicine residency physician, wrote a case report on a 25-year-old patient with a rare cancer.
A Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education resident physician’s chance meeting with a patient at a local hospital led to the opportunity to present a winning scholarly abstract about a medical rarity at the American College of Physicians (ACP) Internal Medicine Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Maimona Chaudhary, an Internal Medicine resident physician, first encountered the subject of the abstract, a 25-year-old woman, while on rotation at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The patient arrived at the emergency department with lesions on her legs. What medical personnel initially diagnosed as second-degree burns ended up being a rare symptom of biclonal multiple myeloma – a cancer that only affects people under the age of 40 in about 2% of cases.
“Upon follow-up, the lesions were diagnosed as paraneoplastic pemphigus, which is rare in itself,” said Dr. Chaudhary. “But then they found she had multiple myeloma, without any of the usual symptoms, without any family history. There were a lot of oddities in this case.”
Dr. Chaudhary, a first-year resident physician from Hamilton, Ontario, followed the patient’s case over the next several months and produced a case report with colleagues from The Wright Center, including Drs. Ali Shah and Lehka Yadukumar, Internal Medicine residency physicians; Dr. Milos Babic, associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency; and medical student Omaima Chaudhary, who received her medical degree from the University of Limerick School of Medicine and will join The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency in July.
The researchers submitted the case report, “Paraneoplastic Pemphigus as the Presenting Sign of Biclonal Multiple Myeloma in a 25-Year Old Female: A Case Report,” to the ACP’s resident/fellow national abstract competition, which receives several hundred entries annually. The abstract was one of 20 awarded a certificate of merit by the ACP. Dr. Chaudhary delivered the five-minute presentation on the case.
“It was difficult to cover everything in five minutes,” she said. “I think this case really stood out to the ACP judges because it was so unusual.”
Dr. Chaudhary monitored the patient’s case, although she is not involved in her ongoing treatment. The woman’s cancer treatment was delayed for months as doctors worked to heal the skin lesions caused by paraneoplastic pemphigus, along with other complications. She recently began chemotherapy, and all signs point to a positive outcome.
As for Dr. Chaudhary’s future, she’s still deciding what type of medicine to pursue.
“I’m still exploring,” she said. “I want to do something I really enjoy. We get to pick electives in our second year, so I can start to see where I want to go from here.”
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, The Wright Center is one of the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums in the nation. Together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model.
The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education are introducing the internationally popular Walk with a Doc program to Luzerne County beginning Saturday, May 18 at 9 a.m. On the third Saturday of every month, doctors and patients meet at Kirby Park to take a step toward better health.
Walk with a Doc is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire communities through movement and conversation. The walk is open to the community and people of all ages. Participation is free and pre-registration is not required. Walkers will enjoy a refreshing and rejuvenating walk with doctors and other health care professionals, who will provide support to participants and answer questions during the walk.
“I’m very pleased that our resident and fellow physicians and other whole-person primary health services providers at The Wright Center for Community Health – Wilkes-Barre are bringing this exciting program to Luzerne County,” said Christine Wysocky, DNP, CRNP, FNP-C, director of nurse practitioner and physician assistant services at The Wright Center for Community Health – Wilkes-Barre. “It has shown such improved health results for countless people around the world.”
Christine Wysocky, DNP, CRNP, FNP-C, director of nurse practitioner and physician assistant services at The Wright Center for Community Health – Wilkes-Barre
On the third Saturday of every month, doctors and resident and fellow physicians will meet at the main entrance to Kirby Park, 280 Market St., Kingston, to walk around the park.
Walking as little as 30 minutes a day can improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels, help maintain a healthy body weight, and lower the risk of obesity, enhance mental well-being, and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, according to the American Heart Association.
For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health’s regional Walk with a Doc program, go to TheWrightCenter.org/events or call 570-209-4868.
To help reduce opioid-related deaths in the region, The Wright Center for Community Health is participating in a state-led initiative to distribute free overdose-reversing medication and other supplies.
Individuals can receive naloxone kits – a potentially life-saving medicine that is approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration – and drug-checking strips by visiting The Wright Center for Community Health – Hawley, 103 Spruce St. The practice is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is not necessary to be a Wright Center patient or to provide ID.
Similarly, people can get kits and supplies during business hours at the Wayne County Drug and Alcohol Commission office, 318 Tenth St., Honesdale. The commission has partnered with The Wright Center to assist in distributing the items and promoting training opportunities to ensure that people know how to properly use them.
The Wright Center is one of many approved, community-based distribution sites, officially known as “recognized entities,” that will receive the supplies at no cost through the Pennsylvania Overdose Prevention Program (POPP). The program was launched in mid-2023 as a joint initiative between the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.
POPP offers multiple formulations of naloxone as well as drug-checking strips. The strips are designed to detect xylazine and fentanyl, potent substances that are sometimes mixed with other drugs and can increase the risk of overdose.
Scott Constantini, associate vice president of primary care and recovery services integration at The Wright Center for Community Health
“Naloxone is a life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose,” said Scott Constantini, associate vice president of primary care and recovery services integration at The Wright Center for Community Health. “At this phase of the ongoing epidemic, it makes sense for more people to have naloxone kits in the event of an emergency with a family member, friend, coworker, or stranger. You never know when you can save a life.”
Jeffrey Zerechak, director of the Wayne County Drug and Alcohol Commission, noted the epidemic’s hard-hitting impact on the Northeast region, especially in rural areas where treatment options might be limited and stigma prevents some people from seeking care. “We encourage anyone in Wayne County who needs help to please stop by our office or call us. Don’t wait any longer. Addiction is an illness that only gets worse over time.”
The opioid epidemic, which has claimed the lives of about 14,000 Pennsylvanians in the past three years, continues to ravage communities and families. By increasing access to these supplies, state health officials and others hope to limit fatalities and link more people who use drugs to effective treatment programs.
Evidence suggests that providing access to naloxone does not lead to more or riskier drug use. Rather, people revived by the medication might find that the near-death experience serves as a wake-up call, compelling them to seek help and maintain recovery.
The Wright Center for Community Health, a Scranton-based provider of whole-person primary health services, is committed to helping individuals with substance use disorder. The Wright Center became a state-designated Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence in 2016. Since then, it has provided outpatient addiction treatment and recovery services, including medication-assisted treatment, to thousands of people in Northeast Pennsylvania. To learn more about the services available through its Center of Excellence, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org/services/coe.
For more information about naloxone access at The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations and other regional distribution sites, go to TheWrightCenter.org/naloxone-access.
To connect with the Wayne County Drug and Alcohol Commission, visit its website or call 570-253-6022.
