The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation recently held their annual reception to review the progress and impact of the NEPA Health Care Foundation Scholars Program. The program continues to play a pivotal role in supporting medical students committed to serving the healthcare needs of Northeast Pennsylvania. In October 2014, the board of the NEPA HCF approved a grant to GSCOM establishing the NEPA HCF Scholars Program, funding scholarships for Doctor of Medicine students. To date, 20 student scholarships have been awarded through the program. This year the NEPA HCF renewed its scholarship support for the next three years. The renewed scholarship support will be awarded to two to three students per year over the next three years and will support an additional six to nine students. The reception also focused on the group’s annual report, detailing the program’s achievements. From left, first row: Dr. Peter Cognetti, board chair; Dr. Julie Byerley, president of Geisinger College of Health Sciences; Dr. Kristen Richards, Caitlin Doughton, Alexis Blackburn, Evan Florey, Catherine Mihalick and Dr. Joseph Bannon. Second row: Dr. Jason Woloski; Laura Ducceschi, president/CEO, Scranton Area Foundation; Dr. Shubhra Shetty, Tonyehn Verkitus, attorney Joseph Burke, Michael Cordaro, Dr. Patrick Connors, Thomas Tulaney, Michael Clemente and attorney Terrence Nealon.
