The Wright Center: Turning Pain into Progress How one man’s story fuels hope for others. Five days a week, Rick Frey talks to people experiencing substance use disorder, helping them set goals, cheering on their successes, and sometimes pointing out inconsistencies in the stories they tell themselves. Certified recovery specialist Rick Frey in his office at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre. After struggling with substance use disorder for 20 years, Frey has been sober for five years, and now helps guide patients in their own recovery journeys. He knows firsthand about the battles his patients fight every day. For 20 years, the certified recovery specialist at The Wright Center for Community Health lived with substance use disorder. A state prison sentence in 2020, coupled with the realization that he was failing his two young children, sparked Frey’s desire for a new kind of life. He began working for The Wright Center in July 2024 after participating in a grant-funded program called Project PROGRESS, which stands for Providing Recovery Opportunities for Growth, Education, and Sustainable Success. With funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, The Wright Center and several regional community partners provided access to career training while challenging the stigma associated with employing people with substance use disorder. “I shouldn’t be here. I was hit by a car. I was thrown from a truck. I survived several overdoses,” Frey said. “But God had a different plan.” ‘Numb the pain’ Frey and his colleagues at The Wright Center celebrate National Recovery Month each September to raise awareness about mental health and substance use disorders and to celebrate the achievements of individuals in recovery. Substance use disorder has deep roots in Frey’s family. His own began at just 12 years old, when friends of his sister introduced him to LSD, a powerful hallucinogen. Throughout his teenage years, he continued experimenting with drugs and alcohol. When he was 18, the sudden death of his father sent him into a downward spiral. “Grief was the starting point for my descent into addiction,” he said. “Losing my father unexpectedly left me feeling empty, and I sought ways to numb the pain. That’s when I turned to heroin and methamphetamine.” What began as an escape quickly turned into a trap. With the support of his family, the Wilkes-Barre Township native made multiple attempts at rehabilitation. At 25, he remained sober for nearly a year and began rebuilding his life in Philadelphia with help from his aunt. But when he returned to Scranton for a court hearing, a broken-down car extended his stay. Reunited with old friends, he soon fell back into familiar patterns. Rick Frey, a certified recovery specialist, meets with someone in a behavioral health meeting room at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre. Frey said he uses what he learned from counselors who helped him on his recovery journey to help others who have substance use disorder. Now, he realizes he was missing a key step in his recovery journey. “I would do what they told me, and I’d work the steps,” Frey said, referring to the main tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. “But I wasn’t facing my grief over losing my father. I wasn’t facing my depression and my anxiety, so I never really made any meaningful progress.” ‘I can’t keep doing this’ A series of difficult blows starting in 2018 – including back-to-back DUI charges and the end of his relationship with the mother of his two children – left Frey struggling to regain stability. “I realized I can’t keep doing this,” Frey said. “My daughter wouldn’t even look at me. So, I just surrendered.” He cut ties with old friends and went into a rehabilitation program for 45 days. From there, he lived for seven months in a halfway house, followed by a year in a sober living house. It was the longest he’d ever maintained sobriety. Inspired by the counselors and staff who helped him with his recovery journey, he enrolled at Luzerne County Community College (LCCC) to earn his associate degree in human services. He began his current career path at Clearbrook Treatment Centers, where he started as an intake coordinator and then served in various roles, including case manager. While earning his associate degree and working at Clearbrook, Frey began pursuing certification as a recovery specialist through Project PROGRESS. It was during this time that he was first introduced to The Wright Center and its unique services for people with substance use disorders, including its Pennsylvania-designated Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence. The Wright Center uses a team-based approach to tailor treatment plans to each patient, integrating treatment for substance use disorder with behavioral and primary health services. Impressed by the passion and expertise of The Wright Center’s staff, Frey was eager to join the team. He is now based at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre, 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Rick Frey, one of The Wright Center’s certified recovery specialists, talks with colleague Jill Kalson at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre, 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Frey is part of a team-based approach that integrates substance use disorder treatment with behavioral and primary health services. He remembers the techniques his counselors used throughout his recovery, especially the frustrating moments when they helped him see how his excuses were holding him back. Today, he uses those same methods with his patients. “Recovery isn’t easy and everyone’s journey is different,” Frey said. “But I learned that you can be the victim of your trauma, or you could use it to help you transform into something better and stronger.” ‘Make a difference’ Frey is just one of 101 people who participated in certified recovery specialist training programs through Project PROGRESS, which concluded in September. A total of 76 people completed the training; dozens of them went on to work with people recovering from substance use disorders at companies across the region. “When I hear Rick’s story, and the stories of so many others who successfully went through the program, I feel like The Wright Center has made a difference,” said Shannon Osborne, a project manager who oversaw Project PROGRESS at The Wright Center. “I am grateful to work on projects that provide such positive outcomes for people in our communities.” As he celebrates five years of sobriety, Frey is attending Misericordia University part-time, working on his bachelor’s degree in social work, with plans to pursue a master’s degree in social work and public administration. When he isn’t studying or working with his clients, you can find the former high school athlete coaching his 11-year-old son’s football and basketball teams. Recently, he volunteered as an assistant coach for his 8-year-old daughter’s soccer team, helping lead them to an undefeated season. In addition to guiding his kids’ sports teams to victory, Frey dreams of becoming more deeply involved in the conversation about how to best address the still-growing addiction crisis locally and nationwide. “We need advocates to show up at rallies, meet with our elected representatives, and talk about what we can do to help people,” Frey said. “Everybody knows someone who has been impacted by addiction.” Rick Frey, far right, with his 8-year-old daughter, Isabella, far left, and 11-year-old son, Ricky. For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health and The Wright Center for Community Health’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019. Get to know Project PROGRESS Funded in part through an Appalachian Regional Commission INSPIRE grant. Led by The Wright Center for Community Health with regional partners including Wayne Pike Workforce Alliance, The Institute, Luzerne County Community College, and Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center. Hosted six Certified Recovery Specialist training sessions attended by 101 individuals. Of the 76 people who completed the training, 48 earned certifications as either certified recovery specialists, certified family recovery specialists, certified recovery specialist supervisors, or a combination of the certifications. Learn more at projectprogressnepa.org
The Wright Center, Honesdale Boy Recieves Kidney Transplant Jake Algerio plays at Honesdale Central Park, less than four months after receiving a new kidney from a deceased donor. The sixth-grader has coped with kidney problems all his life, including undergoing nightly dialysis for the last nine years. When the call came from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Brianne Algerio missed it. Cellphone trouble meant the initial good news, which she’d been waiting for since 2019, went straight to her voicemail. As she scrambled to call the hospital back, CHOP staff called again and informed her that a kidney had been found for her 12-year-old son, Jake Algerio. Her joy was tempered with skepticism. “I was actually thinking, are they sure?” she said about the call on May 1. “We had been to CHOP two months before because they had a kidney for Jake, but it didn’t work out. He didn’t get the surgery.” Algerio, a certified medical assistant at The Wright Center for Community Health Hawley in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, didn’t begin to feel hope until CHOP staff wheeled Jake into the operating room on a gurney. Jake Algerio with his mom, Brianne Algerio, at Honesdale Central Park. When she got the call on May 1 from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia about having a new kidney for Jake, her joy was tempered with skepticism. They had a similar call in March, but the surgery didn’t happen. Jake’s medical challenges began before he was born. One of his kidneys measures only half a centimeter and the other just one centimeter – far smaller than the average of nearly nine and a half centimeters for a child his age. Since birth, he has endured countless hospitalizations, surgeries, and infections. For the past nine years, he has relied on nightly peritoneal dialysis, which uses a catheter to filter toxins through the lining of his abdominal wall. In September 2019, Jake underwent a kidney transplant at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. Complications led to the removal of the new kidney shortly thereafter, and Jake celebrated his sixth birthday in a hospital bed. Since then, Algerio and her husband, Don Sweeley Jr., have worked to find a living donor for Jake. Nearly 104,000 people across the United States need an organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a private, nonprofit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system under contract with the federal government. Of those, more than 96,000 need a kidney, according to UNOS. Most patients wait between three to five years for a kidney donor. Jake’s new kidney came from a deceased donor, about a year after his name was re-added to the UNOS waiting list. Incredibly, the kidney he received was a near-perfect match for Jake, CHOP staff told Algerio. “The hospital staff were all celebrating,” Algerio said. Before she could join in, however, her son had to endure the eight-hour transplant surgery. She described the agonizing wait alone at CHOP that day, receiving texts from her husband and her mother asking for updates that she didn’t have. After the surgery was complete, she briefly visited Jake in his hospital room to reassure him. He was groggy and disoriented from surgery, she said. Mom and son spent about two weeks at CHOP after Jake’s surgery. After they returned home to Honesdale, they visited the hospital weekly for about two months. These days, they make the trip every other week to ensure Jake is recovering as scheduled. “We’ll eventually start going monthly until about November or December, just to make sure Jake’s body doesn’t reject the transplant,” Algerio said. “I won’t really relax until it’s been a year since the surgery. It still feels like it’s just the first hurdle for him.” Four months after the surgery, though, there’s no denying how much healthier he looks and feels. Algerio smiled as she watched Jake, sporting bright red Sketchers sneakers, race around with his younger sisters – 7-year-old Zoey and 5-year-old Emma – at Honedale Central Park on a sunny afternoon in September. His older brother Ryan, 18, was waiting at home. “Jake couldn’t play like this in April,” Algerio said. “He’d get tired so easily. He was like a little old man, hunched over and out of breath.” In addition to being more energetic, Jake has gained a little weight and grown a few inches taller. He also celebrated a fun milestone this summer – a visit to Honesdale Borough Pool on Aug. 9. Pre-transplant, he had to avoid public pools because the chlorine could have damaged the catheter inserted into his stomach or caused an infection. “He was hesitant to swim at first, but I told him, ‘Just jump in,’” Algerio said. “He did, and he had a ball playing with his friend.” Pausing from his playground games, Jake said he’s feeling better since he received his new kidney. He hiked up his shirt to show off his stomach scars – a little pucker where his catheter once was and some healing surgical incisions from the transplant procedure. Post-transplant, Jake is looking forward to going on vacation because his dialysis machine has made it difficult for him to travel. After he came home from CHOP in mid-May, his family returned his dialysis machine to the hospital and discarded all the dialysis equipment that was a part of his nightly routine for most of his life. “Maybe to Florida to visit my grandpa,” he said about where he’d like to go. “That would be fun.” Jake Algerio with his sisters Zoey, and Emma at Honesdale Central Park. Four months after receiving a kidney transplant, Jake has gained weight, grown a few inches, and can now keep up with his younger sisters on the playground.
Wright Center Adds Psychiatrist to Behavioral Health Team The Wright Center for Community Health has expanded access to high-quality psychiatry services in Northeast Pennsylvania by welcoming Dr. Maximo B. Lockward, a bilingual Spanish-speaking psychiatrist, to its behavioral health team. He is now available for adult patients through office-based remote appointments. Dr. Lockward earned his medical degree from Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, New York, and completed his psychiatry residency at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, a specialty division of UPMC in Pittsburgh. At The Wright Center, he serves in a combined clinical, educational, and administrative role, providing direct patient care while also teaching and supervising resident physicians and medical students. He will offer a full spectrum of psychiatric services, including assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, and medication management. In addition, Dr. Lockward will oversee three psychiatric nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants and serve as a consultative resource for primary care physicians across The Wright Center’s 13 community health centers. His leadership supports the organization’s ongoing effort to fully integrate behavioral health into its whole-person, community-based primary care model. Dr. Lockward brings extensive experience in community psychiatry and telepsychiatry, having previously practiced in western and southeastern Pennsylvania as well as in Ohio. His arrival comes as a critical time. The United State is facing a mental health crisis, with widespread shortages of behavioral health clinicians. According to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Health Workforce, 23% of U.S. adults – about 59 million – experienced a mental illness in 2023, and nearly half did not receive treatment. Patients often face long waits, high costs, or lack of coverage. The national average wait time for behavioral health services in currently 48 days. The Wright Center is working to close those gaps. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Lockwood or another member of the behavioral health team, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center President/CEO Appointed to National Committee Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, has been appointed to serve a three-year term on the Partnership for Quality Measurement’s (PQM) Endorsement & Maintenance Committee Advisory Group on Cost and Efficiency. The federally funded, consensus-based PQM brings together leaders and experts from across the health care spectrum to evaluate and endorse performance measures. Its mission is to ensure that measures are evidence-based, patient-centered, fair, and effective in driving quality improvement nationwide. Dr. Thomas-Hemak will contribute her clinical and leadership expertise to the Endorsement & Maintenance Cost and Efficiency Committee’s 45-member advisory group in evaluating and refining measures that assess total health care spending, resource use, and efficiency, ensuring they drive higher quality, lower cost care, improve value, and promote better use of health services across the U.S. health system. A quintuple board-certified primary care physician in internal medicine, pediatrics, addiction medicine, obesity medicine, and nutrition, Dr. Thomas-Hemak sees generations of patients at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley in Jermyn, her hometown, alongside her executive leadership. She is recognized nationally for her work in advancing community-based primary health care models, access to care, and interprofessional health care workforce development. An alumna of Scranton Preparatory School and the University of Scranton, she earned her medical degree as a Michael DeBakey Scholar from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston before completing Harvard’s Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program in Boston. She returned to Northeast Pennsylvania to practice medicine, driven by a profound commitment to the community that shaped her. She joined The Wright Center in 2001, rose to president in 2007, and assumed the role of CEO in 2012. Guided by a people-over-profit philosophy, Dr. Thomas-Hemak has built The Wright Center into one of the nation’s largest Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums, shifting physician training from hospitals to community-based health centers and preparing nearly 450 learners each year, many of whom remain to serve locally. She has expanded a network of 13 community health centers and a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health across Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties, delivering compassionate, high-quality, whole-person primary health services in rural and underserved populations. Under her leadership, The Wright Center has integrated primary care, behavioral health, dental, school-based, and advanced health information services to ensure accessible, coordinated care for all. Under Dr. Thomas-Hemak’s leadership, The Wright Center has garnered numerous accolades, including designation by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike; a Pennsylvania Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence and Coordination Center for Medication-Assisted Treatment; a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Top 30 Site for National Primary Care Innovations; recognition as both a University of California, San Francisco, Center of Excellence in Primary Care and an American Association of Medical Colleges’ Premier Primary Care Residency; membership in the prestigious 2024 American Medical Association ChangeMedEd Consortium; and leading partner in the Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (Healthy MOMS) program for pregnant women and new mothers with substance use disorder. Following the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model, The Wright Center for Community Health’s Clarks Summit, Mid Valley, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre locations achieved National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home certification. Dr. Thomas-Hemak also leads The Wright Center’s engagement in the Keystone Health Information Exchange and its catalytic role in a public television-based education campaign aimed at accelerating the wide-scale adoption of local, regional, and national health information interoperability. A founding member of the consortium that established the Scranton-based Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is the governor for the Eastern Region of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians (PA-ACP), the nation’s largest medical-specialty organization, and is vice president, as well as a founding board member, of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers, which represents community-based Teaching Health Centers that train primary care physicians. She serves on numerous local, regional, and national health care and medical education nonprofit governing boards, cross-sector committees, and workgroups, including HRSA’s Council on Graduate Medical Education, a federal advisory committee that assesses and recommends actions on physician workforce trends, training issues, and financing policies. She is also the governing board chair and executive committee member of the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (NEPA AHEC), a member of the National Association of Community Health Center’s (NACHC) New Health Center CEO Affinity Group, Women Leaders, and an advisory board member of the Health Federation of Philadelphia’s Health Center Controlled Network. Additionally, she serves as a board member of the National AHEC Organization; the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s Undergraduate Medical Education-Graduate Medical Education (GME) Task Force: GME Growth in Action Group; the Pennsylvania Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council; Keystone Accountable Care Organization; The Institute; and the Center for Health and Human Services Research and Action. Dr. Thomas-Hemak has received several prestigious state and national awards for her leadership, mentorship, and advocacy initiatives, including: the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce 2025 Athena Award for career excellence, service, and women’s empowerment; the 2024 Wilford Payne Health Center Mentor Award from PACHC; the 2024 Hometown Scholars Advocacy Award from NACHC and A.T. Still University; the 2022 Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award from NACHC for her efforts in engaging Congress and expanding grassroots advocacy; and the 2020 Ann Preston Women in Medicine Award from the PA-ACP for advancing women’s leadership in medicine. City & State Pennsylvania has also named her a Trailblazer in Health Care and one of Pennsylvania’s 100 most powerful and influential female leaders. She and her husband, Mark, have three children, Mason, Maya, and Antoinette. Dr. Thomas-Hemak is the daughter of the late William Thomas and Johanna Cavalieri Thomas, who lives in Archbald.
The Wright Center Interns Gain Hands-on Experience The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education hosted 26 high school and college interns over the summer, providing hands-on experience for students following multiple career paths. The interns were assigned to several departments, including administration, clinical, finance, legal, and marketing and communications. Their experience was capped off with an Internship Poster Capstone event, which board members, executives, and employees attended to hear students discuss their projects and answer questions about their findings, internship experience, and future plans. Attendees at the annual event cast ballots for the scholarly posters. Prizes were awarded to the top three vote-getters: First place: Katherine Mena Pereyra, of American University in Washington, D.C., created the scholarly poster, “Advocacy Coffee Connections: Understanding the Big Beautiful Bill. She was mentored by Aimee Wechsler, director of government affairs at The Wright Center. Second place: Noah Lynch of Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for his research poster, “Increasing the Uptake of PrEP Among Women.” The project focused on educating providers and women in the community about the importance of pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP, which can significantly reduce the risk of contracting HIV. Melissa Bonnerwith, grants administrator at The Wright Center’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Clinic, was his mentor. Third place: Shane Cegelka, of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, showcased his poster, “The Importance of Proper Informed Consent in Healthcare.” Cegelka was mentored by Jennifer Walsh, Esq., senior vice president and chief legal and governance officer, and Courtney Kuschke, paralegal, at The Wright Center. To learn more about internship opportunities, visit TheWrightCenter.org/internships.
The Wright Center Resident Presents at National Cardivovascular Conference An Internal Medicine resident physician at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education presented research at a national conference for cardiovascular innovations. Dr. Shehroze Tabassum, a first-year medical resident based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, attended the Cardiovascular Innovations Meeting in Austin, Texas, in July. At the three-day conference, which focused on state-of-the-art therapy for peripheral, coronary, and structural heart disease, Dr. Tabassum presented research on peripheral artery disease (PAD) mortality trends in patients 25 and older with metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of developing heart disease and other chronic illnesses. He led a research team, which included Dr. Douglas Klamp, the Internal Medicine Residency Program director, chief medical education officer, senior vice president, and physician chair of resident and fellow talent acquisition at The Wright Center, and Wright Center Internal Medicine resident physician Dr. Aroma Naeem, that analyzed data using a free, online public health information system maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The team examined data collected between 2000-2019 about patients’ gender, race and ethnicity, state, census region, and metropolitan status. “We found a decline in PAD-related mortality among patients with metabolic syndrome,” Dr. Tabassum said. “However, notable disparities persist across demographic and regional groups, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and further research.” Dr. Tabassum, a native of Faisalabad, Pakistan, developed an interest in cardiology through a combination of clinical exposure and academic curiosity. “It was a pleasure and an honor to represent The Wright Center on a national stage,” Dr. Tabassum said. “Attending a conference with so many like-minded professionals was a great opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from leading experts, and stay updated on the latest advancements in cardiovascular care.” The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency program. 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 resident and fellow physicians in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model to advance its mission to improve the health and welfare of communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve. 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.
Johnson College to Host Free Community Resource Fair Johnson College will host a free Community Resource Fair for all local college-bound students on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, inside the Moffat Student Center Gymnasium at its Scranton campus. The event is open to the public and is designed to connect current and prospective college students with local resources and support services. The fair will feature a variety of community organizations offering guidance and assistance on topics such as education, employment, health, and wellness. “The Community Resource Fair is an opportunity for all students attending any of our region’s colleges and universities to learn about local services available to them,” said Dr. Kellyn Williams, Associate Vice President of Special Programs at Johnson College. “We’re proud to bring together organizations that are making a positive impact in our region.” Participating organizations include: ACE of NEPA Educational Opportunity Centers of PA Friends of the Poor/Catherine McAuley Center Geisinger Marworth Greater Scranton YMCA Goodwill Industries of Northeastern Pennsylvania Susquehanna County Interfaith The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement For more information, please contact Sam Lehman at slehman@johnson.edu or 570-702-8341.
The Wright Center, Chelsea Chopko Recognized as ‘Rising Star’ In Pennsylvania Chelsea Chopko, chief of administrative support to the president and CEO at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, was one of 40 individuals under the age of 40 in Pennsylvania to be honored as a “Rising Star” by City & State Pennsylvania during a reception in Harrisburg. Each year, the multimedia news organization honors these individuals who work in Pennsylvania government, politics, and advocacy. “Rising Star” members have already distinguished themselves in the eyes of their colleagues and are on their way to amassing many more noteworthy accomplishments. At The Wright Center, Chopko is the operational engine behind the enterprise’s most critical leadership workflows and mission-driven projects. Whether aligning schedules across numerous departments, coordinating sensitive communications, supervising eight administrative assistants, or supporting community outreach, she performs with poise, precision, and a rare blend of warmth and drive. Since joining The Wright Center six years ago, Chopko’s influence has grown in tandem with her title. What began as a role rooted in executive assistance has blossomed into one of trusted partnership and strategic insight. Her work spans the entire enterprise’s more than 677 employees, and she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure every team member – from physicians, clinicians, physician residents and fellows to administrators and front-desk staff – is supported. “Chelsea Chopko is the exemplary of leader every organization hopes to have – thoughtful, brilliant, kind, inspiring, driven, unflinchingly dependable, and deeply mission-aligned,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “Her well-deserved recognition is a reflection not only of her personal excellence, but also of the high standard she sets for all of us at The Wright Center. We are immensely proud of her and most grateful to have Chelsea on our team.” She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Marywood University. Most recently, she completed the University Scranton Kania School of Management’s Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program. Chopko and her husband, Craig, live in Greenfield Township with their children, Roman, 9, and Isabel, 2.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Holds Graduation The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education celebrated 68 resident and fellow physician graduates during its 46th annual commencement on Saturday, June 21, at Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. The commencement ceremony honored 36 graduates in The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, 15 in the National Family Medicine Residency Program, seven in the Regional Family Medicine Residency Program, five in the Geriatrics Fellowship, three in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, and two in the Gastroenterology Fellowship. The graduates join more than 1,000 resident and fellow physicians who have completed their residency and fellowship programs since The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education began educating physicians nearly 50 years ago. Dr. Sharon Obadia, a member of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Board of Directors and the dean of A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), was among the speakers who addressed graduates and guests during the ceremony. She works closely with officials at The Wright Center, which has been a training and educational site for ATSU-SOMA students since 2020. As she spoke about ATSU-SOMA’s and The Wright Center’s shared mission to train the next generation of health care professionals, Dr. Obadia highlighted the Hometown Scholars Program, which targets and recruits future physicians, dentists, and other medical professionals from Northeast Pennsylvania who want to serve the region where they grew up. The training Hometown Scholars receive is unique compared to other medical schools, with students spending their first year on campus at ATSU-SOMA in Mesa, Arizona, followed by three years in Northeast Pennsylvania. Since 2019, four Northeast Pennsylvania students have been selected to participate in the program. Two have graduated with degrees from ATSU-SOMA; the other two are still completing the program. “I have been incredibly proud to work alongside The Wright Center in partnering to educate this next generation of osteopathic physicians who will go into the world providing patient and community-centered primary care to those most in need,” Dr. Obadia said during commencement. “I look forward to growing our Hometown Scholar Program in Northeast Pennsylvania to continue to enable students from this region to return and serve their community.” Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Center, addressed the graduates. She praised their dedication to providing high-quality, whole-person primary health services and urged them to remember what they learned during their time in Northeast Pennsylvania. “You have practiced medicine in our communities that needed you most. You brought compassion to places where bureaucracy too often gets in the way. You brought light to the shadows. You brought love to our noble work and profession,” she said. “And as you did, you helped reshape those communities you proudly served. You did not wait for systems to change; you became the change.” Dr. Hal Baillie, chair of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Board of Directors, also addressed graduates on Saturday. “Celebrating you as learners, The Wright Center thanks you for embracing our experiential primary care model, joining with us in your continuing education, and your developing efforts to provide care for our local patients,” Dr. Baillie said. “In so doing, you have fulfilled the definition of a profession, combining the development of expertise with service to the community. Every day, you compassionately provided that service to patients, many of whom have struggled to obtain adequate medical care, and you have done so with ever-increasing insight and ability.” Dr. Jumee Barooah, designated institutional official and senior vice president of education at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, reminded the Class of 2025 about the long tradition they joined. “You are now part of a powerful legacy, one that began in 1977 when six internal medicine residents started training to address a critical primary care physician shortage in Northeast Pennsylvania. Nearly half a century later, you join over 1,000 alumni who have carried that mission forward with grace, grit, and heart,” she said. “Our reach has grown far beyond Scranton, shaping training programs across the country – from Arizona to Washington, D.C. – all driven by one singular vision: to improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all, and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce privileged to serve.” 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. Graduates are: Internal Medicine Ahmed Abdellatif Ibrahim Mohamed Algohiny, M.D.; Sanya Badar, M.D.; Salman Abdul Basit, M.D.; Taibah Chaudhary, M.D.; Lokendra Chhantyal, M.D.; Yash Deshpande, M.D.; Sonam Gautam, M.D.; Faryal Haider, M.D.; Sajid Hussain, M.D.; Mohammad Ibrar, M.D.; Mohammad Faisal Iftikhar, M.D.; Aimen Iqbal, M.D.; Nadia Jamil, M.D.; Kanishq Rajan Jethani, M.D.; Jesvin Jeyapaulraj, M.D.; Lavleen Kaur, M.D.; Ravleen Kaur, M.D.; Mohamed Hesham Esmat Ahmed Khorshid, M.D.; Arathi Prabha Kumar, M.D.; Anand Reddy Maligireddy, M.D.; Elmkdad Mohammed, M.D.; Atif Nasrullah, M.D.; Maria Nawaz, M.D.; Ronakkumar Rameshbhai Patel, M.D.; Usman Iqbal Rana, M.D.; Samurna Sabir, M.D.; Sonali Sachdeva, M.D.; Muhammad Hassan Shakir, M.D.; Amninder Singh, M.D.; Gurminder Singh, M.D.; Harmandeep Singh, M.D.; Sapinder Pal Singh, M.D.; Archana Sridhar, M.D.; Ei Ei Tun, M.D.; Muhammad Waqas, M.D.; and Yuexiu Wu, M.D. National Family Medicine Stacey Elizabeth Benben, D.O.; Jacob Matthew Brumfield, D.O.; Sachit J. Desai, D.O.; Vaishnavi Gadicharla, D.O.; Jingyi Gao, D.O.; Daniel Gatazka, D.O.; Hope E. Hardy, D.O.; Justin Kim, D.O.; Sarah Jane Lawson, D.O.; Leah Joy Moorefield, D.O.; Urvashi Pandit, D.O.; Evan James Smith, D.O.; Kent Stanton, D.O.; Andrew Roy Tsai, D.O.; and Kayla Simone Williams, D.O. Regional Family Medicine Cassandra Rose D’Andrea, M.D.; Navaneeth Nambiar Othayoth Ganapathiyadan, M.D.; Renee Frieda Gladilen, M.D.; Justine Carlo G. Guevarra, M.D.; Imran Hamid, D.O.; Deepinder S. Samra, M.D.; and Andrew Sukhu, M.D. Geriatrics Fellowship Richard Michael Bronnenkant, M.D.; Ogochukwu Augustina Ekete, M.D.; Stephanie Farah, M.D.; Ahmad R. Khan, M.D.; and Arun Kumar, M.D. Cardiovascular Fellowship Pranav V. Karambelkar, M.D.; Purveshkumar Patel, M.D.; and Nischay Nikhil Shah, D.O. Gastroenterology William Buniak, D.O., and Vabhave Pal, M.D.
The Wright Center to Host Tinnitus Support Group The Tinnitus Support Group of Northeast Pennsylvania will meet on Friday, July 11, at 2 p.m. at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn. Virtual meeting options are available for those unable to attend in person. There is no fee to attend. New members are welcome. The support group welcomes individuals living with tinnitus, their loved ones, and anyone interested in learning more about this complex audiological and neurological condition. Participants will have the opportunity to connect, share their experiences, and explore coping strategies in a compassionate and supportive environment. Tinnitus, often described as ringing, buzzing, or whooshing in the ears or head, affects over 50 million adults across the U.S., with many experiencing its effects daily. For some, it can be a temporary nuisance, while for others, it becomes a chronic, life-altering condition. For more information or to obtain the virtual meeting link, contact Nicole Flynn, director of the Geriatrics Service Line at The Wright Center for Community Health, at flynnn@TheWrightCenter.org or 570-230-0019. For more information about The Wright Center, visit TheWrightCenter.org.
