The Wright Center
Jumee Barooah, Wright Center (SUBMITTED)
Timothy Burke, Wright Center (SUBMITTED)
William Dempsey, Wright Center.(SUBMITTED)
Eric McFadden, Wright Center (SUBMITTED)
Kalei Crimi, Wright Center (SUBMITTED)
Sheila Ford, Wright Center (SUBMITTED)
Dr. Jumee Barooah, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official for the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, has been named to a list of female role models across the state who exemplify ambition, creativity and impact on their communities.
City & State Pennsylvania, a multimedia news organization dedicated to covering the state’s politics and policy, included Barooah on its annual “Above and Beyond – Women” list, highlighting Pennsylvania’s most influential female leaders in government, advocacy, business, academia, media and more. She joins 34 other women on City & State Pennsylvania’s list, including Shelley Riser, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers, and Holly Pilcavage, vice president of enrollment management and student success at Luzerne County Community College.
In addition to being quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, addiction medicine, obesity medicine and lifestyle medicine, Barooah works to improve the health and welfare of communities by providing whole-person primary and preventive health services and training the next generation of physicians.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society honored three Wright Center doctors as part of National Doctors Day on March 30. With a history dating back to 1933, the annual day of observance honors the skill, dedication and commitment of physicians who care for their communities.
Dr. Renee Frank, secretary of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, presented certificates of recognition to Drs. Timothy Burke, William Dempsey and Erin McFadden for their outstanding dedication to patient care.
The Wright Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded in 1976, the Wright Centers for Community Health, Graduate Medical Education and Patient & Community Engagement are a physician-led, community-owned nonprofit and a cornerstone of health care in the region. The organization employs more than 665 professionals — including nearly 200 resident and fellow physicians — and trains more than 200 interprofessional health care learners each year.
Kaléi Crimi, the Wright Center for Community Health’s director of quality, safety and emergency preparedness, recently received the Penn State Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing Alumni Society’s Emerging Professional Award.
The Valley View High School graduate earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing with a minor in human development and family studies from the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing in 2020. As she worked locally as a registered nurse, Crimi completed a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing degree with certificates in primary palliative care and nursing education from Penn State in 2024. She concluded her education and training as a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State University’s Tressa Nese and Helen Diskevich Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence in September 2025.
The award recognizes alumni who graduated within the past 10 years, work in a clinical or academic setting and demonstrate potential to significantly impact the nursing profession. Nurses who receive the award also demonstrate exemplary professional practice, community engagement, and advocacy on behalf of the nursing profession and their communities.
Crimi accepted the award at a ceremony on March 21 at the Graduate by Hilton State College. Crimi began working for the Wright Center in 2025.
Sheila Ford, vice president and chief compliance officer at the Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, recently earned a certified Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance officer credential.
Ford is responsible for the direct planning and oversight of operational activities within the Wright Center’s centralized compliance department. She develops and implements an effective enterprise compliance program to mitigate risks, prevent illegal, unethical or improper conduct, promote the enterprise’s integrity and enhance the Wright Center’s readiness for regulatory, insurance, and accreditation audits and site visits.
The privacy and security of protected health information are governed by HIPAA, a federal law enacted in 1996 to safeguard patient data from unauthorized disclosure.
Ford earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing degree from Marywood University. She joined the Wright Center in 2014 as the RN clinical supervisor. Over the years, she’s also served as manager at the Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley in Jermyn, director of clinical quality, patient safety and emergency preparedness, and vice president of quality, safety, and enterprise policy compliance and integrity before taking on her current role in 2024.