Healthcare Advisory Committee
Linda Thomas-Hemak, Healthcare Advisory Committee (SUBMITTED)
Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., president and CEO of the Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, has been appointed to a federal healthcare advisory committee tasked with improving patient care and modernizing the nation’s healthcare system.
Thomas-Hemak was selected from over 400 applicants to serve on the 18-person board by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan provided a letter of recommendation for her appointment to the board.
The Wright Center, headquartered in Scranton, has been a national model for community-based healthcare and graduate medical education, with a mission focused on increasing access to affordable, high-quality care, particularly in underserved and rural areas.
The federal advisory committee brings together healthcare leaders from across the nation to provide recommendations on improving quality of care, strengthening the healthcare workforce and modernizing systems to better serve patients.
Lackawanna Historical Society
Sharon Burnham, Lackawanna Historical Society (SUBMITTED)
Marleen Cloutier, Lackawanna Historical Society (SUBMITTED)
Abby Walsh, Lackawanna Historical Society (SUBMITTED)
The historical society welcomed three new trustees.
In January, Scranton native Sharon Burnham was elected to fill a vacancy in the class of 2028. Burnham is a graduate of Central High School, and earned a Bachelor of Science in social studies education from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts in history from the University of Richmond. She was on the history faculty of Brightpoint Community College, Midlothian, Virginia, for nearly three decades before retiring and returning to Scranton. Upon her return, she quickly found a home as an active volunteer for the society, working with staff and other volunteers to uncover and preserve Lackawanna’s fascinating and rich history.
At their March meeting the society trustees also voted unanimously to fill two additional vacancies on the board, appointing Marleen Cloutier to join Burnham in the class of 2028 and Abby Walsh to fill a spot in the class of 2026.
Cloutier has a Master of Science in library and information science from Drexel University with a concentration in digital libraries, a Master of Science in human resources management from the University of Scranton and a Bachelor of Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology. She worked for several years as an exhibit designer, drafter and production manager for Christopher Chadbourne & Associates, and later as an independent consultant to digitally document and coordinate a variety of museum exhibit design projects and provide additional collections management services. She also brought vast library experience through her time with Backstage Library Works at the Peabody Essex Museum, and as an intern for the Goulston & Storrs Law Library. Her years of experience is what first brought her to Scranton when she signed on as a cataloguing assistant at the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Library in 2016 and later became assistance professor and cataloguing and metadata librarian. She has been volunteering for the society since 2020 and was the society’s Volunteer of the Year in 2023.
Walsh is a South Scranton native who developed her love of local politics and history at a young age through the influence of her grandfather. She graduated from Holy Cross High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Quinnipiac University. In 2024, she graduated from Quinnipiac University School of Law with her JD and became an attorney in October 2024. She currently works as an attorney for the state. Walsh began volunteering for the society when she was a freshman in high school, and is grateful for the opportunity to join the board of trustees and further the mission of the historical society.