The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education celebrated 67 resident and fellow physician graduates during its 47th annual commencement on Saturday at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center.
The commencement ceremony honored 42 graduates in the Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency program, 13 in the National Family Medicine Residency program, five in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency program, three each in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship and Geriatrics Fellowship programs, and one in the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program.
The class of 2026 joins more than 1,100 resident and fellow physicians who have completed their residency and fellowship programs since the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education began educating and training physicians in 1976.
“For the past 50 years, the Wright Center and its extraordinarily talented and dedicated governing board members, faculty, physicians, learners, care teams, support staff and community partners have demonstrated our belief that the environments where physicians train and serve determines their future,” Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of the Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, said during the ceremony.
“Our physician-training mission began with a visionary investment: a $1 million Federal Bureau of Health Manpower grant awarded in 1976 to demonstrate that community-immersed graduate medical education could strengthen the physician and interprofessional workforce and the health of entire communities.”
Graduation speakers also included Dr. Jumee Barooah, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official at the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. She noted that Saturday’s ceremony was a celebration of another milestone: The Wright Center’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program’s first graduating class since its launch in 2022.
“To all of tonight’s graduates: congratulations,” Barooah said. “This moment belongs to you. It also belongs to the families, friends, mentors, faculty members, colleagues and loved ones who stood beside you through every overnight shift, every exam, every difficult conversation, and every moment of doubt and growth along the way.”
Founded in 1976, the Wright Centers for Community Health, Graduate Medical Education, and Patient & Community Engagement is a physician-led, community-owned nonprofit.
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. It employs more than 677 professionals and trains nearly 200 resident and fellow physicians, as well as more than 200 interprofessional healthcare learners, each year.
Members of the class of 2026 are:
Internal Medicine
Tushar Abhinav, M.D.; Hafiza Huda Akhtar, M.D.; Mehreen Amin, M.D.; Madan Basnet, M.D.; Srikar Bathi, M.D.; Seyma Bayram, M.D.; Simran Bhimani, M.D.; Miguel Armando Castellon, M.D.; Maimona Chaudhary, M.D.; Asim Choudhary, M.D.; Ifunanya Racheal Ekechukwu, M.D.; Keerthy Gopalakrishnan, M.D.; Bhavika Gottipati, M.D.; Waleed Iftikhar, M.D.; Hira Khalid Kareem, M.D.; Natasha Khalid, M.D.; Santosh Khanal, M.D.; Sunny Kumar, M.D.; Ghazanfar Latif, M.D.; Talha Liaqat, M.D.; Fatima Kausar Nawaz, M.D.; Tejas Nikumbh, M.D.; Ketaki Pande, M.D.; Paula Miguelle Pantig-Hicban, M.D.; Dhruv Patel, M.D.; Shivangi Harshadbhai Patel, M.D.; Shreyas Patil, M.D.; Enrico Thomas Pelicci, M.D.; Armando D. Pichs Diez, M.D.; Sandra Khalil Rabat, D.O.; Hamza Saber, M.D.; Sharon Maria Santhosh, M.D.; Wajeeha Shahid, M.D.; Ethan Michael Phillip Shamis, M.D.; Preetika Sharma, M.D.; AadhyaaRavianshi Shenoy, M.D.; Kavitha Singaravel, M.D.; Xingzuo Wang, M.D.; Nivesh Yadav, M.D.; Kirelos Nasser Younan Kirelos, M.D.; Zara Younas, M.D.; and Rana Inam Ullah Zafar, M.D.
National Family Medicine
Hoeffer Chi Kit Mok, D.O.; Alexander Silva, D.O.; William Eaton Smith, D.O.; Cody Boltz, D.O.; Daniel Woojin Jang, D.O.; Conner Saul Hendryx, D.O.; V. Chrysta Sahakian, D.O.; Victoria Bao Quynh Nguyen, D.O.; Claudine C. Nwadiozor, D.O.; Stephen Kyle Phelps, D.O.; Kenneth Charles Terry II, D.O.; Taylor Andrew Sutton, D.O.; and Jonathan Yi, D.O.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Aliy Mirza Ahmed, D.O.; Abhinav Arora, D.O.; Bradley Carl Bierman, D.O.; Alan Trung Lam, D.O.; and Kevin Nguyen, D.O.
Geriatrics Fellowship
Padman Kumari, M.D.; Fnu Murk, M.D.; and Abdul Rafay Soomro, M.D.
Cardiovascular Fellowship
Khyati Khattar, M.D.; Muhammad Sabih Saleem, M.D.; and Dipen Vallabhdas Zalavadia, M.D.
Gastroenterology
Hany Eskarous, M.D.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education acknowledged the first graduating class from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program on Saturday at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. Members of the class include, from left, Drs. Aliy Mirza Ahmed, Kevin Nguyen, Bradley Bierman, program Director Kenneth Gentilezza, Abhinav Arora and Alan Trung Lam. (SUBMITTED)