{"id":188722,"date":"2026-05-10T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188722\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:08:07","slug":"geisinger-school-of-medicine-holds-14th-commencement-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188722\/","title":{"rendered":"Geisinger School of Medicine holds 14th commencement ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geisinger School of Medicine held its 14th commencement Saturday, graduating 111 new doctors in a ceremony at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n

In remarks, School of Medicine Dean and Geisinger College of Health Sciences President Julie Byerley, M.D., said the school has a growing impact on Northeast and Central Pennsylvania, from providing the region with more doctors to supporting the local economy.<\/p>\n

In particular, the school\u2019s Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, which provides tuition assistance for graduates who return to practice at Geisinger after residency, is now at full capacity, and the first scholars are coming back to practice locally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the program now enrolling 45 seats per class \u2014 and the first primary care scholars returning to work in our clinics \u2014 we are fulfilling our founders\u2019 vision,\u201d Byerley said. \u201cI am proud of these new doctors and of every member of the class of 2026. We know they will all be skilled and compassionate physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byerley said the medical school was founded by Scranton community members to address a physician shortage.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the ceremony was the keynote address delivered by retired Geisinger Health board member Thomas H. Lee, M.D., chief medical officer for Press Ganey Associates Inc.<\/p>\n

Lee, an internist and cardiologist, practices primary care at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston and is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Lee urged the graduates to pay special attention to building \u201csocial capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBuild your relationships, adopt the right norms, be willing to speak up when someone doesn\u2019t adhere to those norms and welcome feedback when you yourself fall short,\u201d he said. \u201cIn short, be like the CFO for social capital, and you will accumulate a type of wealth that money can\u2019t buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event also included remarks by Geisinger CEO Terry Gilliland, M.D., and Geisinger board Chair Virginia McGregor.<\/p>\n

Local graduates are:<\/p>\n

Emily Allen, Scott Twp.<\/p>\n

Tyler Bielinski, Dunmore<\/p>\n

Alexis Blackburn, Moosic<\/p>\n

Marena Casey, Scranton<\/p>\n

Kristen Denniston, Lords Valley<\/p>\n

Grace DiBileo, Scranton<\/p>\n

Alexandra Geyfman, Scranton<\/p>\n

Emily Harasym, Factoryville<\/p>\n

Raeva Mulloth, Clarks Summit<\/p>\n

Abigail Norwillo, Duryea<\/p>\n

Alivia Roberts, Hazleton<\/p>\n

Nathan Rosahac, Jim Thorpe<\/p>\n

Emily Scott, Nanticoke<\/p>\n

Christina Shaffern, Scranton<\/p>\n

Gina Tallo, Dunmore<\/p>\n

Jason Tinsley, Clarks Summit<\/p>\n

Alexandra Yudiski, Old Forge<\/p>\n

\"GeisingerGeisinger School of Medicine held its 14th commencement ceremony Saturday, graduating 111 new doctors in a ceremony at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre. (Courtesy Geisinger School of Medicine)
\n\"GeisingerGeisinger School of Medicine Dean and Geisinger College of Health Sciences President Julie Byerley, M.D., speaks Saturday during the School of Medicine\u2019s 14th commencement ceremony at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre. (Courtesy Geisinger School of Medicine)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geisinger School of Medicine held its 14th commencement Saturday, graduating 111 new doctors in a ceremony at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[227,201,182,803,139,28,29,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-188722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-education","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}