Medical School Professor Explains Mission to Rotarians

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is pushing ahead with its mission of being a patient-centered educational institution focusing on the community.

The medical school, until this year known as The Commonwealth Medical College, operates campuses in various communities throughout northeastern and central Pennsylvania, including Williamsport.

Dr. Margrit Shoemaker, assistant professor of medicine and the collegeís assistant chair of internal medicine, on Monday summarized the school operations and its history for the Williamsport Rotary Club.

Each year, she said, about 100 of 7,000 school applicants are admitted as medical students.

To keep with the school’s mission of training physicians who will stay in Pennsylvania, most of the students are from the state.

A goal of the school’s founders was to educate physicians who would remain in the region, and about 60 percent of graduates stay in the state.

Shoemaker called the admission process a "holistic" one as it considers potential students not strictly on academic achievements but also on character, diversity, service and commitment.

All students are required to provide 100 hours of community service. Volunteerism, she said, helps students become more engaged in the communities.

When the school opened in 2009, it operated campuses in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.

In 2015, Guthrie Health System in Sayre was added, and this year, Geisinger’s Danville campus becomes part of the medical college, Shoemaker noted.

The teaching curriculum, she said, is based on the health needs of hospitals and medical institutions. Students are exposed to a realm of medical education including outpatient care in internal and family medicine, surgery, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and psychiatry. The outpatient education provides students the opportunity to study patients over time.

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