Marion Munley Honored With the 2023 “Mel Award”

Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys announced that truck accident lawyer Marion Munley was awarded the 2023 “Mel Award” by the Melvin M. Belli Society.

The Mel Award, named after famed litigator Melvin M. Belli, is given to an attorney “who made a significant contribution to the practice of trial law in America.” The Melvin M. Belli Society is an international group of trial lawyers dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Belli legal legacy of
promoting courtroom excellence. Marion is the past president of the Society.

Widely recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent and widely respected truck accident lawyers, Marion is Triple Board Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in Civil Trial, Civil Practice, and Truck Law. Marion has earned an AV-Preeminent designation from Martindale-
Hubbell, the industry’s highest ethical and client satisfaction rating.

A leader in the legal community, Marion is an active member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and currently serves as its Treasurer. Marion was the first woman to become Chair of the AAJ Trucking Litigation Group in 2018 and is a past chair of the AAJ Women Trial Lawyers Caucus.

Marion is the second woman in Pennsylvania to become Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Among her other professional affiliations are the American Board of Trial Advocates, the International Society of Barristers, and the Summit Council, an
exclusive group of today’s top civil justice attorneys committed to the highest levels of trial advocacy, to obtaining justice for individuals and families who have been hurt by corporate wrongdoing, and to the protection of the civil justice system.

During her career, Marion has received some of the highest honors a lawyer can receive. Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2012, Marion has been named the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” for Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She has also been recognized as Best Lawyers® 2022 and 2024 “Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs in Northeastern Pennsylvania and 2021 “Lawyer of the Year” for Personal Injury-Plaintiffs for the Allentown metro area. Marion has also been selected to the list of Pennsylvania Super Lawyers for the last 18 years and was recently named to the 2023 “Top 10” Pennsylvania Super Lawyers List. A graduate of Temple University School of Law (J.D., 1986), Marion received her undergraduate degree from Scranton University in 1983.

Keystone College Receives Funding for Veteran Program

Keystone College has received funding from a local charitable foundation to improve the lives of the men and women who have served their country through military service.

Keystone has received a $5,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation to help implement the Keystone College Veterans Success Program. The program will provide targeted information and guidance on emerging educational opportunities and customize services for veterans, including financial aid, scholarships, and vocational training programs. The goal of the initiative is to empower veterans with the knowledge, resources, and educational training they need to enhance their careers and improve their lives.

Administered by the Scranton Area Foundation, the Robert H. Spitz Foundation primarily awards grants to registered nonprofit organizations that support initiatives and programs serving the residents of Lackawanna County and Northeastern Pennsylvania.

“We are very grateful to the Robert H. Spitz Foundation and the Scranton Area Foundation for helping Keystone in this important initiative to assist our nation’s military veterans,” said Keystone College President John F. Pullo, Sr. “Keystone has a long and proud history of serving those who have given so much to defend and support our nation’s freedom. This focused initiative continues that tradition.”

For the second consecutive year, Keystone has been listed as a school which is “Best for Vets” by Military Times Magazine, a national publication which serves veterans and active military members. 

Keystone’s selection was compiled through the magazine’s extensive research, including data from the federal Department of Education and Department of Veterans Affairs, to determine those schools which best serve veterans through educational opportunities, financial assistance, and services.

In previous years, Keystone has also been listed as a top school for veterans by other national military and veterans publications. Founded in 1868, with a commitment to providing an education to Civil War veterans and their families, Keystone is home to the Elmer Hawk ’48 Veterans Center, which serves as the headquarters for the Keystone Armed Services Club.

The Veterans Center offers a comfortable and convenient meeting place for this special group of Keystone students who have given so much to their country. Students can meet with each other, complete their school assignments, or simply relax, read, visit with friends and family members, or watch television while waiting for their next class.

Recognized as one of the best educational values in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Keystone offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree options in liberal arts and science-based programs in business, communications, education, natural science, environmental science, and social sciences. Located on a beautiful 276-acre campus 15 minutes from Scranton, Pa. and two hours from New York City and Philadelphia, Keystone is known for small class sizes and individual attention focused on student success through internships, research, and community involvement.

The Honesdale National Bank Announces Promotion of Sharon Smith

Thomas E. Sheridan Jr., President, and CEO of The Honesdale National Bank, announced Sharon Smith has been promoted to Branch Manager at the Lackawaxen Office.

In making the statement, Sheridan noted, “We are pleased extend this opportunity to Sharon as she grows her career at HNB.” He continued, “She has been proactive in our Lackawaxen community and eager to assist customers with their banking needs which is vital to the HNB & me experience.”

Originally from Queens, NY, Smith moved to the area in her teenage years, graduating from Honesdale High School, and has since received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Management from East Stroudsburg University. She has then pursued over 20 years in retail management at the Dollar Tree in Honesdale and has now spent 2 years in the financial Industry.

As Branch Manager, Smith is responsible for serving the Lackawaxen community by upholding HNB’s strong values and superior service. On top of managing the operations of the office, she will assist customers as they visit for their personal and business banking needs.

In mentioning her new role with HNB, Smith said, “I am glad to be a part of an organization that encourages professional growth and values support for our customers, employees, and communities.” She continued, “I am happiest when I am assisting customers with their banking needs and building relationships within this community and beyond.”

Since 2022, she has been a volunteer on the Board of Directors for Victims’ Intervention Program of Wayne and Pike Counties. She is also a volunteer/member for the Honesdale High School Band Parents Organization. Outside of the bank, she enjoys spending time with her family. 

The Honesdale National Bank, established in 1836, holds the distinction of being the area’s oldest independent community bank headquartered in Northeastern PA, with offices in Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, Lackawanna, and Luzerne Counties.  The Honesdale National Bank offers personal banking, business banking and wealth solutions.  For more information on HNB’s products and services, visit www.hnbbank.bank.

Wright Center Internal Medicine Resident Continues Cancer Research

Wright Center Internal Medicine resident Dr. Lekha Yadukumar presented scholarly research in December on the demographics and disparities in Large Granular Lymphocyte (LGL) Leukemia at the American Society of Hematology’s 65th Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, California.

The third-year resident, who plans to pursue a career in hematology-oncology, worked with a University of Nebraska Medical Center hematology-oncology fellow to perform a retrospective cohort study of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for patients diagnosed with the rare blood cancer from 2000-2020. They analyzed statistics on patient demographics, year of diagnosis, and timeline of treatment. Dr. Nirali Patel, core faculty with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency and associate program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Geriatrics Fellowship,served as the study’s faculty mentor.

The study examined statistics from 2,589 patients, with a median age of 67 years and 52.7% being men. In addition, 81.5% were Caucasians, 9.6% were African Americans, and 5.3% were Asians/Pacific Islanders, followed by 2% Hispanics and 1.5% American Indians.

Nearly 92% of those included in the study were diagnosed after 2010, leading Yadukumar to note the increasing incidence over the last decade.

“Younger age groups, females, and marital status have improved outcomes. Caucasians have better prognosis compared to other races,” said the Bangalore, India, native, adding that the findings spotlight the need for better representation of other races in clinical trials and to further investigate the tumor biology of the cancer. 

“The conference was a great opportunity, as I got to present my work to the leaders in this field,” Yadukumar said. “Next year, I am headed to the University of Iowa for my hematology-oncology fellowship, and the conference was a good platform for me.”

The findings will also be published in “Blood,” a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Society of Hematology.

Yadukumar’s first time exploring racial disparities in cancer research. She served as the lead researcher in a study that found Black men were diagnosed with breast cancer at a later age and had a higher mortality rate compared to white men. The findings were presented in a research poster at the May 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology Breast Cancer Annual Congress in Berlin, Germany.

She worked on that study with several other doctors, including fellow Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Internal Medicine Resident Dr. Amninder Singh. The study’s findings drew media attention, including an article in MD Edge, an online magazine dedicated to hematology and oncology news.

Additionally, Yadukumar was inspired to study esophageal cancer hospitalizations in the transgender population after meeting a patient at The Wright Center for Community Health’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Clinic. She utilized the national inpatient sample database from 2015-2020 for her study.

Together with Wright Center Cardiovascular Disease Fellow Dr. Yaser Khalid and several other doctors and resident physicians from across the country, Yadukumar analyzed mortality, length of hospital stays, and total hospital costs for 212,425 patients, including 97,950 transgender patients. The research team presented their findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology’s World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain.

“Our study showed transgender patients had a 5.1 times increased risk of death. They had increased total hospital costs and longer length of stays compared to the general population,” she said. “Our takeaway was that there is a significant difference in outcomes when we compare transgender people to the general population. While cis-gender differences in cancer prevalence and outcomes are well investigated, there is a need to study transgender populations to understand the existing disparities in their outcomes.”

Through her research on this project, Yadukumar found the option to document a patient as transgender is not available in most cancer databases. “The health care system is truly biased against this population in our community, and there is a need to actively work on bridging this gap from a clinician perspective, as well as with research,” she added.

For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.

Outreach- Center for Community Resources Receives Community Needs Grant

Outreach – Center for Community Resources received a grant for $12,000 from the Scranton Area Community Foundation in June of this year for Outreach Evidence-based Early Childhood Education as part of the 2023 Spring Community Needs Grant Cycle.

Outreach offers evidence-based home visiting programs for parents and their children. The early childhood education programs focus on child development and school readiness for families with children prenatal to age 3. Services focus on positive parent-child interactions, school readiness, and overall family well-being. Outreach Family Development Specialists visit the homes of the parents and their children weekly. The Outreach home visitors and parents plan ways to help the child learn using parent-child interactions, daily routines, and household materials.

Outreach child-serving programs aim to improve school readiness through high-quality activities that enhance cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Outreach parenting programs allow parents to gain the skills to implement positive parenting techniques that result in improved behavioral outcomes for their children and connect them to a social network of other parents.

Outreach is very grateful to the Scranton Area Community Foundation for its continued support of the family-serving programs we provide for the regional community. This funding has helped Outreach advance its mission to assist families in achieving stability and economic self-sufficiency.

The Scranton Area Community Foundation has been serving the Northeastern Pennsylvania region for over 65 years as a steward, a grant-maker, a charitable resource, and a catalyst for change and growth. The Scranton Area Community Foundation was established as a community trust in 1954 by the Scranton Family, whose initial gift was the seed that has grown into a permanent vehicle for donors to accomplish their philanthropic goals while helping to support positive change within our community. Today the Scranton Area Community Foundation holds and manages a variety of funds from individuals, organizations, and corporations. Through these gifts, the Foundation responds to community needs and has provided grants to support regional nonprofits.

Northeast Regional Cancer Institute Releases Latest Report on Cancer

The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, a community-based nonprofit organization, is pleased to present this
report on cancer incidence and mortality in Northeastern Pennsylvania. For over 30 years, the Cancer Institute
has worked to ease the burden of cancer by focusing on the areas of community & patient services and
survivorship. The Cancer Institute invests 100% of its resources in this region.

The Cancer Surveillance Program at the Cancer Institute compiled this report using data from the
organization’s Regional Cancer Registry, the Bureau of Health Statistics and Research of the Pennsylvania
Department of Health, and the National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)
Program. This report describes cancer incidence and mortality in Northeastern Pennsylvania relative to the
United States for the 23 most common cancer sites. For the purpose of this report, Northeastern Pennsylvania is
defined as the six counties of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming. Data from the
SEER program were taken as representative of incidence and mortality rates for the United States as a whole.

In April 2023, the SEER Program reported effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on cancer incidence statistics for
the year 2020. Reported incidence was down in April and May but returned to pre-Covid levels by June 2020.
As a result, reported cancer incidence rates for 2020 were lower than expected based on 2019 and earlier
data. The deficit in incidence varied by cancer site, but for all sites combined was approximately 9.3%. An
examination of cancer incidence data for Northeastern Pennsylvania showed a similar drop in cancer cases
reported in April and May of 2020, resulting in a 6.3% decrease in incidence for the year as a whole. Because of
the small difference between SEER and Northeastern Pennsylvania in the covid-related drop in incidence and
the Standardized Incidence Ratios (SIRs) in this report are based on data for a five-year period (2016-2020), any
effects of Covid-19 on the calculated SIRs are expected to be quite small. Consequently, no adjustments were
made to account for the possible effects of Covid-19 on the SIRs presented here.

The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute uses these cancer surveillance data to focus the organization’s
community and patient services to have the greatest possible impact. Similarly, they hope that the information
contained in this report is helpful in support of patients at risk of or diagnosed with cancer and their
loved ones.

Wayne Bank’s Vincent O’Bell Re-Appointed to Health and Welfare Authority

Wayne Bank Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer, Vincent O’Bell, was recently reappointed to Chairman of the Scranton and Lackawanna Health and Welfare Authority.

Mr. O’Bell has over 45 years in the financial industry.  Mr. O’Bell also serves as a member of the investment and finance committee for the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a member of the finance counsel of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish and a Board Member, Treasurer, and Paul Harris Fellow for the Rotary Club of Scranton.

Mr. Donnelly stated, “Vinny is an integral part of our leadership team.  His guidance, expertise, and commitment to our business customers and our employees are a big part of our success.  We are proud to celebrate Vinny’s re-appointment as Chairman of Scranton and Lackawanna County’s Health and Welfare Authority.  Vinny cares deeply about our communities, and I am confident the people of Lackawanna County will continue to benefit from him leading the Scranton and Lackawanna Health and Welfare Authority.”

Marywood University Sets Virtual Info Sessions for Graduate Programs

Marywood University will hold virtual information sessions for several graduate programs throughout the month of January. Prospective graduate or doctoral students interested in any of these programs are encouraged to sign up for the virtual events. To register for any of these programs, go to marywood.edu/visit.

Master of Social Work Program: Wed., Jan. 3, 2024, at 6 PM

Learn about Marywood’s Master of Social Work program, converse with faculty, and get information from Admissions staff about the application process.

School of Education Graduate Programs: Thurs., Jan. 4, 2024, 3 PM

Spend an afternoon online with Marywood faculty and Admissions staff to learn more about School of Education graduate degree programs as well as the admissions application process.

Ph.D. and Master of Public Administration Programs: Tues., Jan. 9, 2024, 6 PM

Join Marywood faculty member Dr. Alex Dawoody and Admissions staff virtually to learn about our 100% online Ph.D. and Master of Public Administration degree programs, which use dynamic teaching methods designed for learning adults and effective graduate studies.

Dietetic Internship Program: Wed., Jan. 10, 2024, 4 PM

This virtual event includes an overview of the Nutrition/Dietetic Internship program and conversations with current student interns.

Biotechnology Master’s Program: Mon., Jan. 22, 2024, 5:30 PM

Join science faculty members virtually to learn about Marywood’s 100% online Biotechnology degree program. You’ll also get information about the application process from Admissions staff.

School of Business and Global Innovation-MBA and MIS Programs: Wed., Jan. 24, 2024, 5 PM

Join business faculty online to learn about MBA and Management Information System graduate degree programs. Admissions staff will discuss the admissions application process.

Graduate & Doctoral Psychology & Counseling Programs: Tues., Jan. 30, 2024, 3 PM

Spend an afternoon online with faculty and Admissions staff to learn about Marywood’s Counseling & Psychology graduate and doctoral degree programs, as well as the admissions application process. This session includes the Ed.S. School Psychology and Psy.D. Clinical Psychology programs.