March 30 was National Doctors’ Day – a perfect opportunity to celebrate all the great physicians out there, including those who practice locally.

The annual observance honors the “dedication, skill, and unwavering commitment of physicians in providing high-quality health care to individuals and communities worldwide,” according to the American Medical Association.

The first National Doctors Day was held all the way back in 1933 by Dr. Charles B. Almond in Winder, Georgia. Now it’s observed by health care organizations across the country, offering institutions and patients the chance to express their appreciation for physicians working in all facets of medicine.

At The Wright Center, we take immense pride in our doctors. Since our beginnings in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, we have been dedicated to providing high-quality primary and preventive care to the residents of Northeast Pennsylvania. Today, our doctors uphold a twofold mission: delivering comprehensive, whole-person primary health services to all – regardless of insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay – and educating the next generation of physicians and interprofessional health care professionals.

And as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, or FQLA, we’ve been able to expand our local network’s locations in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne and Wyoming counties, as well as our Driving Better Health mobile medical and dental unit, that all told serve tens of thousands of patients annually.

Our doctors follow a patient-centric model, with an emphasis on overcoming barriers to care by delivering coordinated and comprehensive services, including primary and preventive care, pediatrics, behavioral health, dental care, infectious disease services, lifestyle medicine, obesity medicine, and addiction recovery services. Through that full spectrum of care, we strive to improve access to care by emphasizing care management of patients with numerous medical needs, as well as through the use of key quality improvement practices, among them health information technology.

Given the topic, I’d like to take the opportunity to boast about some recent accolades we received.

In February, our president and CEO, Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, received the 2025 ATHENA Leadership Award, presented by the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce and sponsored locally by Michael A. Barbetti LLC Certified Public Accountants. The award honors an exceptional individual who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, has served the community in a meaningful way, and has assisted women in their attainment of professional goals and leadership skills. Dr. Thomas-Hemak certainly embodies all of these fine qualities.

Meanwhile, our community health centers in Clarks Summit, Jermyn, South Scranton Wilkes-Barre recently received the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Patient-Centered Medical Home certificate of recognition. The award recognizes our locations’ commitment to delivering affordable, high-quality, whole-person primary health services through the patient-centered medical home model. In addition to strengthening patient-clinician relationships and enhancing the management of chronic conditions, the patient-centered medical home model also increases staff satisfaction and reduces health care costs. It’s wonderful to receive awards and certifications like these, which reaffirm the first-rate, cutting-edge work our physicians are carrying out every day. It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Northeast Pennsylvania.

Dr. Usman Rana never considered how decisions made on Capitol Hill could affect the community where he lives and works – until one of those decisions impacted his life.

A federal policy change in 2022 prevented him from completing a geriatrics fellowship at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Witnessing The Wright Center’s leaders advocate for him and his fellow physicians ignited his passion for advocacy. After transitioning to The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, which he’ll complete in June, Dr. Rana became actively involved with the enterprise’s Advocacy Team. 

Less than three years later, Dr. Rana earned national recognition for his advocacy work at The Wright Center. In February 2025, he accepted the National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC) 2025 Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award at the association’s Policy & Issues Forum in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes efforts to educate federal and state legislators about community health centers and establish and expand grassroots advocacy efforts at health centers across the country.

“I had no idea what was happening in Washington, D.C., or how it affected health care here in Scranton or across the country,” he said. “I realized that being a voice for your community, colleagues, and patients can work miracles.”

For the past two years, first as a resident leader and now as the resident chief, Dr. Rana has actively engaged in advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. His work centers on key issues such as securing long-term reauthorization of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program, increased funding for community health centers like The Wright Center, and expanding access to health care and prescription medications.

In his nomination for the NACHC award, leaders at The Wright Center noted Dr. Rana’s remarkable efforts to continue building a culture of advocacy within the enterprise and the larger community.

“Dr. Rana, The Wright Center’s chief resident of advocacy for public health priorities, is a remarkable physician servant leader in support of our work to enact policy change in our nation’s public health policies. In this role, he is a member of the advocacy committee of our governing board and works closely with The Wright Center’s Advocacy Team,” said Jennifer Walsh, Esq., senior vice president and chief legal and governance officer at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “His passion is helping to elevate the key role that physicians can play in helping to shape federal and state policies to better serve patients, their families, and the communities they serve.”

After receiving his doctorate of medicine from Allama Iqbal Medical College, a public medical college in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, in 2010, he worked as a medical officer there before coming to the United States to complete externships in New York City. He married Dr. Huma Chudhary, a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist in Pakistan, in 2014. The couple worked in the medical field in Pakistan, Kuwait, and the United Kingdom. The married couple had a son, now 10, and a daughter, now 7, before they moved to Scranton in 2022 so Dr. Rana could start his residency at The Wright Center. Since then, the couple has welcomed two more daughters, now 3 years old and 18 months old. As Dr. Rana finishes his medical residency, Dr.  Chudhary is preparing to take her medical licensing exam to begin providing care in the United States.

Dr. Rana has included his family in his advocacy work, bringing them along on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. “They visited some places in the city while I worked,” he said. “It was nice to show them what I’m doing. I think my wife was impressed.” 

On his most recent solo trip to Washington, D.C., to accept the NACHC award, Dr. Rana joined several other leaders from The Wright Center in meeting with legislators on Capitol Hill, including freshman U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan, who took office in January 2025. He represents Pennsylvania’s 8th District, which includes Lackawanna, Wayne, and Pike counties, as well as most of Luzerne and Monroe counties. 

Dr. Rana said sharing patient stories with U.S. Representative Bresnahan and other federal, state, and local leaders is an effective way to educate them on the role The Wright Center and other community health centers across the country play – not just in providing affordable, high-quality, whole-person primary health services to everyone, regardless of insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay, but also as educational powerhouses addressing the growing shortage of primary care physicians nationwide.

His interest in advocacy has also influenced his plan for the future. The 40-year-old plans to stay in Northeast Pennsylvania after graduation to continue delivering care in the community. He also plans to continue sharing stories about his patients, colleagues, and his own experiences in health care.

“Sharing these stories creates an impact that can lead to positive change,” Dr. Rana said. “It’s something that I want to continue to do even after I graduate in June.”

Established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, The Wright Center is one of the nation’s largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums. Together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model to advance their shared mission to provide whole-person primary health services to everyone regardless of a patient’s insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay.

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

Internal Medicine resident following in parents’ footsteps takes on new leadership role at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

As a child, Dr. Simran Bhimani had a bird’s-eye view of her parents’ medical clinic in their small village near Karachi, Pakistan.

Dr. Bhimani’s childhood home doubled as a medical clinic, where her mother, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and her father, a pediatrician, cared for patients on the first floor. Some of her earliest memories include her mother tending to her between patient visits.

“Becoming a doctor is something that was ingrained in me from an early age,” said Dr. Bhimani, a second-year Internal Medicine resident physician at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (TWCGME) in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “Training in the United States was my mother’s dream, so it’s special to me to be able to come here and train.”

Now, as the resident physician follows her parents’ path, she’s taken on a unique leadership role at The Wright Center: Participatory Citizenship Chief Resident. The post serves as a bridge between resident and fellow physicians and TWCGME’s leadership.

Participatory citizenship is an international concept that is gaining in popularity. It seeks to improve decision-making and enhance accountability by emphasizing the involvement of ordinary citizens in the overall process of building a better society.

“The position was created to ensure that the voices of the residents and fellows are heard,” said Dr. Bhimani. “Some residents may feel hesitant to voice concerns or give feedback to faculty or Graduate Medical Education Committee members, but as a colleague and friend, I hope they feel comfortable speaking with me.”

Dr. Bhimani’s primary goal is to boost resident and fellow physician participation in TWCGME surveys. These surveys gather feedback on various topics, including faculty engagement and learning environments. In her first email to residents and fellows, she praised the strong response rate to a recent clinical climate survey and highlighted the steps Wright Center officials are taking based on the feedback they received.

“As we strive for excellence, one key area for improvement emerged: enhancing the patient-centered continuity experience. We have enhanced our team-based continuity model in our primary clinics to address this concern,” she wrote in the message. “While this initiative is still in its early stages, we are committed to refining and expanding it in the coming months.”

Dr. Bhimani emphasized that informing residents and fellows about how their feedback contributes to improving and refining training programs is essential for boosting survey participation.

“When I was a first-year student, I didn’t understand the importance of filling out a survey,” she said. “Now I know that responding to a survey is a chance to make my mark on the program and contribute to making it better for all stakeholders – the residents and fellows, TWCGME leadership, the patients, and most importantly, future learners.”

Coming from a family of physicians – including her brother, Dr. Sameer Bhimani, a first-year Internal Medicine resident physician at The Wright Center – she understands the importance of open communication in medical training. This trait was recognized by TWCGME leadership, who praised her enthusiasm for the new role.

“Together with Dr. Bhimani and our resident and fellow physicians, we are demonstrating the value of participatory citizenship, sharing opportunities to contribute, and offering a venue for action plans,” said Dr. Jumee Barooah, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official at TWCGME. “We look forward to working with her to develop and define this role as we continue our efforts to improve the graduate medical education experience.”

Dr. Bhimani views the new role as another valuable opportunity to develop skills for her future career as a primary care physician. Inspired by her parents’ dedication to whole-person care in Pakistan, she is committed to providing the same level of compassionate treatment. Along her journey, she has drawn inspiration from leadership at The Wright Center, including President and CEO Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Erin McFadden, and Dr. Barooah.

“I connect to the type of care offered here because my parents also took a whole-person approach to treating their patients,” Dr. Bhimani said. “The doctors I’ve worked with take the time to listen and understand their patients. The whole sum of The Wright Center’s program is community care and community outreach. That’s what I want to provide as a doctor, too.”  For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed 47 new resident physicians into residency programs on National Match Day for aspiring doctors on March 21.

The National Resident Matching Program’s Match Day is held annually on the third Friday of March. Medical students nation- and worldwide simultaneously learn at which U.S. residency program they will train for the next three to seven years. It is one of the most important and competitive processes in the medical school experience.

On March 21, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education staff celebrated National Match Day, marking the exciting moment when medical students discover their residency placements. Joining the festivities were Michelle Grochowski, Eileen Howells, Lisa Mann, Russell Day, Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, Meagan Coleman-Derenick, Dr. Jumee Barooah, Brian Ebersole, Najla Figueroa, and Xiomara Smith, who shared in the excitement of welcoming the incoming residents.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education looks forward to Match Day each year as it learns which medical school graduates will continue their training in its Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency programs. The Wright Center is one of the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Consortiums in the country, with more than 190 physicians in training.

The Wright Center matched residents in the following regional programs: Internal Medicine Residency (32) and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency (9). Two resident physicians were also welcomed into the new Internal Medicine-Geriatrics Integrated Residency and Fellowship Pathway, commonly known as the Combined Med-Geri Pathway, and four residents will join the new Family Medicine – HealthSource of Ohio Residency Program, a collaboration between The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education and HealthSource of Ohio in Hillsboro.

The Wright Center is one of 14 training sites across the country approved by ACGME to offer the unique Med-Geri Pathway Program, which provides an alternative route for training geriatricians by integrating the clinical experiences and competencies required of a geriatrics fellowship across the internal medicine residency.

The innovative Family Medicine – HealthSource of Ohio Residency Program focuses on training family medicine physicians in rural settings with an emphasis on caring for underserved populations. Residents will gain hands-on experience in patient care at Ohio’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center, which serves more than 85,000 patients annually. Through this immersive training, the program aims to strengthen the rural health care workforce and improve access to high-quality whole-person primary health services.

The Wright Center will also retain three physicians in training who will complete the Geriatrics Fellowship Program in June. They will join the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

The new resident physicians will begin their program on July 1. All together, incoming residents hail from 12 countries: 15 from the United States, 15 from Pakistan, four from Egypt, four from India, two from Canada, and one each from Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

The Wright Center received 5,835 applications and interviewed 433 candidates, or about 7.42% of the applicants. The National Resident Matching Program makes residency matches, using a mathematical algorithm to pair graduating medical students with open training positions at teaching health centers, educational consortia, hospitals, and other institutions across the U.S. The model considers the top choices of both students and residency programs.

“Match Day is one of the most exciting days of the academic year and a celebration to welcome our new residents,” said Jumee Barooah, M.D., senior vice president and designated institutional official at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “For the residents, the day represents the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance that began at an early age.

“For The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, it marks another milestone in meeting our mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.”

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, The Wright Center is one of the nation’s largest HRSA-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums. Together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model to advance their shared mission to provide whole-person primary health services to everyone, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. To date, The Wright Center has trained 1,056 graduates.

The Wright Center offers ACGME-accredited residencies in four disciplines – internal medicine, family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and the combined med-geri pathway – as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, and geriatrics.

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