SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Doctor of Medicine MD Program
Geisinger College of Health
A message from the president and dean
In the modern healthcare landscape, two things are abundantly clear:
• Medicine’s focus must be quality and outcomes — sometimes stated simply as “value.”
• It’s a simple truth that complex, interlocking systems drive healthcare — and physicians who comprehend those systems thrive and deliver better patient care.
Geisinger has been a leader in value-based care and systems science long before these were buzzwords. Our visionary initiatives like ProvenCare® analyze how our doctors can virtually guarantee positive outcomes. MyCode, with more than 350,000 sequenced genomes, is used to place precision medicine where it belongs — in the clinic and in the hands of primary care providers. Our robust research arm is uniquely focused on discovery that jumps directly from hypothesis to health. And while we use machine learning and AI and every technological tool to our patients’ advantage, we don’t forget that where our neighbors work, where they live and what our communities look like greatly influence health.
That’s why we innovate in the human sphere, with groundbreaking programs like the Fresh Food Farmacy, which provides healthy, nutritious groceries for entire households, and 65 Forward, which recognizes the unique needs of an aging population.
This is what makes our education uniquely Geisinger. Leveraging Geisinger’s acclaimed clinical and technological strengths, we emphasize active learning, early clinical exposure and community immersion. That’s why our School of Medicine graduates are known for authentic empathy, in addition to residency-ready clinical skills. We educate the kind of doctors who will lead healthcare teams of the future. If this is the future physician you’d like to be, Geisinger is the place for you to learn.
Sincerely,
Julie Byerley, MD, MPH
President, Geisinger College of Health Sciences
Dean, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Geisinger
Total Health Curriculum
The Total Health Curriculum is built on the science of learning and uses an evidence-based approach to train skilled, compassionate physicians who provide individualized care of patients and promote health in the communities they serve. In addition to providing a fully integrated and immersive educational experience in basic, clinical and health systems sciences, the curriculum emphasizes six longitudinal themes that compose the Systems, Society and Humanism in Medicine (SSHM) core: Community Immersion, Health Systems Citizenship, Personal and Professional Development, Population Health, Primary Care and Social Justice and Health Equity.
We envision our Total Health Curriculum as a tree, like the tree of knowledge that forms our seal. The roots correspond to Phase 1 – Principles of Science and Practice, which encompasses foundational education rooted in basic, clinical and health system sciences. The trunk epitomizes Phase 2 – Core Clinical Immersion With roots firmly planted, you will build a solid body of clinical experiences that begins early and grows in complexity and meaning. The trunk provides firm support for the branches, which represent Phase 3 –Career Differentiation and Exploration. During this phase, you will progress in the development of advanced clinical skills and training that suits your individual interests and career goals.
At a glance: Total Health Curriculum
Phase 1 Principles of Medical Science and Practice
Phase 1 includes three semesters. The curriculum is organized into integrated, system-based blocks and features learning through the Clinical Presentation Model and other active learning formats.
At a glance: Phase 1
Phase 2
Core Clinical Immersion
Phase 2 begins with a 4-week Transition to Clerkship course. Subsequently, students are enrolled in five, 9-week clerkship blocks (Ambulatory, Neurosciences, Women’s and Children’s, Surgery and Medicine) inclusive of bridge weeks. Bridge weeks are periods between clerkship blocks during which you’ll complete assignments, take national board subject examinations and receive orientation for the next clerkship experience. Bridge weeks also allow you to explore subspecialty areas of interest, conduct research and/or meet with mentors and advisors. Phase 2 ends with the Transition to Phase 3 course. Additional features of the Phase 2 curriculum include longitudinal requirements in the disciplines of Radiology and Pathology/Diagnostic Medicine and a Career Pathways Program.
At a glance: Phase 2
Clinical blocks
Transition to Clerkships
Ambulatory
Medicine
Women’s and Children’s
Neurosciences
Surgery
Transition to Phase 3
Curriculum overview*
Hones clinical skills and provides necessary preparation for students to enter clinical learning environment full-time on their regional medical campuses.
Outpatient clerkship inclusive of Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Pediatrics and Musculoskeletal Medicine.
Inpatient and outpatient experience with exposure to general internal medicine and medicine subspecialty fields.
Combines the two clerkship disciplines of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB-GYN). Includes experiences in inpatient Pediatrics, newborn nursery and pediatric subspecialty areas as well as inpatient labor and delivery, gynecologic surgery and outpatient OB-GYN.
Combines the two clerkship disciplines of Neurology and Psychiatry in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
Core General Surgery rotations with experiences in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
Provides students with an opportunity to reflect on Phase 2, engage in residency planning and USMLE step preparation, and participate in advanced skill sessions to prepare students for the clinical requirements in Phase 3.
Phase 3
Career Differentiation and Exploration
Phase 3 includes required core clinical rotations, expanded elective exploration opportunities and a formal Transition to Residency course.
At a glance: Phase 3 - Requirements for advanced clinical experiences*
Activity
Required rotations
Elective opportunities
Transition to residency
Curriculum overview*
Advanced clinical experiences including a subinternship, Critical Care Medicine selective, Emergency Medicine and SSHM selective, as well as a Preparation for Licensure course.
Wide array of elective opportunities are available to enhance your learning and expand knowledge in specialty areas, research, teaching and medical humanities.
Required course designed to provide preparation for your transition into the graduate medical education phase of your training.
*Length of curriculum blocks is based on Medical Curriculum Committee review each year.
Student spotlight
Anitza Quintero
Inspired by her parents, Abigail Geisinger Scholar
Anitza Quintero’s mission is to care for those who are most vulnerable. “I’ve always been passionate about helping underserved populations and people who don’t have access to healthcare. I think that passion comes from my background and my family,” she said. “We’re Cuban and we’re a big family — we’re very loving with each other. My parents experienced a lot of hardships in Cuba and were able to escape the regime in 1995.”
Using the strength and work ethic her parents instilled in her, Anitza wanted to help others. Propelled by her desire to be of service, Anitza went to South and Central America on mission trips in college. After graduation, she worked in a small Texas border town helping migrant children as an emergency case manager. These experiences helped solidify her decision to pursue medicine.
“In Peru and Costa Rica, I worked in churches where we’d set up a tent outside and perform basic exams. I even administered some vaccines. Being hands-on, learning and immersing myself in a different culture started drawing my attention to community-focused medical schools. I found that Geisinger was doing that; it was helping the community. Very early on I realized that Geisinger values giving — not only giving financial support but giving your time and
passion. I think giving is the foundation of change, so that resonated with me.”
As a Florida native unfamiliar with Geisinger, Anitza wanted to learn more. “The more research I did, I found out there’s a program dedicated to helping the community. What better way is there to teach young, incoming medical students than immersing them in the way they’ll work later?”
As a Geisinger student, Anitza has taken on leadership roles in several national organizations, including president of the Latino Medical Student Association. She serves as Geisinger’s Organization of Student Representatives delegate, leading a national research project on food insecurity and working to secure a grant to expand the campus pantry. She also completed a free medical Spanish interpreter certification and participated in a global health trip to the Dominican Republic, assisting in pediatric cardiac surgeries. “Throughout my clerkships I have been able to connect with and serve many Latin and Hispanic families, enhancing the quality of their medical experience,” she said. “At Geisinger, we’re transforming these principles into real-time work, and that’s something that I value. I’ve seen other schools say they do things, but here I am seeing it done. I’m so thankful that it’s real.”
Systems, Society, and Humanism in Medicine (SSHM)
A strength of our Total Health Curriculum is the integration of six longitudinal themes that transform socially responsible students into socially accountable leaders in the healthcare system and their communities. These themes foster the development of compassionate and adaptable physicians dedicated to a person-centered approach to improving the health and well-being of the patients and communities they serve.
1. Community Immersion: Provides you with the skills to understand the needs of your patients and your communities through the practices of narrative, cultural and structural humility, and to embrace engagement and involvement with communities in your area of practice, including service learning.
2. Health System Citizenship: Prepares future doctors to contribute to quality improvement, participate in early adoption of technology and function in teambased models of care. This theme delves deeply into healthcare delivery science and leverages the strength of Geisinger’s value-based care model to focus on system improvement.
3. Personal and Professional Development: Lays the foundation to begin shaping attitudes, skills and behaviors needed to commit to a social contract, participate in a community of practice, navigate uncertainty and ambiguity, and improve health through service to individuals and communities.
4. Population Health: Prepares you for individual and population-oriented prevention and health promotion efforts with a focus on wellness, epidemiologic and statistical methods, reduction of disease burden and improvement of health outcomes in patient populations and communities.
5. Primary Care: Focuses attention on the most critical health need in the nation and centers the future physician’s approach on wellness and disease prevention, regardless of medical specialty.
6. Social Justice and Health Equity: Encourages you to examine how bodies (individual and collective) are constructed and how such constructions cultivate modes of difference that can lead to bias and health inequity. This theme focuses on cultural, structural and epistemic humility, with an end goal of working toward advocacy for inclusive policies and practices.
Student spotlight
Joaquim Diego Santos
Joaquim Diego Santos was born in the Philippines and emigrated to the United States with his family at age 3. Growing up with parents who worked in healthcare, Diego was immersed in medicine from a young age. But his journey truly began to take shape in college, where he interned in an operating room, gained certification as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and engaged in clinical research.
During his EMT training, Diego first encountered Geisinger through a Life Flight paramedic crew.
“Being an EMT taught me how to think on my feet and adapt,” he noted. “But more importantly, it taught me to meet patients where they are.”
Diego applied to Geisinger College of Health Sciences’ School of Medicine, where he has the freedom and encouragement to explore his interests in research and global health.
“My favorite thing about Geisinger is the flexibility to explore your interests,” he said.
“I wanted to continue doing clinical research and practice medicine abroad. Even in my first year, I was able to accomplish both.”
Diego’s continued research has won him a competitive Alpha Omega Alpha Kuckein research fellowship. His proposal aims to develop a quality-oflife survey specific to mitochondrial disease. And his passion for global health has taken him abroad with a team of Geisinger attendings, residents and medical students to run a clinic in Guatemala.
“My longitudinal clinical experiences and community immersion project at Geisinger really helped in Guatemala,” he said. “Very early on, we learn how to take patient histories and conduct physical exams. For my community immersion project, I visit elementary schools and teach the kids about science topics and how we use all our medical tools.”
Diego is eager to continue researching, traveling the world and growing in clinical skills and knowledge at Geisinger.
“I’m so excited to keep learning more,” he said. “It’s important that physicians experience other cultures and how other healthcare systems work. And I’m excited to go into the clinical setting and gain more confidence. I want to lead with empathy and compassion and my experiences at Geisinger are making that possible.”
Clinical Presentation Model
Traditional medical education relies on teaching basic, clinical and health system science concepts; however, these concepts must be well integrated and appropriately framed in clinical context. The Phase 1 curriculum uses the Clinical Presentation Model to integrate content and contextualize the curriculum. This model is aligned with the core clinical condition framework that anchors the Phase 2 curriculum and represents the mode by which a patient presents to a physician and is the basis of diagnosis and management.
Big picture: The weekly structure of the Phase 1 curriculum begins and ends with a focus on the patient, specifically the patient’s clinical presentation.
Deconstruct and independent learning: Each clinical presentation is broken down into its basic science, clinical science and SSHM content. You will use resources in our knowledge repository to focus on learning objectives in preparation for in-class work.
Experiencing: Large and small group active learning activities are designed to have you apply knowledge in a clinical context.
Reassemble big picture: For each clinical presentation, student groups will summarize material for their classmates, re-integrating all content in a large group interactive session.
Deconstruct and independent learning Doing, observing Reassemble big picture
Big picture
Regional campus model
The School of Medicine offers a community-based model of medical education with four regional clinical campuses: Central (Danville), Guthrie (Sayre), Northeast (Scranton and Wilkes-Barre) and West (Lewistown and State College).
Each campus offers:
• Outstanding clinical training
• Abundant, diverse clinical experiences
• Strong mentorship by faculty
• Community service programs and activities
• Opportunities for research and scholarship
To explore our regional campuses, visit: go.geisinger.edu/gcsomregionalcampuses
More than 2,000 Geisinger College of Health Sciences faculty members comprise a diverse and highly specialized group of professionals dedicated to educating and training the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Geisinger experiences
Learning communities
We follow the well-known adage “it takes a village” by offering students a ready-made “village” of faculty, interprofessional staff and peers within the larger school community that engages you in your personal and professional identity formation.
Community well-being
As a system, Geisinger has devoted significant resources to examining the unique health needs of the communities it serves and proposing novel solutions that can be applied locally but transferred globally.
Our impact is felt economically (Geisinger has an annual $15.7 billion positive impact on Pennsylvania’s economy), but more importantly, it’s felt in the ways our presence uplifts our neighbors and improves the region’s quality of life through initiatives like:
• REACH-HEI (Regional Education Academy for Careers in Health – Higher Education Initiative), an out-of-school experience that provides academic enrichment opportunities for students.
• The Edward R. Leahy Jr. Clinic For The Uninsured is a collaboration between the University of Scranton and Geisinger that provides free, non-emergency healthcare to uninsured Lackawanna County residents. The clinic provides high-quality care in a welcoming, respectful and compassionate environment. It offers teaching, learning, research and service opportunities to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine faculty, students and volunteers.
• Fresh Food Farmacy, provides patients with Type 2 diabetes (and their household) with enough healthy food to make 10 nutritious meals each week — and a clinical care team that moves them toward better health.
• Geisinger 65 Forward, primary care designed exclusively for patients 65 and older, featuring more time with physicians, social and educational activities and all ancillary services offered under one roof.
• Family- and Community-Centered Experience is a required component of the Phase 1 curriculum that partners you with community members to learn about their experiences of health and healthcare, helping you to better understand the social drivers of health, to hone your communication skills and to develop narrative and cultural humility through active listening and reflection
Global Health Experience
Students in Phases 1 and 3 can participate in a global health experience in Guatemala, providing patient care in rural communities, practicing language skills and learning from community health workers.
The Center for Medical Humanities
Launched in 2025, the Center for Medical Humanities fosters a multidisciplinary approach to understanding health, illness and healthcare by integrating perspectives from the humanities, arts and social sciences to promote a model of humility that values patients, providers, learners and faculty. Students can participate in research projects, electives and medical humanities workshops and activities that compliment their required curriculum.
GME enriches the UME experience
The medical student/resident relationship is mutually enriching. Residents and fellows teach and mentor, and you’ll benefit from seeing what residency/fellowship is really like. Geisinger has more than 650 residents and fellows, comprising 80 independently accredited residency and fellowship programs, which encompass Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education physician programs, as well as dental, podiatry, pharmacy and others.
Student spotlight
Danya Picozzo
Dayna Picozzo, a member of Geisinger School of Medicine’s MD Class of 2028, wanted to be a doctor ever since childhood, when she received a stethoscope and miniature anatomy skeleton for Christmas.
“After that, there wasn’t really any other career I thought about,” she said.
Yet, even with a dream — and a medical school in her hometown of Scranton — Dayna wasn’t sure how to reach her goal.
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, she was left to figure out the next steps on her own. Without adequate advising and proper planning, she took the MCAT, hoping it would be enough. But she quickly learned that a degree and test score weren’t enough to get into medical school. She spent the next several years working as a medical scribe and completed a post-baccalaureate degree but was still lost on what to do next. “It’s so hard when you don’t have the proper guidance,” she said.
The turning point?
When she enrolled in Geisinger’s Master of Biomedical Sciences program, which has an excellent reputation for guiding students into medical school.
“This master’s program completely changed me as a student,” she said. “It helped me with my personal statement, improving my GPA, volunteering and research. The masters touched on everything — even how to formulate and effectively complete your application for med school.”
The program even helped her prepare to take the MCAT again. “Before, I reached a certain plateau on all my practice tests, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get over it,” she said. “But, after finishing the master’s, I broke through. The program really taught me how to analyze and critically think through that exam.”
Today, Dayna is an Abigail Geisinger Scholar in her second year of medical school.
“I love Geisinger and the Scholars program,” she said. “It’s always been my dream to become a physician and to practice here in my hometown. The master’s program was an integral part of my journey.”
No matter what specialty Dayna chooses, her patients will have a physician who is tenacious, compassionate and resilient. “It’s been an exciting journey so far,” she said. “I’m looking forward to what is to come.”
Research and scholarship
At the School of Medicine, students have many opportunities to engage in research and scholarship throughout their education. The Office of Research and Scholarship offers short- and long-term research programs, like the Summer Research Immersion Program (SRIP) and the Medical Research Honors Program (MRHP)
SRIP projects are conducted over 8 weeks in the summer after the first year of medical school. Throughout SRIP, students can work directly with a faculty mentor and a research team on specific projects that include scientific research aimed at improving health in the laboratory setting or in a community setting, doing public health, community and clinical research that solve problems like access to care. As part of SRIP, students must submit an abstract and share their research findings with the community as an oral or poster presentation at the Summer Research Symposium.
MRHP is an advanced long-term research program that can advance fundamental scientific knowledge, refine scholarly communication and foster a mindset
of lifelong learning. Students must submit a research project proposal, write a thesis and deliver an oral defense to complete the 4-year program. The research experience is guided by a research mentor, a thesis advisory committee and the program manager. Additionally, students write abstracts, present posters and publish findings while building their thesis defense. If they meet all program requirements, students will graduate with an honors distinction.
Students will find multiple occasions to present and publish their research findings, including presenting at the annual Spring Research Symposium or submitting their scholarly and creative work for publication in our Journal for Scholarly Research in Progress (SCRIP). This journal is published annually in both print and online mediums and is edited and produced with the assistance of student editors engaged in the editorial process.
To learn more, visit: go.geisinger.edu/researchandscholarship
MyCode: Personalizing healthcare
Geisinger’s research theme is to personalize healthcare by discovering ways to empower doctors to discern differences in patients — genetic, environmental or social — that impact quality and outcomes. Anchoring this theme is the MyCode® Community Health Initiative, a systemwide biobank storing blood and other samples for research use.
MyCode analyzes the DNA of volunteers and has surpassed its latest goal of 350,000 participants. Researchers use this vast body of data to transform knowledge of the genome into powerful intelligence that is personally relevant to individual patients. MyCode research has already been translated into ways to diagnose certain medical conditions earlier — even before symptoms appear — and to implement new treatments or medications to manage them.
Medical Marijuana Academic Clinical Research Center
In 2022, the School of Medicine was certified as a Medical Marijuana Academic Clinical Research Center (ACRC) by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as part of the state’s medical marijuana research program. Through our partnership with Ascend Wellness Holdings, we support research in medical marijuana that aligns with Geisinger’s expertise in addiction medicine, pharmacy, epidemiology, behavioral sciences, bioethics, data science, education and genomics. Geisinger’s Center for Substance Use Research and Education prioritizes research that is patient-centered and emphasizes the role of patients, providers and other health decision-makers as strategic partners. In this way, the School of Medicine is expanding our scientific understanding of the potential benefits and harms of cannabis on the health of patients.
Artificial intelligence (AI) at Geisinger
Our award-winning team of experts creates, implements and evaluates AI applications that enhance patient care, improve operational efficiency and support data-driven decision-making across our system.
From identifying at-risk patients to streamlining operations for better care to providing powerful tools that enhance human expertise, we push the boundaries of what’s possible to turn complex healthcare challenges into opportunities for innovation.
We apply state of the art AI, machine learning (ML) and data science approaches to develop models and design workflows using AI/ML tools that improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, making better health more accessible.
Student spotlight
Julian Burwell
Julian Burwell has been a professional musician, worked in humanitarian aid and served as a corporate director of operations. Now, he has his sights set on becoming a surgeon, in keeping with his lifelong desire to pursue challenges.
Raised in Colorado, Julian’s early life was shaped by modest means and the examples of his father, a pizza delivery man by day and guitarist by night, and his mother, who worked at a daycare center. “My parents were always motivated, and they were the inspiration for anything I’ve ever achieved,” he said.
Julian graduated high school in just 3 years to pursue service opportunities in his community. To support himself, he worked odd jobs — until a family member challenged him to aim higher professionally.
He attended college on a music scholarship, spending summers abroad, studying Arabic, working on archaeological digs in Jordan and building homes for families in Jamaica. After college, he faced a series of personal challenges, including a traumatic mountain biking accident. Despite these setbacks, he continued developing his technical and leadership skills.
He also volunteered at a hospital, where he realized a career in medicine would integrate his problemsolving skills and his desire to help others. He returned to college to complete his graduate studies in biochemistry and applied to medical school.
At Geisinger, neurosurgery emerged as the ideal synthesis of his interests. When he arrived on campus, Julian connected with Dr. Clemens Schirmer, head of the Neurosurgery Residency program, who became his mentor. Dr. Schirmer’s guidance has been instrumental, providing OR and clinic shadowing opportunities, along with research support.
Julian’s research focuses on neurocritical care and machine learning to predict patient outcomes in the ICU. He has presented at national conferences, including the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).
“Thanks to the instrumental work of my mentors, I have gotten to know field of neurosurgery really well. I love the culture,” he said.
Student well-being
Taking a holistic approach to medical education, we offer a wealth of resources for you in regard to every domain that contributes to a person’s overall sense of well-being.
Resource examples
Geisinger Student Health Services (SHS): SHS minimizes health-related barriers to learning. The SHS office staff and website provide information and referral to urgent care, primary and specialty care, health insurance and credentialing.
Geisinger Student Psychological Services (SPS): SPS provides students with free and confidential services. This structure provides resources and care coordination across all counseling resources at the Medical Sciences Building and at all regional campus sites. These resources include counselors in SPS, TimelyCare, and referral to local providers. TimelyCare is a digital solution that offers ondemand 24/7 access to mental health and medical care and a diverse, culturally competent provider network. Services include scheduled counseling, health coaching, yoga, meditation and self-care resources.
Center for Student Well-being: The center develops, implements, and evaluates programs aimed at supporting and enhancing student well-being through leadership, engagement and wellness programming. The center collaborates
with academic and health system leadership to develop and maintain learning environments that foster the intellectual, social, professional, and personal development of a diverse health professions student population. It also supports the following dedicated spaces in the Medical Sciences Building: a fitness center, a recreation and relaxation space, a multicultural room, a meditation and prayer room, student government offices, a kitchenette and a student lounge.
An example of a program offered through the Center for Student Well-being includes Wake Up and Learn. Wake Up and Learn is a sleep education and surveillance program that was developed to improve knowledge, recognition, and time to treatment for sleep wake disorders among students.
Geisinger Peer Support: Peer Navigators are a student-led group that support peers in addressing academic stress, interpersonal conflicts, imposter syndrome, feelings of isolation and general mental health concerns.
CARE Team: The CARE Team provides support and referral services to students experiencing stress. By partnering with members of the community, the CARE Team strives to promote individual well-being and success while prioritizing community safety.
Match maker
Career Pathways Program
The Career Pathways Program is a longitudinal component of the Total Health Curriculum designed to assist you in your professional identity formation, using the “Careers in Medicine” (CiM) model to support all phases of the career decision-making process.
The match
An abundance of resources help you match in residency programs that are best aligned with your career and personal interests. The Division of Student Affairs’ Center for Career Development uses a combination of career coaching, specialty advising and mentoring and the longitudinal Career Pathways Program to help you identify your specialty interests and future residency.
You’ll begin the process of career exploration in Phase 1 with specialty events, mentoring resources and individual meetings. During Phase 2 and Phase 3, you’ll learn about
the process of applying to residency through a series of workshops, panel discussions and didactic sessions. Collaborative meetings will be held among the residency planning team and the regional teams to best support you throughout this process. National and institutional match data helps you successfully gain interviews and ultimately match to a residency program that best fits with their values, skills and attributes. You’ll receive strategic coaching regarding the application submission and alumni provide peer mentoring, as needed.
Match 2025
Our medical students participated in the match experience hosted by the National Resident Matching Program. Students interviewed across the country with residency programs in a wide range of specialties and programs.
Anesthesiology
• Cedars-Sinai Med Ctr-CA
• Cleveland Clinic Florida
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Hosp of the Univ of PA
• Penn State Hershey Med Ctr-PA
• U Rochester/Strong Memorial-NY
Emergency Medicine
• MedStar Washington Hosp Ctr-DC
• Temple Univ Hosp-PA
• Tower Health/Reading Hospital-PA
• UPMC Harrisburg-PA
• UT Ascension St Thomas-TN
• Wake Forest Baptist Med Ctr-NC
Family Medicine
• Abington Mem Hosp-PA
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Inova Fairfax Hospital-VA
• Maine Med Ctr
• Maine-Dartmouth Family Med
• Mayo Clinic School of Grad Med Educ-MN
• NYP Hosp-Columbia Univ Med Ctr-NY
• Temple Univ/Chestnut Hill Hosp-PA
• UMass Chan Medical School-MA
• Univ of Vermont Medical Center
• UPMC St Margaret-PA
• UPMC Williamsport-PA
• Wellspan Health York Hosp-PA
• West Virginia University SOM
General Surgery
• Allegheny Gen Hosp-PA
• Christiana Care-DE
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Northeast Georgia Med Ctr
• West Virginia University SOM
General Surgery Preliminary
• Geisinger Wilkes-Barre
• Thomas Jefferson Univ-PA
Internal Medicine
• Allegheny Gen Hosp-PA
• Brown Univ/Rhode Island Hosp
• Christiana Care-DE
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• George Washington Univ-DC
• Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School
• Rutgers-R W Johnson Medical School-NJ
• St Lukes Hosp-Anderson-PA
• Stony Brook Teach Hosps-NY
• Thomas Jefferson Univ-PA
• U Kentucky Med Ctr
• UMass Chan Medical School-MA
• UPMC Medical Education-PA
• Vanderbilt Univ Med Ctr-TN
• Zucker SOM Northern Westchester Med Ctr-NY
Interventional Radiology (Integrated)
• Temple Univ Hosp-PA
Medicine-Pediatrics
• Christiana Care-DE
• Penn State Hershey Med Ctr-PA
• The MetroHealth Sys/Case Western-OH
• U Maryland Med Ctr
• U Rochester/Strong Memorial-NY
• U South Florida Morsani COM-Tampa
• UMass Chan - Baystate-MA
• Univ of Chicago Med Ctr-IL
Medicine-Preliminary
• Lankenau Med Ctr-PA
• Mobile Infirmary Med Ctr-AL
Medicine-Primary
• Family Health Ctrs at NYU Langone-NY
• Kaiser Permanente-Santa Clara-CA
Medicine-Psychiatry
• U Kansas SOM-Kansas City
Neurology
• CMSRU/Cooper University Hospital-NJ
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Inspira Health Network-NJ
OB-Preliminary
• Temple University
Obstetrics-Gynecology
• Anne Arundel Med Ctr-MD
• U Connecticut School of Medicine
• U Rochester/Strong Memorial-NY
• U Texas Med Sch-Houston
• UPMC Medical Education-PA
• Westchester Medical Ctr-NY
Ophthalmology
• Virginia Commonwealth University
Orthopaedic Surgery
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Penn State Hershey Med Ctr-PA
• SUNY Upstate Med University
• UC Irvine Med Ctr-CA
Otolaryngology
• SUNY Upstate Med University
• UPMC Medical Education-PA
Pediatrics
• Emory Univ SOM-GA
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• Hackensack U Med Ctr-NJ
• TJU/Nemours Childrens Health-PA
• UPMC Medical Education-PA
Phys Medicine & Rehab
• Thomas Jefferson Univ-PA
Psychiatry
• AtlantiCare Reg Med Ctr-NJ
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Med Ctr-NH
• Florida State University COM
• George Washington Univ-DC
• Hartford Hospital-CT
• NYMC-St Josephs Med Ctr-NY
• Rutgers-R W Johnson Medical School-NJ
• Tufts Medical Center-MA
• U Connecticut School of Medicine
• U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor
Radiology-Diagnostic
• Geisinger Health System-PA
• JHME-Jefferson Einstein
• Santa Clara Valley Med Ctr-CA
• UC Davis Med Ctr-CA
Transitional
• St Lukes Hosp-Anderson-PA
Urology
• Temple University
Vascular Surgery
• U Rochester/Strong Memorial-NY
• UMass Chan Medical School-MA
Satisfaction with Geisinger Commonwealth graduates’* preparation for residency by their residency program directors range from 97% to 100% across all categories. *MD Class of 2024
Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program
Geisinger believes that the future of medicine lies in robust primary care and psychiatry — care that anticipates and prevents disease, focuses on wellness and recognizes mental health and well-being as fundamental to stronger, more resilient communities.
That’s why the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program focuses on the following specialties:
• Family medicine
• General internal medicine
• Medicine-pediatrics
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
There is also a selection process for limited slots in neurology and OB-GYN.
Our scholars program frees medical students from the financial concerns that often derail their dreams. Abigail Geisinger Scholars will:
• Get relief from overwhelming medical school debt.
• Receive a monthly stipend
• Become a Geisinger-employed physician in one of the specialties listed above upon completion of residency training. One year of service equals one year of support.
Interested in applying?
Submit an American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®) primary application and Geisinger Commonwealth secondary application.
• Answer “yes” to the first question on the Geisinger Commonwealth secondary application regarding interest in applying for the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program.
• Complete the question regarding primary care or psychiatry and provide any updates to your experiences that align with the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program.
You are considered for admission into the MD program before interviewing for the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program. You are selected to participate in this program based on financial need, merit, mission alignment, likelihood of staying at Geisinger beyond the service obligation and the interview assessment.
Primary Care 3+3 Accelerated Program
Finish medical school and residency in 6 years
This program allows accepted Abigail Geisinger Scholars to complete medical school in three years, followed by a pathway into a three-year residency in one of the following programs:
• Family medicine residency at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital
• Family medicine residency at the Kistler Clinic of Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre
• General internal medicine residency at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
• General internal medicine residency at Geisinger Medical Center
Overview
• Early immersion/orientation with staff/faculty and our residency programs
• Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE) at participating residencies early in the curriculum
• Scholarly summer immersion program with participating residencies
• Students spend one half-day per week in a continuity practice aligned with their residency during Phase 2 of the curriculum.
Advantages
• Medical school completion in 3 years
• Rigorous programing aimed for time efficiency and robust experiences
• Advising and mentoring by primary care physicians and residents
• Peer collaboration and fellowship
• Pathway into one of four residencies of your medical school training
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/ Medical Degree program
The 6-year integrated Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Medical Degree program includes the awarding of:
• Medical degree (MD) from Geisinger School of Medicine
• Certificate in general surgery
• Certificate in oral and maxillofacial surgery
Accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Commission on Dental Accreditation, the OMS-MD track has been carefully designed to provide a comprehensive approach to the medical school and residency components of the program.
As a trainee in the OMS-MD program, you’ll be awarded your MD diploma at the end of your third year (OMS-MD 3), before starting your general surgery preliminary internship. Upon completing the program, you’re eligible for examination by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Application to the Geisinger OMS-MD program is available through the American Dental Education Association Postdoctoral Application Support Service (ADEA PASS). All completed applications are reviewed holistically, and select candidates are invited to interview for the OMS-MD program track.
Apply
Admission requirements
To seek admission to the School of Medicine:
1. Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the United States at time of application.
2. Have received your bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. or Canadian institution prior to matriculation.
3. Complete all required criminal background checks and drug screens. If you are accepted, Certiphi Screening Inc. will contact you via email about the criminal background check process. The following checks are required by July 1 of the matriculating year: Criminal Background Check, Child Abuse History, Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History and FBI fingerprinting. Furthermore, accepted applicants must submit and satisfactorily complete a drug screening prior to matriculation and within the time frame designated by the Admissions Office.
Find our Policy on Criminal Background Check and Drug Screening here: go.geisinger.edu/backgrounddrugscreening.
4. Report any legal or academic actions taken against you from the time of application submission to AMCAS and matriculation at the School of Medicine to the Admissions Office.
5. Attend the School of Medicine’s mandatory orientation program.
6. Meet the School of Medicine’s Technical Standards with or without a reasonable accommodation. If you have a disability, you must provide medical documentation detailing the disability and the type of accommodation needed to meet the Technical Standards. Depending on the need for the accommodation, the Accessibilities Committee will review the information you supplied to determine your ability to meet the Technical Standards with reasonable accommodations.
You’re responsible for meeting all the above requirements. Failure to do so may result in the rescinding of the admission offer.
Application process
To apply to the MD program:
1. Complete an application through the online American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), the national application for U.S. MD programs.
• AMCAS application completion includes an application fee and all supporting documents as requested.
• The School of Medicine will only consider verified AMCAS applications (incomplete applications will not be reviewed).
2. Submit letters of recommendation via AMCAS Letters.
• You are required to submit one preprofessional/pre-health/committee letter or three evaluation/recommendation letters from faculty who are familiar with your career goals and academic coursework. Applicants may submit a maximum of 4 total letters.
• The admissions committee will consider additional letters that highlight and support facets of an applicant’s portfolio not previously addressed, and are submitted via the AMCAS Letter Service. Students may submit a maximum of four letters.
• For non-traditional students, the admissions committee will consider letters of recommendation written by people who have firsthand knowledge of your strengths, work ethic, abilities and commitment to the field of medicine.
3. Complete the Geisinger Commonwealth Secondary Application.
• All AMCAS verified applicants will automatically receive a secondary application.
• Application fee is $100.
• Candidates in receipt of an AMCAS Fee Assistance Program (FAP) waiver may submit a PDF copy of the form to mdadmissions@geisinger.edu.
4. Take the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) PREview™ Professional Readiness Exam.
• We encourage you to take the AAMC PREview™ exam. We will consider scores as one part of our admissions process.
Interviewing
After reviewing your application materials, we’ll notify you if you’ll be offered an interview for the MD program. All candidates will interview using the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format.
Contact us
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Geisinger College of Health Sciences 525 Pine St., Scranton, PA 18509
Call: 570-504-9068
Text: 570-904-2084 mdadmissions@geisinger.edu geisinger.edu/gcsom
MD Class of 2029 New student profile - 126 students
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