Press Releases

Today, U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will award over $3.4 million in federal grants to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), formerly known as The Commonwealth Medical College (TCMC), through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Center of Excellence award program. In FY 2017, $684,768 will be distributed to the school with similar amounts to follow each year for the next four years.

The ultimate goal of the Centers of Excellence (COE) award program is to strengthen the national capacity to produce a quality health care workforce who’s racial and ethnic diversity is representative of the U.S. population. COE award recipients serve as innovative resource and education centers to recruit, train, and retain underrepresented minority students and faculty.

“This funding will help the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine continue to address the region’s workforce needs, increase the number of underrepresented minority medical students, and improve health care delivery for underserved populations,” said Rep. Cartwright. “I applaud Geisinger Medical School for receiving this competitive award, and, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to advocate for federal grants that improve our health system’s capacity to meet community needs and deliver the care needed for everyone to live a healthy life.”

“We are grateful to Congressman Cartwright and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration,” said Ida Castro, JD, vice president for community engagement and chief diversity officer at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. “As a Center of Excellence, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine will use this grant to improve the health and wellbeing of all citizens of Northeastern Pennsylvania. We will continue our important work of building a pipeline to address regional physician workforce needs. Through successful existing initiatives, like our Regional Education Academy for Careers in Health – Higher Education Initiative (REACH-HEI) for middle school, high school, and college students, we will target underrepresented minority students to increase the competitive applicant pool for health professions. We also anticipate new programs that focus on faculty, such as a Health Equity Group, which will be charged with identifying the needs of underrepresented minority faculty and to offer support for faculty development. Finally, the grant will aid the school of medicine with its efforts to improve the health system’s capacity to meet the needs of people of all races and ethnicities by promoting research into genomics and precision medicine, health disparities and minority health issues.”

The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine is an independent medical college dedicated to the community needs of Northeast and North Central Pennsylvania. The Medical School collaborates with a number of regional colleges, school districts, hospitals, health care providers, and organizations and provides students training in the region’s health systems and hospitals. Its goal is to provide more physicians and improved health care resources for the people of Northeast and North Central Pennsylvania by establishing a unique medical education experience that focuses on caring for people in their lives and community.