Julia Tolentino, MD, is rooted in the history of Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine at St. Luke’s University Hospital, and now, as St. Luke’s Colon & Rectal Surgery’s first female colorectal surgeon, she is welcoming patients in the Network that educated her.

In 2015, Tolentino graduated with the School of Medicine’s first class—the Lehigh Valley’s only four-year medical school—and then also spent her five-year general surgery residency with St. Luke’s. She is a prime example of St. Luke’s remarkable efforts to train and recruit doctors and specialists amid a national physician shortage. The Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine is the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. In addition to the medical school, the Network’s medical education program includes 50 fully accredited graduate medical education programs, with more than 500 residents and fellows.

“We are very excited to have [Tolentino] back,” said Carrie Lewis, the director of operations for colon and rectal surgery, infectious disease and rheumatology. “It is always an honor when someone who trained here returns in some capacity, especially someone so well respected.”

Recently, Tolentino practiced in New Jersey after spending a year in Salt Lake City for her colorectal fellowship. Back at St. Luke’s, she has re-established meaningful connections. “These physicians, specialists, and surgeons are people whom I’ve known since medical school and residency,” she said. “It’s pretty cool to work with them now.”

Tolentino said she wanted to become a surgeon after her overwhelmingly positive experience at the Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine—and particularly thanks to her excellent mentors at St. Luke’s.

The fact that she is a woman will make it more comfortable for some colorectal patients to come to her with their concerns, she said. “That’s part of the reason I went into colorectal surgery. It’s a delicate topic, and you have to have a good rapport with patients for them to talk about things that could be sensitive or embarrassing.”

Female colorectal surgeons are in high demand nationally. Tolentino’s areas of expertise include everything related to the pelvic floor – an oft-overlooked problem area, especially for women – as well as other colorectal health issues such as cancer-related complications, fecal incontinence, rectal prolapse and anorectal conditions.

 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.  In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest-cost providers.

 

Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy