Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine, St. Luke’s Sports Medicine, and St. Luke’s Development are teaming up to hold “Play It Forward: The Dr. Trina Wijangco Memorial Scholarship Pickleball Event” on Sunday, November 24, 2024.

The event – which is open to the public – will be held at St. Luke’s SportsPlex and Pickleball Lehigh Valley, 4636 Crackersport Road, Allentown, and will include competitive and social pickleball games, free lessons, pizza, music, a raffle and prizes. Check-in begins at 11 am.

This event is a celebration of Dr. Wijangco’s life and is a Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser. The registration fee is $20 per person.

“Dr. Wijangco was kind, compassionate and cared about everyone. She was such a beautiful soul and an incredible person,” says Ike Akusoba, MD, Director of Student Advocacy and Community Engagement at Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine.

All proceeds from the pickleball event will benefit the Trina Wijangco, MD Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund, which awards scholarships to deserving students who are dedicated to enhancing diversity in medical education and/or have a proven track record of serving historically underserved or underprivileged communities.

Dr. Wijangco earned her MD from the Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine in 2021 and was pursuing her residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York at the time of her death.

Dr. Wijangco’s impact was profound and enduring. She was instrumental in co-founding the Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce at Temple/St. Luke’s, a student organization with a goal of supporting traditionally underrepresented minority medical students.

“The biggest testament to Dr. Wijangco is that this club is still active and helping individuals from all walks of life,” Dr. Akusoba points out.

“She had a vision that continues to live on today.”

Registration for Play It Forward: The Dr. Trina Wijangco Memorial Scholarship

Pickleball Event is available online. Please reach out to Lynn Glass at 484-526-8876 or at Lynn.Glass@sluhn.org with any questions.

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