Photo caption: From Left: Elizabeth (Beth) Adams, James (JP) Orlando, Ed.D., Dr. Parampreet “Mini” Kaur, Dania Mosquera.

The Alliance of Independent Medical Centers (AIAMC) named St. Luke’s Chief Graduate Medical Education Officer James “JP” Orlando, Ed.D., the winner of the 2025 Weinberg Award at its annual meeting.

In addition, five St. Luke’s Graduate Medical Education Quality Improvement (QI) and Community Health projects were recognized at the event.

The AIAMC, an association of independent academic medical centers, presents the Ethel Weinberg, MD, award on an annual basis to its individual member who best exemplifies the energy and commitment of its founder.

“Dr. Weinberg was a dedicated advocate for patient care and a trailblazer for women physicians,” Orlando noted. “In the 1970s, at a time when women were leaving medicine to have children and had no re-entry point, she served as a director for the Retraining Program for Women Physicians at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

“The Weinberg Award also speaks to what we get from our residents at St. Luke’s who are engaging with our national initiatives and projects with AIAMC. They get a higher quality learning environment and better competencies for their careers in medicine.”

AIAMC supports multidisciplinary teams, including resident physicians, in developing and implementing projects aligned with their institutions’ strategic goals. Residents from St. Luke’s Psychiatry, Rural Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, OB/GYN and Family Medicine residencies worked with GME faculty and leadership, including Dr. Parampreet “Mini” Kaur, research and quality program manager; Dania Mosquera, QI initiative program manager; and Beth Adams, medical education student coordinator. Their projects advanced the following ojectives :

• Screening patients for social determinants of health
• Improving adult immunizations rates in ethnic and minority populations
• Encouraging the acceptance of psychiatric care in rural areas
• Improving screening for social determinants of health in the emergency room
• Addressing adverse childhood experiences in chronic diseases.

 

“Our success in these studies would not have been possible without the support of various departments across the Network. Looking ahead, these studies have the potential to significantly impact GME and SLUHN,” said Dr. Kaur. “These projects can enhance residency programs by providing innovative research opportunities, improving physician training, and fostering a collaborative environment that attracts high-quality candidates. The advancements from these studies can lead to better patient outcomes, increased hospital reputation, and more effective preventive medicine.”

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 21,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $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, established 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. St. Luke’s is a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also 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 SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.

Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy