Photo caption: From left – Tony DaRe; Adrienne DaRe; Robert Wax; Shaden Eldakar-Hein, MD; and Adam Stauffer, St. Luke’s Associate Vice President of Development.(Provided courtesy of SLUHN)
St. Luke’s University Health Network is pleased to announce that Tony and Adrienne DaRe have established the DaRe Family Chair for Medical Education, the Network’s first endowed chair specifically for medical education.
The chair will support the Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine, helping to create opportunities for future physicians and develop the health care workforce that will serve local families and communities for generations to come.
Income generated by the fund supporting the endowed chair will advance the medical school’s academic priorities, including student financial aid, faculty development and educational innovation.
“Adrienne and I have always believed that education is one of the most meaningful investments we can make in people and in the future of our communities,” said Tony DaRe, who leads BSI Corporate Benefits in Bethlehem. “That starts long before medical school. It means creating opportunities for students at every level, removing barriers where we can, and making sure talent and potential are not limited by circumstance. This endowed chair is another way we can invest in people who will ultimately come back and serve our communities for generations.”
“Education can change the trajectory of a person, a family, and ultimately an entire community,” added Adrienne DaRe. “We have been fortunate to support students and educational institutions in many of the communities we care deeply about, and this is a continuation of that commitment. For students who dream of becoming physicians, financial barriers should not determine whether that dream is possible. We hope this investment helps create opportunity, strengthens medical education, and allows more exceptional students to pursue a calling to care for others.”
For Tony and Adrienne, the endowment is the latest expression of their longstanding belief in investing in people. Their support extends to nearly 30 colleges, universities, public schools and early-education organizations, reflecting a commitment to education at every stage of life.
“The DaRe family’s generosity represents a significant investment in the future of medical education in the Lehigh Valley,” said Robert Wax, St. Luke’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “By establishing this endowed chair, they are creating a lasting legacy that will expand opportunities for students, strengthen our academic programs, and help ensure that exceptional physician talent continues to be trained here in our region.”
Shaden Eldakar-Hein, MD, has been appointed the inaugural DaRe Family Chair for Medical Education. She became Chief Academic Officer on December 1, 2025, and she continues to serve as Senior Associate Dean of the Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine, a position she has held since 2020.
Dr. Eldakar-Hein successfully guided the medical school’s expansion into a full four-year campus, increased enrollment by 33%, helped grow its endowment to more than $30 million and strengthened the local physician workforce pipeline. Approximately 30% of graduates remain at St. Luke’s for residency training each year. Under her leadership, the school has achieved top-percentile student satisfaction rankings and continues to place graduates in some of the nation’s most prestigious residency programs.
“I am deeply grateful for the DaRe family support and honored to serve as the inaugural DaRe Family Chair for Medical Education,” said Dr. Eldakar-Hein. “The DaRe’s remarkable commitment will help us promote innovation in medical education so that we can continue building an exceptional environment for educating future physicians.
“The DaRe’s personify the concept of ‘giving back to the community.’ Their example is a gift and inspiration to our medical students, who will pay it forward, putting their skills into practice by providing a range of volunteer support services throughout our community.”
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of $5 billion. With 24,000 employees at 16 hospital campuses and 400+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
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 Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.
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. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.
In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke’s received the highest quality score of the nation’s recognized three highest performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network’s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare’s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A’s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. 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
