04/17/2020
Medical college students graduate early to help COVID-19 fight
MUSTO
Christopher Musto wanted to become a doctor to help others.
The coronavirus pandemic led him to accomplish that goal a little sooner.
The Pittston resident and 15 of his Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine classmates requested to graduate early, to join health care workers battling the virus.
Eight students graduated last week; Musto and seven others officially earn their medical degrees today.
“It’s a great opportunity to give back to my community,” Musto, 26, said. “It felt like the right time to get started.”
As long as the fourth-year students met the necessary graduation requirements, the college offered to grant degrees about a month early. The pandemic forced the school to cancel its traditional commencement ceremony. Instead of wearing the doctoral hoods granted during the ceremony, the students will wear white coats and scrubs at hospitals and
testing facilities across the country.
“It’s absolutely awe-inspiring,” said Steven J. Scheinman, M.D., president and dean of the college and executive vice president and chief academic officer at Geisinger. “We believe students who apply to medical college are primarily applying because they want to serve. They want to promote health and help the sick. I am enormously proud of this class of students.”
The college moved all of its classes online last month, and soon after pulled students from clinical settings, providing virtual training instead.
After graduation, new doctors usually have about a month before they start orientation and grueling hours in residencies. Many graduates take time to relax and travel before settling in new cities around the country, Musto said.
Musto, a Pittston Area High School and University of Scranton graduate, wants to help people now.
“Everyone is a little nervous,” he said. “It’s really a crazy time to get started, but it’s also an exciting time because everyone is needed.”
Musto — whose brother graduated from the medical college in 2014 and sister will begin at the college in the fall — will help Geisinger with COVID-19 testing or with addressing employee health concerns. He will start his radiology residency with Geisinger on July 1.
Some of the new doctors will assist Geisinger, and others will head to the location of their residencies. The graduates could also work in areas not related to the coronavirus, to free up more experienced staff. Any work given to the doctors will reflect their level of training, Scheinman said. The doctors must complete their residency training before being able to fully practice on their own.
“It’s inspiring to see the way they’re responding and stepping up,” Scheinman said. “These people on the front lines really are heroes. Our students are behaving heroically.”
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