SCRANTON, PA — The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) highlighted the accomplishments of two geriatricians with ties to the Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education in its recent quarterly publication.

AGS News honored the doctors for their efforts to improve vaccination rates among older adults. 

Dr. Edward Dzielak, director of the Wright Center’s geriatrics fellowship program, was recognized for his leadership in incorporating the AGS Older Adults Vaccine Initiative into the Wright Center’s geriatrics care service line. 

The initiative, backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to increase immunization rates among older adults eligible for routine vaccinations in the U.S., with a focus on four key vaccines—COVID-19, influenza, shingles (zoster) and pneumonia.

Dr. Muhammad Ishaq, a 2024 graduate of the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Geriatrics Fellowship Program and an internal medicine resident physician at Rochester Regional Health’s Unity Hospital in upstate New York, was lauded for spearheading a quality improvement project and initiatives to boost older adults’ vaccination rates at the Wright Center’s primary care community health centers. 

Dr. Dzielak, a Carbondale native, board-certified in internal medicine and geriatrics medicine, has dedicated more than four decades of his life to medicine, specifically internal medicine, critical care and geriatrics. He was the founding geriatric fellowship program director at the Wright Center. The Wright Center is one of just 10 health systems nationwide selected to implement the innovative Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program developed by UCLA.

Dr. Dzielak accepts patients over the age of 60 at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn. To make an appointment, to schedule a vaccine, or for more information on the Wright Center’s geriatric services line, visit www.TheWrightCenter.org or call 570/230-0019.