Janet Townsend, MD, appointed senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs at Geisinger Commonwealth

Dr. Townsend has served GSCOM since its inception. She was the founding chair of the Department of Family, Community and Rural Health from 2008 through 2015. In this capacity she recruited the founding faculty, whose efforts resulted in our program of community-based education and research. Most recently she served as regional associate dean for the Central Campus. Dr. Townsend was recruited to GCSOM in 2008 after 25 years of medical education leadership at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y. At Einstein, she led initiatives to enhance faculty mentoring, improve faculty orientation to promotion and tenure, and to enhance diversity through recruitment, retention and support of academic advancement.
 
As senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs, Dr. Townsend will oversee the process for appointment, promotion and tracking of faculty members at the School of Medicine. Steven J. Scheinman, MD, president and dean of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and executive vice president and chief academic officer, Geisinger, said, “Dr. Townsend’s strong relations with clinical leadership will be invaluable as we work to integrate the hundreds of preceptors across the Geisinger system fully into the faculty and to enhance faculty mentoring and advancement.” In this position Dr. Townsend will report to Dr. Scheinman.
 
GCSOM is grateful to John Arnott, PhD, interim chair of the Department of Medical Education, who chaired the search committee that recommended Dr. Townsend for this role. William Jeffries, PhD, vice president for Academic Affairs and vice dean for medical education, will be initiating a selection process to identify Dr. Townsend’s successor as regional campus dean of the Central Campus.
 
“I would like to thank Harry Wollman, MD, for his service as interim senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs,” said Dr. Scheinman. “In his nearly three years here he has also previously served as senior associate dean for undergraduate medical education and as interim chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences. I am grateful to Dr. Wollman for his service on our leadership team during this exciting time.”

 

Janet Townsend, MD

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Central Campus
MH4, Education Department
Geisinger Medical Center
100 North Academy Ave.
Danville, PA 17822
570-214-4874
jmtownsend1@geisinger.edu

 

Gloria Colosimo

Administrative Assistant
570-504-9074
gcolosimo@som.geisinger.edu