Leading The Wright Center in the right direction

Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, is president and CEO of The Wright Center for Community Health and The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, affiliated entities sharing a mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.

After graduating as a Michael DeBakey Scholar from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and completing Harvard’s Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program in Boston, Dr. Thomas-Hemak returned to her hometown in Jermyn, joining The Wright Center in 2001, becoming president in 2007 and CEO in 2012.

Concurrent with executive responsibilities, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is quintuple board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, obesity medicine, addiction medicine, and nutrition. A healer at heart, she has cared for multiple generations of families, neighbors, and friends for nearly 25 years. Her experiential perspective as a hands-on primary care physician and advocate for patients and families enlightens her executive decision-making.

Aiming to improve public health by responsively addressing our national primary care shortage, misdistribution, and related disparities in health, health care services, and health care career access, she oversees one of the nation’s largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)- funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums.  

Under her stewardship, The Wright Center has garnered numerous accolades, including designation as an HRSA Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, a Pennsylvania Opioid Centers of Excellence and Coordination Center for Medication-Assisted Treatment, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Top 30 Site for National Primary Care Innovations, and membership in the prestigious 2024 American Medical Association ChangeMedEd Consortium.

Additionally, Dr. Thomas-Hemak spearheads the nonprofit’s vision to be the nation’s premier model of primary health services delivery with integrated workforce development. She oversees a growing network of 13 regional safety-net community health centers offering comprehensive whole-person primary health services to patients of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses. The Wright Center for Community Health follows the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model, with its Clarks Summit, Mid Valley, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre locations achieving National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home certification. 

A founding member of the consortium that established the Scranton-based Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is the governor of the Pennsylvania Eastern Region Chapter of the American College of Physicians, our nation’s largest medical-specialty organization. She serves on numerous local, regional, and national health care and medical education nonprofit governing boards, cross-sector committees, and workgroups, including HRSA’s Council on Graduate Medical Education, a federal advisory committee that assesses and recommends actions on physician workforce trends, training issues, and financing policies. She is chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center and vice president and a founding board member of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers, representing community-based Teaching Health Centers that train primary care physicians. 

Dr. Thomas-Hemak has received several prestigious state and national awards for her leadership, mentorship, and advocacy initiatives, including the 2020 Ann Preston Women in Medicine Award from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians for advancing women’s leadership in medicine. In 2022, she earned the Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers for her efforts in engaging Congress and expanding grassroots advocacy. Most recently, in 2024, she was honored for her exemplary leadership in mentoring and inspiring others with the Hometown Scholars Advocacy Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers and A.T. Still University and the Wilford Payne Health Center Mentor Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers.