Meet the physicians and executive leaders making health easier in communities across Pennsylvania.
Meet our physicians
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“We’ve got that small-town feel, in a good way. It’s a safe place where neighbors still know each other, and that really benefits you as a provider because, at the end of the day, healthcare is about relationships.”
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine
- American Board of Internal Medicine
Training
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine Doctor of Medicine, 1999
- Yale – New Haven Hospital Residency, 2003
- Johns Hopkins Hospital Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program Fellowship, 2006
Professional Work
I joined Geisinger in 2006 because of our shared values. I’m passionate about improving transitions of care and Geisinger is constantly looking for ways to improve the status quo. It sounds simple, but facilitating communication and the plan of care across the continuum is not always done reliably in many healthcare settings. At Geisinger, we make it a priority.
One of the aspects I love most about working here is the variety of opportunities, experiences and people that I care for every day. Our system spans the continuum of healthcare, from the time of birth, through the development of acute and chronic diseases, and we make a sincere effort to respect a patient’s choices at the end of life. There’s never an “average” day here, which appeals to the clinical, intellectual and business aspects of care in our evolving industry.
People are always surprised by the size of our network. Our locations span the entire state of Pennsylvania. In the Northeast, we have a population of almost one million extended over a two to three county range. There is a place here for you regardless of what opportunities you want to pursue.
We’ve got that small-town feel, in a good way. It’s a safe place where neighbors still know each other, and that really benefits you as a provider because, at the end of the day, healthcare is about relationships. When you think about how successful and happy you’re going to be over the course of your career, it comes down to the people you’re working with and the satisfaction you feel from providing good care. It’s why I’ve been here this long. I care about the people and the patients that I work with and serve.
Walk through our doors and you’ll understand how genuine our entire staff is toward providing patient-centric care. We take a tremendous amount of pride in our community and it drives us to provide the best care. It’s palpable when you walk through the doors here at Geisinger.
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“We have a tremendous potential to impact large populations by conducting pilots that are scalable.”
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine
- American Board of Internal Medicine
Training
- Yale University School of Medicine Doctor of Medicine, 2010
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Residency, 2013
Professional Work
Geisinger first came on my radar when I was in medical school at Yale and Don Berwick came to give Grand Rounds. Don was a leader in the quality movement from Harvard, and he was a big advocate for healthcare reform. He talked to us about the shortcomings in the model that many major academic centers followed, and he provided data on Geisinger as part of his argument that we could develop a superior approach to healthcare.
Then, when I was doing my residency in Philadelphia, I began to see the limitations of the “hub and spoke” model Berwick had described, where many patients get their care at a major academic medical center, but often they do not receive care that does not fall within the focus of those institutions. I saw how limiting that was, because we were missing the opportunity to treat diseases at earlier, more treatable stages. In many cases, we provided academically rigorous care at late stages of illness, whereas many of these situations could have gone much better if patients had accessed quality medical care when they had better hope of a good outcome. Geisinger again came on my radar during residency because it was a well-known health system in Pennsylvania, and by this point people everywhere were talking about Geisinger’s unique integrated payer-provider approach to healthcare. I joined Geisinger immediately after I finished my residency, drawn by Geisinger’s reputation for innovation.
Our patient population is diverse, with multiple platforms and clinics. We’re focusing on everyone from the well patient to the multi-morbid patient who needs the full resources of our system. Geisinger is creating innovative programs to meet the needs of our population, often in ways that would not fit into a traditional academic medical center’s business plan. As a primary care-internal medicine physician at one of our large hospitals, I have had the opportunity to be involved in many of these innovative programs and to see how impactful they are for our patients.
Nationally recognized by Forbes, Fortune and TIME
Meet our executive leadership team
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“Our ability to innovate and drive healthcare change is a team effort. We believe in the idea of a "One Geisinger" mindset, which really enables us to come together and see a holistic picture of the impact we’re making.”
Training
- The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine MD, Medicine
- University of Chicago Law School JD, Law
- Yale University BA, History
Professional Work
President, Integrated Care Delivery – Humana
Chief Medical Officer – University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System
Associate Medical Director – Kaiser Permanente
Emergency Medicine Physician – Kaiser Permanente
Expert Consultant and Advisor – U.S. government – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
White House Fellow – U.S. government – Department of Veterans Affairs
Corporate Healthcare Attorney – McDermott Will & Emery LLP
When my family first moved to Danville, we had a strong hunch that we would be just fine. But we never in our wildest dreams imagined how much we would like it here. With the low cost of living, the short commute times and the ease of getting your kids to and from extracurriculars, the overall day-to-day living is so easy. I call it the “Goldilocks Phenomenon.” The quality of life here is phenomenal. You can have the best of both worlds, because we’re only 2 ½ hours from the DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York metropolitan areas.
Geisinger’s positioning, geographically and in the industry, makes us a truly unique place to build a career with lasting impact. We’re democratizing world-class healthcare by delivering innovative programs to under-served populations in our communities. For example, with MyCode, we’re able to bring one of the preeminent genomics programs in the world to out-of-work coal workers in Pennsylvania. We’re also making tremendous strides in making care more accessible. Now, over 85% of urgent appointment demands in our primary care environment are seen the same day or next. And on the specialty level, we've been able to take a couple days off of the overall average days waited until someone gets seen. That is an astronomical degree of progress.
Our ability to innovate and drive healthcare change is a team effort. We believe in the idea of a "One Geisinger" mindset, which really enables us to come together and see a holistic picture of the impact we’re making. This approach has made us an organization that's not just improving the care for our local communities, but is a model for the future of healthcare. As we look to the future, we’ll continue to invest in new and better ways to make healthcare more accessible.
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J. Edward Hartle, MD
Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
Learn more about J. Edward Hartle, MD
“The other unique part of Geisinger is the heritage in the community. Many of our patients come here because their family members came here and a lot of our staff have relatives who’ve worked here.”
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine
- Nephrology, American Board of Internal Medicine
Training
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Doctor of Medicine
- Wilford Hall University S. A. F. Medical Center, Residency
- Duke University Medical Center, Fellowship
Professional Work
I started my medical career in the Air Force in the family practice residency at Wilford Hall University in San Antonio. I took a tremendous amount of pride caring for and educating the active duty and retiree population. That passion for teaching is something that I’ve carried with me my entire career, from Yeshiva University to my years on the Air Force base, to my bench research at Duke, and now as the Chief Medical Officer at Geisinger.
I came to Geisinger in 1995 because they offered me an opportunity to teach within the internal medicine residency program and they had the quality of care that I was looking for. When I started, I was one of five nephrologists, and we’ve since developed it into an incredibly high-quality, nationally recognized program. We’ve built a team of innovative and exciting practitioners, including two clinical researchers. One has a K-award and the other one has an epicoriograph and is in the process of getting his second pecoric.
We’ve always been at the forefront of value-based care, as one of the first health systems to implement EPIC and MyCode®, one of the first health system genome sequencing programs. We have a unique structure with the Geisinger Health Plan and the clinical enterprise, as well as the research department, and it allows us to move down that pathway and be at the cutting-edge from other institutes across the country.
The other unique part of Geisinger is the heritage in the community. Many of our patients come here because their family members came here and a lot of our staff have relatives who’ve worked here.
That heritage in the community means our patients are loyal and they trust us to provide them the highest quality care. For example, before the MyCode® process began, I was researching metabolic stone disease and the risk of patients for developing kidney stones. I began drawing blood off my patients and banking it for DNA. About 95% of my patients consented to this and wanted to be a part of the process, whereas other larger institutions were trying to do similar testing with only a 5–10% patient consent-response rate. I think it just underscores the level of respect and trust that Geisinger patients have for the system.
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Karen Murphy, PhD RN
Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer,
Learn more about Karen Murphy, PhD RN
Founding Director Steele Institute for Health Innovation
Karen Murphy, PhD RN
Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer,
Geisinger Profile
Founding Director Steele Institute for Health Innovation“What’s unique about Geisinger is the commitment to innovation in every facet of what we do. So, not only are we innovative in our healthcare delivery, but also as an employer.”
Training
- University of Scranton, BS Liberal Arts
- Scranton State Hospital Nursing School
- Marywood University, MBA, Business
- Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, PhD – Business Administration
Professional Work
PA Department of Health – Secretary of Health
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation – Director, State Innovation Model Initiative
Moses Taylor Foundation – CEO
Moses Taylor Health Care System – President & CEO
Moses Taylor Hospital – President & CEO
Physicians Health Alliance Inc. – CEO
My entire career, I’ve been focused on understanding the needs of the patient and what a quality health system looks like. The need to change and improve is in my DNA. Whether it be working as an ICU nurse for 30 years, the leadership roles I’ve held at the Moses Taylor Foundation, or my time serving as the Secretary of Health for the state of Pennsylvania, all of those experiences have enabled me to take a fundamentally different approach to healthcare. As the Chief Innovation Officer and the founding Director of the Steele Institute for Innovation, I use that approach to improve the lives of our Geisinger family, patients and community.
One of my proudest accomplishments at Geisinger has been the creation of the Steele Institute. In 2017, we formed a steering committee of leaders who came together to formulate what innovation should look like at Geisinger. The result became our guiding definition of innovation: A fundamentally different approach to solving a problem that has quantifiable outcomes.
The Institute was launched in July of 2018, and in a short time, we’ve already accomplished a lot. We've expanded our Fresh Food Farmacy, which uses food as medicine for type 2 food insecure diabetics, to a second site. We're also really proud of a new program called Free2BMom, a program designed to help pregnant moms who suffer from opioid use disorder. In addition, we're developing a new care model for chronic disease management called The Chronic Disease Command Center that leverages AI and machine learning, along with patient reported outcomes and remote patient monitoring. I’m excited about the innovations we’re developing in the future.
What’s unique about Geisinger is the commitment to innovation in every facet of what we do. So, not only are we innovative in our healthcare delivery, but also as an employer. For example, in the Institute we have a flexible working environment and are building the infrastructure needed to support virtual teaming.
I'm very optimistic about the future of the Steele Institute and of healthcare in general. Every day I get to work with a team of innovators who are dedicated to making this a better place by developing scalable solutions that are improving health and healthcare delivery and lowering cost.
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Julie Byerley, MD, MPH
President and Dean, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine;
Learn more
Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Geisinger
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