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Jeanne Lorraine Zukas

Biography

For Jeanne Gricoski, the future is clear. She aspires to practice family medicine in the Appalachian coal country where she was raised. "Everyone has a right to quality healthcare, but not everyone has access," she says. "I will provide the underserved, impoverished region where I grew up with the quality healthcare they have always deserved, but never had."

Jeanne says she first wanted to be a doctor at age eight and decided that she could at age 17. "When I realized that even people from backgrounds like mine, whose family life was less than perfect, could become doctors, my path has been clear." She chose to study osteopathic medicine, she says, because it encourages strong doctor-patient relationships, and it trains the physician to see the individual aspects of every patient and understand the circumstances surrounding the symptoms.

In addition to being a family physician, Jeanne wants to open an innovative health clinic to centralize healthcare and social services for the residents of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where she grew up. She has already founded Rural Cares, a public health advocacy group that eases the burden of access for the needy by providing information on the health and social services available throughout the county.

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