David N. Ambrose, M.D.
Program Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine, PA
Residency: The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center, PA
Board Certification: Family Medicine

Prior to entering medical school, Dr. Ambrose was a corporate pilot where he logged 2,500 hours of flight time. Upon returning to college in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Dr. Ambrose completed his studies with a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He then entered the Temple University School of Medicine and subsequently did his training in Family Medicine at The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center where he was Chief Resident. He entered private practice in a small community of 2,700 people, providing a full range of family medicine services, including obstetrics. After six years of solo practice, Dr. Ambrose began to pursue his interest in academic medicine and took a position at another family medicine residency program in central Pennsylvania. He taught there for two and a half years before returning to Williamsport and has been the Program Director at Williamsport since 1995. He has clinical interests in neurology and cardiology and continues to offer obstetrics to his private patients.

In addition to enjoying his family, including four children and three grandchildren, Dr. Ambrose's personal interests show that he is a huge baseball fan. He also enjoys a round of golf when he can find the time. His love of baseball has led him to volunteer ten days of his time every August to provide medical services as the Medical Director of the Little League World Series with the assistance of the Family Medicine resident staff.

Jeffrey N. Verzella, M.D.
Senior Associate Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: SUNY Health Sciences Center at Syracuse, NY
Residency: Tripler Army Medical Center, HI
Board Certification: Family Medicine

"Ahhhh, Hawaii was NICE, but Williamsport wins HANDS-DOWN when it comes to Family Medicine education," states Dr. Verzella, who has been a full-time teacher since graduating from residency in 1985. He has been teaching here since 1989, after four years at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in the Army FM Residency program there. In addition to running the usual rotations, he is the clinical director of the Family Medicine Office, and oversees most of the patient care operations, as well as residency education, in the Office. Of major interest is his development of clinical templates for patient care, documentation, billing, and coding. In his free time (what free time?), Dr. Verzella is an avid sports fan and amateur astronomer.

Elizabeth E. Anderson, M.D.
Assistant Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Residency: The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center, PA
Board Certification: Family Medicine

After graduating from The Williamsport Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program in 1991, Dr. Anderson joined Loyalsock Family Medicine. Currently, she sees her private patients at the Loyalsock [faculty practice] office and then spends two half-days each week precepting Family Medicine residents in the Family Medicine Office. She also frequently precepts medical students as they see patients together at Loyalsock. Residents rotate through the Loyalsock office while on practice management and GYN rotations. Dr. Anderson cares for patients of all ages, still seeing patients in nursing homes and making home visits. She also continues to deliver babies and to provide newborn nursery care, both of which are her very favorite parts of being a family doctor. She is especially interested in women's health issues and pediatrics and truly enjoys all aspects of family medicine.

When not at work, Dr. Anderson keeps very busy with her family. She and her husband have four children aged 8 - 12 who have now been homeschooled. Also very involved in her church, Dr. Anderson teaches a weekly Sabbath School class for children in the primary grades.

David R. Finn, M.D.
Assistant Director/Internal Medicine Teaching Service

Specialty: Internal Medicine
Medical School: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, PA
Residency: Hospital of the University of PA, PA
Board Certifications: Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease

In addition to a long specialty practice in Pulmonology and Critical Care where he made many contributions to resident education, Dr. Finn is one of several medicine attendings for the Family Medicine Residency Program. On that service, residents hone their knowledge and skills in caring for adult medical inpatients, many of whom do not already have primary care physicians and so often present with as yet undifferentiated problems.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Finn and his wife, Dr. Marcie Finn, a nephrologist, enjoy their family of three grown children and many community activities.

Timothy M. Heilmann, M.D.
Associate Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: Jefferson Medical College, PA
Residency: Forbes Health System, PA
Board Certification: Family Medicine

Tim's initial practice experience was in a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania - in a setting so rural that they even had a hitching post behind their office for patients to tie their horses! That rural setting provided an opportunity to practice the full spectrum of Family Medicine, from delivering babies (some at home!) to fracture management, as well as making house calls, performing office surgery and visiting nursing homes.

Tim brings all of those experiences and skills to the residency program; many of his precepting sessions and mini-lectures begin with the words "Well, when I was back in private practice." Lest it be said that he is just an "old-fashioned country doctor", however, he also has a keen interest in evidence-based medicine, and coordinates the residency's Journal Club to teach and explore EBM principles and practices in detail. Tim has also been very active in designing computer programs for teaching and for automating various residency functions.

A '79 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Tim is a die-hard Fighting Irish fan (is there any other kind???); experienced residents know to tread lightly around him on Fall Mondays if the Irish have had a bad Saturday on the gridiron. Tim also puts the "family" in Family Medicine; he and his wife Susie are the proud parents of seven (count 'em, seven!) children. He is an active leader in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, president of the Loyalsock Summer Swim Team parents' board, and a lector, cantor, and choir member at St. Ann Church.

Tim has been very involved in organized medicine, having served for years on the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians board of directors and as chair of the Residents and Student Affairs Committee. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP).

Barbara E. Hemmendinger, M.S.S., ACSW
Associate Director/Behavioral Science Coordinator

Clinical Social Work
Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research

As a licensed clinical social worker, Barbara enjoys teaching behavioral medicine in the program and seeing a panel of psychotherapy patients. Clinically, she is also a generalist and provides counseling to individual children, adolescents and adults as well as to couples and families. She also has an interest in women's issues. She is an accredited Balint Group leader, teaching residents to maximize the effectiveness of their relationships with patients. Barbara also coordinates the faculty's involvement in resident recruitment.

Active in the community, Barbara is the past president of the Williamsport Civic Chorus. She is a seven-year breast cancer survivor and serves on many American Cancer Society committees to bring prevention and early detection information to at-risk individuals in the community as well as to the attention of State and Federal legislators to fund improved access and research. She is married to an RN, and they have two grown children, one grandchild and a cat.

Patricia Kane, C.R.N.P.
Nursing Home Coordinator

Specialty: Adult Health, Family Health
Nursing School: The Williamsport Hospital School of Nursing
S.U.N.Y. Adult Health Nurse Practitioner
College Misericordia, Family Health Nurse Practitioner

Pat brings to the practice a varied background of nursing experience. She has worked in critical care, obstetrics, endoscopy, laboratory and medical/surgical areas. She has a special interest in HIV in women and Hepatitis C. She enjoys her office practice, which cares for newborns through geriatric aged people.

In her spare time, Pat enjoys quilting, walking, a good book and spending time with her pets, two Greyhounds, a Sheltie and three cats. She and her husband have four adult children.

Robert E. Kane, M.B.A.
Vice President of Operations

MBA: Bucknell Univeristy, PA

Bob is very active in local government and a graduate of Leadership Lycoming. As a member of the Association of Family Medicine Administrators and the Pennsylvania Medical Group Management Association, he is responsible for the administration of the Family Medicine Residency and other related hospital services. He is available to assist residents with the business side of opening a private practice or developing a practice management rotation.

Bob has almost 30 years of healthcare experience including the development of ambulatory clinics, community health centers, dental clinics, and managing cardiovascular, primary care practices, occupational health, and sports medicine services. Additionally, he has supported clinical services by managing hospital-based departments from materials management to facilities maintenance.

Outside the hospital walls, Bob has worked with the community extensively, chairing healthcare access committees, selling services to industry, and as a former president of a separate corporation of Susquehanna Health. Personally, Bob is involved in local historic house preservation and serves as the chairperson for the City's Historic Architecture Review Board and past president of the Lycoming County Historical Society.

William F. Keenan, Jr., M.D.
Associate Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: University of Massachusetts Medical School, MA
Residency: Harrisburg Hospital, PA
Board Certification: Family Medicine

Dr. Keenan has a special interest in primary care research and has been the Chair or Co-Chair of the PAFP Research Day for the last six years. He also has a special interest in the care of older individuals and holds a CAQ in geriatrics. As one of the physicians for Bishop Neumann High School, he is active in sports medicine.

On a personal note, Dr. Keenan enjoys photography, computers and being involved in his children's activities, which include the Special Olympics and AYSO (soccer) programs.

Thomas J. Martin, M.D.
Assistant Director/Pediatrics

Specialty: Pediatrics
Medical School: University of Pittsburgh, PA
Residency: University of Pittsburgh, PA
Board Certification: Pediatrics and Sports Medicine

Dr. Martin has been a consultative pediatrician for over 30 years. He has been chairman of Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital for 20 years and has been a team physician for Pennsylvania State University for seven years. He has now turned his attention to teaching pediatrics and sports medicine to residents at the Family Medicine Residency.

Bradley J Miller, DO
Director Osteopathic Medical Education

Medical School: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Internship: Frankford Hospital Bucks County
Residency: Geisinger Medical Center
Board Certifications: American Board of Family Medicine, American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians

Dr. Miller is the most recent addition to our faculty and serves as the Director of Osteopathic Medical Education and Director of our Osteopathic Internship. Currently he sees his private patients at the Loyalsock Family Medicine. He teaches Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and precepts in the Family Medicine Center. He is currently guiding the residency through the accreditation process in order for it to become a dually accredited program with the AOA and ACGME.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Miller practiced with and served as Medical Director for a multi-specialty group in central Pennsylvania. While there, and out of necessity, he became involved in substance abuse treatment by playing an instrumental role in creating a model for treating heroin addiction in the primary care setting. He serves as a consultant to set up such programs for communities throughout the country. He has an interest in international medicine and participates in medical expeditions to Tibetan Buddhist refugee colonies in central India.

Outside of medicine he enjoys traveling with his wife, oil painting, choral singing, hiking, and is an avid gourmet cook.

Janice Lynn Schifferli, DO
Assistant Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency: The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center, PA
Board Certification: Board-eligible in family medicine for the ABOFP and the ABFM

Mark A. Schildt, M.D.
Assistant Director

Specialty: Family Medicine
Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine, PA
Residency: The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center, PA
Board Certification: Family Medicine

As a graduate of The Williamsport Family Medicine Residency Program, Dr. Schildt can attest to the excellent training received here. Graduates leave Williamsport feeling very prepared for the next step in their career. For him, that next step was joining the faculty. Dr. Schildt's areas of clinical interest include obstetrics and the use of computers in medicine, especially handheld computers.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Schildt spends most of his time with his wife, Sue, and their three young children. Other hobbies include golf, gardening, hiking, biking, and running. Their family is also active in a local church, as well as community activities for children. They enjoy this area both for the beautiful scenery and the small-town atmosphere with a strong sense of community.