New UME Program Leaders Welcome New Medical Students to Bayhealth

Bayhealth is now in its fourth year as a core clinical campus for Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), training medical students for future success. This program has flourished under the leadership of the former UME Program Director Joseph Rubacky, DO, FAAFP. Dr. Rubacky recently passed the reins to Bayhealth’s new Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Program Director Shalini Shah, MD, MPH, and Associate Program Director Ellie Salinski, MD, who welcomed the latest cohort of PCOM medical students to kick off their training at Bayhealth.

The 15 new UME students for this academic year attended a welcome breakfast event on August 12 at Bayhealth Kent Campus in Dover. Bayhealth’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deborah Watson, FACHE, FACMPE, and Chief Medical Officer and Designated Institutional Official Gary Siegelman, MD, MSc, also gave greetings during a short program at the event. The leaders expressed their enthusiasm for hosting the students as they further develop their clinical skills while helping to care for Bayhealth patients.

“Undergraduate medical education at Bayhealth has a strong and solid foundation thanks to the talents and dedication of Dr. Rubacky who has led the program’s growth since 2019,” said Dr. Shah. “I’m proud to continue and build on this great work with my faculty colleagues as we share our knowledge in educating this cohort and more to come.”

During their time at Bayhealth, the students will complete 11 core rotations, each lasting one month. In each rotation they follow an experienced physician, gaining hands-on learning in various specialties and patient care settings. The hope is that some will later apply to and join Bayhealth’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) program, or residencies, after graduating medical school. The GME program offers advanced training to physician residents to become skilled and compassionate family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, and emergency medicine doctors to serve central and southern Delaware.

“This program is a win-win for our community and I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” said Dr. Salinski. “These medical students are contributing to the high-quality care Bayhealth provides while they gain specialized training to be the best physicians they can be.”

Visit BayhealthGME.org to learn more about Bayhealth's medical education programs.