From Crystal Club Soda to Gertrude Hawk Chocolate

Even one of the dreamers behind a local medical college could not imagine supporters would be so close so soon to opening the state’s first new medical school since 1962.  “One year ago at this time, I was on the hot seat,” said Robert Wright, M.D., former chairman of a consortium tapped to launch the school in Scranton. “I was under tremendous pressure to find the right guy” to lead an institution with no funding, site or faculty.  And yet, Friday brought a slew of momentous announcements from Robert M. D’Alessandri, M.D., the man who ultimately was tapped to serve as the first dean of the proposed Commonwealth Medical College.  In recent days, the dean mailed out accreditation applications, hired 10 more faculty members — there are 14 now — and received government and private pledges totalling at least $2.3 million. Even after all the progress, “the biggest thing to happen was the hiring of Bob D’Alessandri, as dean,” said Dr. Wright, president of Scranton-Temple Residency Program Inc. The hard-charging new dean has spent nearly every waking hour since coming aboard in June filling out paperwork, searching for a site, recruiting staff and seeking donations for the project. Discussions to open a medical school in Scranton only began in December 2004. Yet, the project is now on pace for the first 60 students to start classes in the fall of 2009 in a temporary site at Lackawanna College. Continue reading.