9/20/2005

Alumni Award at Homecoming

2005 Biology Alumni Reunion and Alumni Award at the October 15th Homecoming

The department will present the Dr. Charles F. Farver-Apgar and Dr. Bessie D. Apgar Biology Alumni Award during the 2005 Homecoming festivities.  The ceremony will take place at 2:30 pm in Gibble Auditorium in Esbenshade Hall.

The recipient of the 2005 award is Dr. David K. Kelley.

Dr. David K. Kelley graduated from Elizabethtown College in 1981, completed medical school at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine in 1985, completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in 1988, and received a Masters degree in Public Administration from Penn State University in 1999. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Certification eligible in Geriatrics.

He was in private practice of internal medicine for four years (1988-92), was an Assistant Professor at Penn State University’s College of Medicine for six years (1992-98), worked for Aetna Health Inc. as a Pennsylvania medical director for six years (1998-04), and recently became the Chief Medical Officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s Office of Medical Assistance Programs.

Throughout his career Dr. Kelley has been concerned with the quality of health care especially in underserved populations. While in medical school he was involved in studying the effects of diabetes in Hopi and Navajo Native Americans in Arizona. While in private practice he served as a board member and provided medical services at Hamilton Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center for the underserved in Harrisburg, Pa. As the Director for Clinical Quality Improvement, he oversaw the quality and utilization management at Penn State’s Hershey Medical Center. While on faculty at Penn State he participated in a volunteer clinic for the homeless and transient population at Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg. At Aetna, he was responsible for utilization and quality management for central and northeastern Pennsylvania. He continues to see underserved patients at Pinnacle Health’s Diabetes Clinic in Harrisburg.

In his current position, Dr Kelley oversees the clinical and quality aspects of the Medical Assistance Program that provides health benefits to over 1.7 million recipients. The program serves Pennsylvanians with low-income, disabilities, and the fragile elderly population. His current priorities are to modernize the program’s Fee-For-Service program, improve access to preventive health care and periodic screening procedures, improve access to dental care, develop programs to address childhood obesity and smoking cessation, and develop a state-wide preferred drug list.

Dr Kelley is married for 19 years, has three children, attends St Patrick’s Cathedral in Harrisburg, and lives in Roberts Valley just north of Harrisburg. He enjoys gardening, hiking, tennis, and bicycling