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Bethlehem – St. Luke’s is pleased to announce the appointment of new Senior Associate Dean Shaden Eldakar-Hein, MD. She will oversee the administrative and educational responsibilities of St. Luke’s regional medical school campus, Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine.

An alum of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Dr. Eldakar-Hein is excited to partner with her alma-mater and leaders at St. Luke’s to help educate and mold tomorrow’s physicians at Temple/St. Luke’s.

“I look forward to serving the community by helping to ‘grow’ future physicians – there truly is nothing better than that,” says Dr. Eldakar-Hein. “I love giving people that ‘a-ha’ moment, when what they are learning just clicks.”

Dr. Eldakar-Hein joins St. Luke’s from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont where she served as assistant dean for students, as well as the associate residency program director of internal medicine.

An internal medicine hospitalist herself, Dr. Eldakar-Hein is passionate about hospital-based medicine and her work as a consulting ethicist. “Ethics is woven throughout every component of health care and it’s critical to educate tomorrow’s physicians to not only excel clinically, but to use ethics as their touchstone,” she states. 

Dr. Eldakar-Hein grew up in Endicott, New York and received her undergrad degree from the Pennsylvania State University. She and her family, husband Nick and kids Kaidin, 13, and Anaya, 10, are looking forward to becoming residents of the Lehigh Valley.

Dr. Eldakar-Hein follows Joel Rosenfeld, MD as senior associate dean of Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine. Set to retire after more than 33 years at St. Luke’s, Dr. Rosenfeld has been a tireless advocate for education. He was crucial in the development of the Lehigh Valley’s only regional medical school campus. In 2008, Dr. Rosenfeld proposed the concept of a regional medical school campus with Temple University and led the efforts towards its creation in 2010. 

Overseeing the medical education of 120 students a year, Dr. Rosenfeld has been responsible for all key academic functions, including curriculum, admissions, student promotions and graduation, student wellness, student academic support and faculty appointments and promotions.

Most recently, Dr. Rosenfeld led the expansion of the class size at the medical school from 30 to 40 students per graduating class and extended the program so that students now complete all four years of course work at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem. 

He was also instrumental in establishing St. Luke’s tuition reimbursement program which affords qualifying medical students the opportunity to become a doctor at nearly no cost to them.  Students who pursue a primary care career and chose to practice at St. Luke’s after graduation are eligible for up to $177,000 in tuition assistance.

For more information about Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine, visit: sluhn.org/SOM