Dr. Chouhdry, most recently director of Delaware Catskill Hematology and Cancer Care and chief of the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Catskill Regional Medical Center in New York State, comes to Wayne Memorial with more than 37 years experience in medicine.

Dr. Chouhdry was pivotal in helping the Catskill Regional Medical Center earn the highest level of approval from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer—accreditation with commendation. Dr. Chouhdry also served as principal investigator for a research program under The Cancer and Leukemia Group B, a national clinical research group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

“I am looking forward to working with the staff at Wayne Memorial and serving the community,” said Dr. Chouhdry. He notes that Honesdale is not so far from his former post that some of his patients might also want to come to Wayne Memorial. “My patients and their treatment are very important,” he added, “I will continue providing excellent and current state-of-the-art treatment for my patients and will be available to my patients as well as their referring physicians all the time.”

Dr. Chouhdry has a long history in the region, including prior affiliations with Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania, Corning Hospital in New York and Astoria General Hospital in Queens, New York City. While at Robert Packer, Dr. Chouhdry was an assistant clinical professor of medicine for Syracuse University.

After graduating from medical school in his native Pakistan, Dr. Chouhdry went on to residencies in surgery and internal medicine at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in New York City. While practicing, Dr. Chouhdry continued to avidly pursue the study of advances in his field; he completed a three-year fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Coney Island Hospital and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn in 1996.

Wayne Memorial Hospital’s Chemotherapy and Infusion Clinic serves approximately 300 cancer patients a year. The 12-bed unit was threatened with closure last year, when a Dunmore-based oncology group declined to continue making the trip to Honesdale. Wayne Memorial recruited Board-certified Oncologist Dr. Joseph Readling to head up the unit until a permanent replacement could be found. Dr. Readling will remain at Wayne Memorial for a short time to help Dr. Chouhdry take over the administration and treatment of patients.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Chouhdry join us,” said David Hoff, chief executive officer of Wayne Memorial Hospital. “He has an excellent reputation and will go a long way towards helping us build upon what we have in our chemotherapy area.

“We would also like to thank Dr. Readling for helping us maintain services,” continued Mr. Hoff. “His expertise has been invaluable.”

Dr. Chouhdry officially began work at Wayne Memorial on Monday, November 2nd. To make an appointment or for more information, please call (570) 253-8398.