{"id":133253,"date":"2024-07-30T20:18:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T00:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=133253"},"modified":"2024-07-30T22:29:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T02:29:33","slug":"twin-st-lukes-physicians-provide-care-to-monroe-county-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=133253","title":{"rendered":"Twin St. Luke\u2019s Physicians Provide Care to Monroe County Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: St. Luke\u2019s physicians Hussam Tayel, MD, and Hesham Tayel, MD. (right to left)<\/em><\/p>\n

The saying, \u201cBorn together, best friends forever,\u201d aptly describes St. Luke\u2019s physicians Hussam Tayel, MD, and Hesham Tayel, MD. The fraternal twins have been together since they were born in Kuwait in 1987, living in the same room, apartment or house in college, medical school, residency and even as young doctors today \u2013 though separation now looms on the not-too-distant horizon.<\/p>\n

The Tayels have been with St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network since 2017 when they started their three-year medical residencies. After completing his, Dr. Hesham Tayel, MD, joined St. Luke\u2019s Monroe Campus as a hospitalist, a physician who provides care in the hospital. Dr. Hussam Tayel, MD, completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at St. Luke\u2019s following his residency and is now a gastroenterologist with St. Luke\u2019s Gastroenterology, seeing patients in the Bartonsville and East Stroudsburg offices.<\/p>\n

Monroe County is a long way from where they began. The twins\u2019 Egyptian parents moved to Kuwait to provide their children with a better standard of living. In 1990, Iraq\u2019s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and they fled, relocating to Central New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnically, we were refugees,\u201d Hussam said. \u201cAs we grew older, we appreciated everything our parents gave us \u2013 their sacrifice to come to this country. They gave up their friends, family, culture, language, financial stability. It\u2019s something we can never repay, and we are eternally grateful. We wouldn\u2019t be in the position we are in now without their sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The twins, their parents and older brother, Ahmed, lived in a 1,000-square-foot apartment. Hesham and Hussam shared the same bed until they were nearly teenagers. While money was tight, their bond was even tighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up as a twin, we did everything together, and so we were best friends,\u201d Hussam said. \u201cIt was a lot of fun, but we were also pretty competitive, and it pushed us academically.\u201d Hesham agreed, \u201cWe always got along so well together. And we always wanted the best for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

They earned outstanding grades and SAT scores, with Hussam receiving a perfect score in the math section. They received full scholarships to the University of Maryland. Next, they attended Xavier University in Aruba and studied for two years on the island and then two years in hospitals in Baltimore, MD. During college and medical school, Hesham used his competitive spirit to compete in and win eating contests, such as eating 100 pieces of Sushi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never crossed our mind not to go to college and med school together because we were going to unfamiliar places,\u201d Hesham said. \u201cWhen you go to another state or country, you never know what battles or struggles you\u2019ll go through. We studied together, tested one another and just hung out together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are a twin, you are never lonely,\u201d Hussam added.<\/p>\n

When deciding where to complete their residencies, they interviewed representatives of several health systems. \u201cWhen we interviewed at St. Luke\u2019s, we could tell that the residents enjoyed working here. \u201cThey had smiles on their faces,\u201d Hussam said. \u201cWhen we walked down the hall, people said hi to us. And we knew St. Luke\u2019s was growing. It was evident how bright its future was. We knew St. Luke\u2019s had a lot of hospitals and fellowships, which would leave the doors open for an opportunity to specialize. I specialized in gastroenterology, so it worked out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hesham added, \u201cWe knew if we were in a positive environment, we could maximize our potential because we were going to work hard, and St. Luke\u2019s definitely was the best environment we saw.\u201d So, both ranked St. Luke\u2019s highly as a residency they wanted, and St. ranked them high as potential residents. They matched.<\/p>\n

Being twins was an advantage during their residency, they said. While they were separated during their rotations, at the end of the day, they shared what they had learned separately and bounced ideas off each other. Also, each made friends and then introduced them to the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother\u2019s super smart, so he always made a good impression,\u201d Hussam said. \u201cSo, when I did the rotation months later, they barely knew me but already liked me because they knew him. I thought it was kind of cheating.\u201d Likewise, Hussam\u2019s impression helped Hesham.<\/p>\n

Medical students must complete rotations in specialties, like cardiology and oncology. Hesham loved the diversity and could not pick a favorite. He enjoyed caring for very sick patients and preferred the inpatient setting over the office, so he decided to be a hospitalist.<\/p>\n

Hussam liked doing procedures in the hospital and building relationships with patients he saw in the office. But he credits the physicians he met during that rotation for his decision to specialize. \u201cThey were so nice and helpful and good at teaching. They could have pulled me into whatever field,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just lucky they pulled me into gastroenterology because I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hesham and Hussam each plan to make St. Luke\u2019s their home well into the future. Hussam is engaged to Samantha Rollins, a St. Luke\u2019s gastroenterology fellow. They plan to build a house soon, and then for the first time, Hesham will not live with Hussam.<\/p>\n

Asked to describe one another in three terms, Hussam says Hesham is laid back, very smart and hard-working. Hesham describes Hussam as the hardest-working person he knows, selfless and funny. \u201cEveryone thinks his laughter is infectious, and he\u2019s just a very funny guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hussam adds, \u201cHe\u2019s probably the better-looking twin, but I\u2019m the bigger, better one.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: St. Luke\u2019s physicians Hussam Tayel, MD, and Hesham Tayel, MD. (right to left) The saying, \u201cBorn together, best friends forever,\u201d aptly describes St. Luke\u2019s physicians Hussam Tayel, MD, … Continue reading Twin St. Luke\u2019s Physicians Provide Care to Monroe County Patients<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Hussam-and-Hesham-Tayel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/133254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}