Highlights

• Board-certified in internal medicine

• Participant of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Maintenance of Certification program

• Strong proponent of lifestyle medicine and prevention

Experience

Joanna Jan, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine and licensed to practice medicine in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2017, she received her board certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine. She also participates in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program in her specialty. Previously, Dr. Jan worked as a primary care physician with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente), a primary care and urgent care physician with the Community Practice Network UCLA Faculty Practice Group, and a primary care and urgent care physician with the Entertainment Industry Medical Group. She has since moved back to the Philadelphia region.

She has navigated the healthcare system not only as a physician, but also as a patient. This experience sheds light on the challenges many people face in the healthcare system today. She is also committed to providing access to relevant and easy-to-understand medical information to help empower people to take charge of their health and wellness. 

Dr. Jan has research experience with the biochemistry and molecular biology department at Penn State. In 2010, she completed her undergraduate honors thesis titled “The Role of Clip-190, Orbit/Mast, and Neb in Microtubule Orientation, Neuronal Morphology, and Axonal Regeneration in Drosophila melanogaster.” Her thesis used a fruit fly model to look at proteins important in the pathogenesis of Williams syndrome, a genetic developmental disorder affecting children at birth. She also completed research with the human development and family studies department at Penn State in 2007 and 2008. She also generated and analyzed data for the Family Life Project, a large collaborative research project led by researchers at Penn State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project’s goal was to better understand young child development in rural counties.

Dr. Jan is also listed as an author (with her maiden name of Skora) on a case study published in 2014 while she was a medical student. The study is entitled “Bilateral Bell palsy as a presenting sign of preeclampsia.” And it describes an unusual case of preeclampsia presenting with facial paralysis as the first sign. During her residency at Temple University Hospital, she spoke at multiple departmental conferences on a variety of medical topics relevant to current research in the field of internal medicine and primary care. She also helped complete several quality improvement (QI) projects by addressing various processes in primary care clinics to improve the quality of care given.

In the past, Dr. Jan has volunteered with many organizations including JeffHOPE, where she offered medical care to the homeless of Philadelphia, and Future Health Professionals Program, where she counseled and taught clinical skills to high school youth interested in healthcare careers. She also has extensive volunteer experience with hippotherapy and therapeutic horseback-riding. And she has worked as a volunteer for many years before college at Chariot Riders, a nonprofit therapeutic riding academy.

Education

Dr. Jan received her Bachelor of Science in biology (neuroscience option) with honors in biochemistry and molecular biology and an academic minor in psychology from the Pennsylvania State University Schreyer Honors College in 2010. Afterward, she earned her Doctor of Medicine from Sidney Kimmel Medical College (formerly Jefferson Medical College) of Thomas Jefferson University in 2014.

During her medical education, she received the Foerderer Travel Grant in 2011. She used this funding to travel to Poland and work with physicians at an obstetrics and gynecology specialty hospital in Warsaw. In 2017, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. During her residency, she was also part of the Primary Care Track at Temple University.