New Hospitalist Joins Staff at Penn Highlands Elk

Penn Highlands Elk is pleased to welcome Irina Komarova, MD, to its medical staff. Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Komarova is part of the new Apogee Hospitalist program at Penn Highlands Elk.

A hospitalist is a physician who specializes in the care of hospitalized patients and their unique conditions. A hospitalist does not maintain a practice outside the hospital but rather focuses all her attention on patients inside the hospital. Until recently, the hospitalists at Penn Highlands Elk were employed by the health system. Now they are employed by Apogee Physicians, a nationally-renowned company that specializes in hospital-based care. Apogee is currently working with 100 hospitals across the United States.

“I am excited to work with the staff at Penn Highlands Elk,” said Dr. Komarova. “I really appreciate the core values of Apogee and look forward to bringing that gold standard of care to the St. Marys area.”

Dr. Komarova graduated from the Saint James School of Medicine in Kralendijk, Netherlands. She performed an internship and residency at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Komarova has done clinical research and published articles on the detection of bladder cancer. Dr. Komarova has worked with Apogee for the last three years and was previously stationed at Yakima Regional Medical Center, WA. She is a member of the American College of Physicians.