May 30, 2013

Congratulations to the members of the Physician Assistant Class of 2014 who recently received prestigious national awards and appointments.

Laura Bonner was given the LGBT PA Caucus Student Leadership Award, which is granted to self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or gender nonconforming Physician Assistant student members of the Caucus to foster leadership and professional development.

Sara Bunyaratapan was invited to the Paul Ambrose Scholars Program, a program that exposes students in the health professions to influential public health professionals and encourages them to take leadership roles in solving the public health challenges that face our communities and nation. Bunyaratapan was awarded a scholarship to attend a symposium in Washington, DC and to conduct a community-based health education project here at the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

Physician Assistant students Kate Dunn, Meredith Carlson, and Cassius Brown were invited to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Lyme’s Disease Prevention Program. The goal of the Program is to train students and medical residents to provide Lyme disease education and outreach to health care providers and the public. Students who demonstrate a commitment to excellence are invited to be part of the CDC’s Lyme’s Disease Prevention Program.

Finally, Kristen Smith was appointed to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRG), an organization that evaluates the needs of health professions students in Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) education. Smith is part of a panel of eight students that will meet during the course of two years to add to the discussion about how PCOR research reaches students in the health professions.