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School of Health Professions News: Spring 2024

A dedicated interdisciplinary group of 41 health professionals and Shenandoah University health profession students recently completed a one-week service and learning trip to Leon, Nicaragua, to provide health care to eight rural communities. The teams consisted of physician assistant studies, pharmacy and physical therapy students supported by local physicians, a physical therapist, a registered nurse, pharmacy residents, and physician assistant and pharmacy faculty. The team also provided oral health preventive care for several hundred children, which was made possible by a grant from the nccPA Health Foundation. Approximately 100 patients were seen each day amongst the two teams and hundreds of prescriptions were filled.

Shenandoah Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Sarah Sidar ’23, OTD, and Assistant Professor Alysha Skuthan, Ph.D., OTR/L, ASDCS, authored “Occupational Therapy Practitioners’ Perceptions of Providing Services for the Acute Postpartum Population,” which was published recently in the Occupational Therapy Journal of Research. Read the article online at https://loom.ly/8FXvqTU. 

Shenandoah’s Division of Occupational Therapy was well represented at the American Occupational Therapy Association Inspire Conference held in Orlando, Florida, in March. Shenandoah presenters included Tippi Geron, OTD, OTR/L, CCM, on “Caregiver Training: New Opportunities for Reimbursement”; Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Alysha Skuthan, Ph.D., OTR/L, ASDCS, on “ReboOT and Return to Doing Intervention Pathway for Post-Concussed Youth: A School-Based Occupational Therapy Programming Manual”; and Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Sarah Sidar ’23, PP-OTD, OTR/L, BCB-PMD, on “Sex in the Classroom: Incorporating Sex & Intimacy Occupations Into Entry-Level OT Curricula” and “Embedding Pelvic Health Content Into Entry-Level OTP Curriculum” and, with Dr. Skuthan, on “OTPs’ Perceptions of Providing Services for the Acute Postpartum Population: A Qualitative Study.”

In February, the Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program’s 2025 cohort traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to participate in the Medical Society of Virginia’s Lobby Day. It spent the day speaking with representatives and advocating for increased Medicaid reimbursement, expanding the SafeHaven program, additional restrictions on prior authorization, and funding for the physician loan repayment program.

Shenandoah’s Master of Science in Athletic Training students participated in Hit the Hill Day in Richmond in February. The students and their professors spent the day talking with senators, delegates, and lobbyists to help push a bill to benefit athletic trainers.

Shenandoah’s Physician Assistant Studies program recently received attention for its efforts regarding inclusion, diversity and equity in an online article published by the PA Education Association (PAEA).

The piece, “EDI in Action: Virginia PA Program Uses DEI Toolkit to Create Achievable and Measurable Goals,” describes the division’s work with the toolkit, and how it worked with the university’s Executive Dean for Creativity and the Arts Michael Stepniak, Ed.D., to present an arts-based inclusion activity that he facilitated with the program. The activity promoted “an examination of observation and perspective through visual art,” the article stated, and it “has been done with all current PA students, faculty and staff in their program providing a unique shared experience for their larger community.

“PAEA encourages PA programs to take after Shenandoah’s lead by using the DEI Toolkit with community stakeholders to create an equity, diversity, and inclusion roadmap tailored to your program’s mission, vision, and values,” the article adds. 

In addition, Shenandoah Assistant Professor and Doctor of Medical Science Director Shea Dempsey ’12, D.M.Sc., PA-C, co-authored an article with  Nathan M. Lechien ’23, D.M.Sc., PA-C, recently published in The Journal of Physician Assistant Education, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Plus Curriculum in Physician Assistants/Associate Education: A Call to Action.” 

The article states, “Promoting and advocating for LGBTQIA+ inclusion within the existing PA curriculum should be initiated by addressing the following subjects:

  • Identifying and addressing personal biases toward the LGBTQIA+ community.
  • Understanding hormone replacement therapy.
  • Prevention and intervention strategies for sexually transmitted infections.
  • Knowledge about pre-exposure prophylaxis.
  • Understanding postexposure prophylaxis.
  • Defining key LGBTQIA+ terms.
  • Learning about patient pronouns and their proper usage.
  • Exploring the social structure of the LGBTQIA+ community.
  • Examining health inequities faced by the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Read more online at The Journal of Physician Assistant Education. 

Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Sheila Hautbois, MSPAS, MPH, CHES®, PA-C, is one of the first non-physicians to be named a fellow by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). She received the honor at the ACLM’s recent national conference. 

“It feels incredibly amazing to be one of the few (and first) non-physicians to earn the distinction of fellow in the American College of Lifestyle Medicine,” Hautbois said. “It is truly a dream come true!” 

Sheila Hautbois and Dr. Cliff Morris receive the ACLM’s 2023 Clinical, Business & Innovation Award.In addition, she and Dr. Cliff Morris, her colleague at the Morris Cardiovascular and Risk Reduction Center, an outpatient cardiology practice, received the ACLM’s 2023 Clinical, Business & Innovation Award. Hautbois said the award’s description states that it is “for being a glowing example of lifestyle medicine in action, through a commitment to advancing lifestyle medicine in clinical and business settings and by demonstrating innovative and scalable approaches for care delivery, resulting in high-value care for patients and enhanced provider well-being.” Both she and Morris have also served as preceptors for Shenandoah’s PA Studies program. 

Her fellow faculty at Shenandoah have expressed pride in her work, too. “Not only is Sheila a very active member of ACLM, she is doing an amazing job at furthering the reach of the PA profession, placing herself in various positions that allow her to increase awareness of the PAs and helping to provide growth opportunities for PAs within this community,” said Shenandoah Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Diana Dewolfe, M.S. 

Hautbois, a certified lifestyle medicine professional, provides lifestyle medicine consultation in her clinical work. She explained that lifestyle medicine “looks at whole-person health and addresses getting healthy from the inside out. It involves optimizing nutrition, exercise, stress management, sleep, substance use, and social connections. Six in 10 adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease and four in 10 have two or more,” she said. “Lifestyle medicine, by working on root causes, can prevent, improve and even reverse chronic diseases, thereby reducing health care costs and enabling patients to get healthier.” 

She said she also brings her lifestyle medicine work into the classroom, often using case studies to illustrate its powerful effects. “I weave it into some class presentations, and I incorporate it in the humanities course I teach for PA students. Not only is it important for our students to know about, since it is good for our patients, but it is also good for providers and students to put it into practice for ourselves to optimize our own health!”

Shenandoah Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) students performed volunteer work this summer at Camp Follow the Leader, which is a week-long day camp for children with special needs, ages 6-10, who have unique physical, sensory, emotional, social and/or developmental challenges. Clare Polis ’24, Riley Seymour ’23, Emma Wagley ’24, and Emily Walker represented Shenandoah University’s PT program at the camp. Walker, a third year PT student, was awarded a scholarship for her exemplary service to her buddy and other campers. Several of these PT students, as well as Adjunct OT faculty member Molly Connor, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy alum Matt Thompson ’17, ’19, and two Master of Science in Occupational Therapy students were featured in The Winchester Star for their involvement in the summer camp presented by Valley Health. (Seymour is shown above in a photo by Jeff Taylor, published in The Winchester Star.)

Shenandoah Physical Therapy students and grads this summer continued the tradition of working as counselors at the Adventure Amputee Camp (AAC). Anna Meyer ’23, Diego Herrera ’23, and Rachel Quinn-Brown ’18, DPT, joined SUPT grad and AAC President and Head Counselor Karen Hall-Hicks ’08, PT, at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina for the 32nd year of camp.

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy A.J. Lievre, DPT, Ed.D., recently successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Exploring Musculoskeletal Physical Therapy Faculty’s Beliefs About the Therapeutic Relationship” and earned his Ed.D. from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. 

Distinguished Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, has been featured in the Physician Assistant Education Association’s publication PAEA Online, which is celebrating 50 years of the organization. Miller is featured in a “Past President Snapshot.” Miller served as PAEA president from 1992-1993. 

Occupational Therapy Instructor Sarah Sidar, M.S., is presenting at the American Occupational Therapy Association RDSIS (Rehabilitation & Disability Special Interest Section) practice chat on pelvic health on Aug. 17.

Occupational Therapy Director of Clinical Education and Experiential Learning Kelly McClintock, OTD; Adjunct Instructor of Occupational Therapy Daniel W. Martin Jr., Ph.D., and five Doctor of Occupational Therapy students had a recent publication appear in the American Journal of Applied Psychology: “Hippotherapy for Children with ASD: Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Dysregulation.” Read the article at the American Journal of Applied Psychology online. 

Photo Credit: Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star

Lack of diversity is an issue in the physician assistant (PA) profession, according to figures presented by Pangela Dawson, Ph.D., PA-C, director of Morehouse School of Medicine PA Program, at the June 4 Physician Assistant Program Admissions Success Seminar (PA-PASS) held at Shenandoah University’s Health Professions Building in Winchester. 

The Importance of Representation

Allie Conroy ’22, a Shenandoah PA Studies student in her clinical year, worked with Shenandoah Distinguished Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Tony Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, to develop the seminar to help a diverse population of pre-PA students become successful applicants to PA school as her Physician Assistant Education Association Student Health Policy Fellowship project. A $2,500 National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Health Foundation PAs STEP Up Grant helped support PA-PASS. 

Physician Assistant Program Admissions Success Seminar (PA-PASS), with organizer Allie Conroy '22 at far right in black top and blue skirt.

More than 30 pre-PA students turned out for the daylong seminar, which featured not only Dr. Dawson, but also Samora C. Charles, PA-C, MSPAS, MPH, senior director of PAs of Color; Donna Murray, DMSc., MS, PA-C, senior director of admissions for the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants/Physician Assistant Education Association; Brian Lee, career education and events coordinator at Shenandoah University; and Karen Bucher, Ph.D., director of student financial services at Shenandoah University. 

Conroy said she decided to create the seminar because the profession needs practitioners from more diverse backgrounds. Representation’s “benefits are many, including improved health outcomes.” 

Presenters at the seminar were chosen to help pre-PA students see how they can enter the career. For example, they explained that financial aid is available, waivers can be found for application fees, and that people from diverse backgrounds are thriving in the field. Conroy said it was designed so that those in attendance could see people who can say, “I did it. You can do it.”

Making a Difference

If more people from a variety of communities enter the profession, they can then also serve those same communities as a health care provider, Dawson noted. At the moment, though the field is not particularly diverse, in terms of ethnicity. A slide about recently certified PAs (6,667 respondents) in Dawson’s presentation shows that 85.6% are white, 3.1% are Black/African American, 8.5% are Asian, 0.1% are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 0.2% are American Indian or Alaskan Native; and 2.5% are other. 

Dawson told those attending the seminar the numbers are why they’re needed in the profession. “We’ve got some work to do.”

Benefits for Practitioners and Patients

Dawson, Dr. Murray, and Charles noted the profession’s diversity issue likely has several origins. It’s a relatively new profession with its origins at Duke University’s first class that graduated in 1967, so it’s still unknown to many who may want a medical career but see only medical or nursing school as the path to a future in health care. 

Murray also has a theory that people from underrepresented populations don’t have the same social capital as others in knowing about the profession – she was unique in connecting with the field as she attended an HBCU (Historically Black college or university) that had a PA program. Pre-PA students who are underrepresented in medicine typically don’t learn of the PA profession until much later in their academic careers than students of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, she said. Both Charles and Dawson said they were focused on becoming MDs before learning about the PA profession from a college friend (Charles) or a relative (Dawson) and discovering that it felt like a better fit for their lives.

Physician assistants, who earn a master’s degree, also enter health care earlier than MDs or Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, and likely accumulate far less debt in doing so, the trio said. If someone wants to make a difference in medicine earlier than later, also potentially working in an underserved community, “this is one way to do that,” Murray said. 

Trained as generalists, PAs also have a great deal of flexibility in how they engage in clinical practice. They can develop expertise in a variety of specialties, have a great return on their educational investment, and have more control over their work-life balance, according to Dawson.

To learn more about Shenandoah University’s Physician Assistant Studies Program, visit su.edu/pa.

Top image, L-R: Samora C. Charles, PA-C, MSPAS, MPH, senior director of PAs of Color; Shenandoah Distinguished Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Tony Miller, M.Ed., PA-C; Donna Murray, DMSc., MS, PA-C, senior director of admissions for the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants/Physician Assistant Education Association; and Pangela Dawson, Ph.D., PA-C, director of Morehouse School of Medicine PA Program.

The divisions within Shenandoah University’s School of Health Professions are distinguishing themselves not only with faculty research, but also with students receiving high-level scholarships and leadership opportunities.

Athletic Training

Janese Malone ’22 was awarded the 2022 Mid Atlantic Athletic Trainers’ Association Larry Sutton Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to students in a graduate professional athletic training program who indicate an intention to continue academic work while they pursue the profession of athletic training. 

Associate professor of Athletic Training Kim Pritchard, Ph.D., had an article she co-authored, “Effect of strength training on jump-landing biomechanics in adolescent females,” published in the Journal of Sports Health in January 2022.

First-year athletic training student Cade Watts was selected for the 2022 Mid Atlantic Athletic Trainers’ Association William Prentice Scholarship. The William Prentice Scholarship was developed to encourage continuing education of students at the graduate level in an athletic training-related program and is awarded to students who participated with distinction in an athletic training program.

Division of Athletic Training students, Doctor of Physical Therapy/Master of Science in Athletic Training students, three visiting Dublin City U. students, faculty, and one graduate participated in a five-day Wilderness First Responder training course put on by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)/ Landmark Learning in Cullowhee, North Carolina, April 25-30. All students are now WFR certified and ready to help injured persons in the backcountry.

Occupational Therapy

An article co-authored by Occupational Therapy Instructor Allison Shearer, MOT, “Ethical and Medical Considerations for the Clinician-Scientist: A Call for Reflexivity,” was published in Clinical Ethics in November 2021.

MSOT Program Director, Associate Director of the Division of Occupational Therapy / Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Callie Victor, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, Program Director for OTD; and Occupational Therapy Division Director Cathy Felmlee Shanholtz, OTD, presented “Hybrid Teaching & Learning Environments: Strategies for Graduate Students” at the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy at Virginia Tech in March.

Carla Hatfield ’22 was selected to participate in the 2022 American Occupational Therapy Association/American Occupational Therapy Foundation Summer Institute of Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy. The program introduces students to careers in research, connects them with mentors in the occupational therapy scientific community, and immerses them in a research-focused professional experience. 

Physical Therapy

Director of Clinical Education and Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Megan Bureau, DPT, has been named chief delegate for the Virginia delegation to the House Of Delegates for the American Physical Therapy Association.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Katie Bain, Ph.D., DPT, is presenting at National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Annual Meeting in June in Philadelphia on “The Relationship Between Constructs of Health-Related Quality of Life and Lower Extremity Visuomotor Reaction Time in Females with History of Lateral Ankle Sprain.”

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Aaron Hartstein, Ph.D., DPT, has co-authored several recent journal articles: “Virtual Reality Instructional Design in Orthopedic Physical Therapy Education: A Mixed-Methods Usability Study,” in Simulation & Gaming (February 2022); “The Impact of Pain Neuroscience Education in a Hispanic-American Population: A Mixed-Methods Exploratory Study,” in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice (April 2022) and “Iliac Artery Occlusion,” JOSPT Cases (May 2022).

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy A.J. Lievre, DPT, and Dean of the  School of Health Professions and Professor of Physical Therapy Karen Abraham, Ph.D., co-authored “Traits and Attributes of a Successful Physical Therapy Resident: A Delphi Study” published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Education in December 2021.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Michele Wiley, DPT, co-authored “Regional Differences in School-Based Physical Therapy: Examination of Therapist and Student Characteristics, Service Delivery, Activities, Interventions, and Outcomes” published in Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, Vol. 42 Issue 2, 2022.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Joe Signorino, Ph.D., DPT, co-authored “What do patients referred to physical therapy for a musculoskeletal condition expect? A qualitative assessment,” in Musculoskeletal Science and Practice (June 2022) and conducted a 5×5 presentation at the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists: “Identifying conservative interventions for individuals with subacromial pain syndrome prior to undergoing a subacromial decompression: A scoping review.”

Physician Assistant Studies

Associate Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Morgan Luck, Ed.D., PA-C, has received the PA Foundation’s Breitman-Dorn Endowed Research Fellowship. Dr. Luck was chosen as the sole recipient from all PA educators across the country. 

A research article that Physician Assistant Studies student Cristalle Madray ’23, MPH, was recently published in the Journal of Perinatal Education. Madray has also been accepted as an Area Health Education Centers scholar. The Virginia AHEC Scholars Program recruits, trains, and supports a diverse group of students from across the state, creating a multidisciplinary team of health professionals committed to both community service and the transformation of health care in Virginia.

During the most recent academic year, the Physician Assistant Studies program awarded over $45,000 in scholarships to nine students from its established internal endowed scholarships. 

Julia Estes ’23 has been selected to serve on the Virginia Rural Health Association Board of Directors. Estes is also vice president of the SUPA Student Society, Class of 2023. 

Shenandoah physician assistant studies students from the Class of 2022 had the opportunity to visit with American Academy of Physician Assistants’ president Jennifer Orozco and the first PA in space Haley Arceneaux during the national PA conference May 20-25 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Arceneaux, a cancer survivor who now works at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, was the medical officer for a recent SpaceX mission. (Left to right, above, are: Isabel Contreras, Kelly Luong, Haley Arceneaux, Jennifer Orozco, Bridget Janecek, and Keionna Wilkerson.)

Graduate Public Health 

Director of Graduate Public Health Programs Michelle Gamber, DrPH, and two adjunct faculty, Danielle Webster and Dulce Ruelas, have submitted a manuscript for publication. It is in the final stage of review and is on a COVID-19 and its impact on Health Professions students. Dr. Gamber also had a recent manuscript, “Adolescence Exposure to China’s Great Famine and the Association of Metabolic Syndrome in Adulthood: A Retrospective Study,” published in BMC Public Health (March 2022).

Associate Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Morgan Luck, Ed.D., PA-C, who is based at Scholar Plaza, Loudoun, is the subject of our December 2021 Friday Faculty Spotlight. One area of focus for Dr. Luck is diversity, and her interest in the issue grew out of her teaching experience at Shenandoah. Find out about her research and more in her full Friday Faculty Spotlight Q&A!

If there’s a faculty member you feel the university community needs to get to know better, just fill out the Friday Faculty Spotlight submission form. Friday Faculty Spotlights appear in the SUN-e and on the university’s website. If you have any questions, please contact omc@su.edu.

When did you begin teaching at Shenandoah? 

January 2016

What drew you to the university? 

Prior work with the SU Physician Assistant (PA) program (guest lecturing, admission day interviews) introduced me to the culture of support and camaraderie among the faculty, as well as the intelligence and vast potential of the students.

You just successfully defended your Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership dissertation at Shenandoah. Why did you decide to study for a Doctor of Education? 

The Master of Science degree I received in 2001 prepared me to practice clinically as a PA. Once I transitioned to a position in graduate education I recognized my need to gain expertise in the education field as well, especially in terms of research skills and leadership.

Your doctoral dissertation and your research fellowship with the Physician Assistant Educators Association (PAEA) both focus on increasing diversity in the physician assistant profession. What drew you to this topic? 

I was drawn to this topic early in my first year of teaching at SU as my students from diverse backgrounds shared with me their stories and challenges with the PA admission process. A focus of the PAEA fellowship was the connection between research and advocacy. Evidence is needed to advocate for change in admissions processes at departmental, institutional and national levels. Researchers can provide that evidence if they undertake well-designed projects (and if the outcomes of those projects turn out to support the cause). I see the potential for my research to mitigate the challenges my students described.

How does your research work connect with your teaching? 

I have been able to incorporate my knowledge of social determinants into my teaching of clinical medicine topics.

What do you hope your students take away from your classes? 

That my classes will contribute to their success in becoming my future practicing PA colleagues!

What do you do in your free time? 

I spend time with my husband and our four teenagers, read, take long walks with our puppy, and plan upcoming foodie adventures. 

What is a little-known fun fact about you? 

I love to plan foodie adventures, which can take my husband and I pretty much anywhere within an hour or two drive from our home in Northern Virginia. Most recently we took several weekend trips to tour the top BBQ restaurants/food trucks in Loudoun County and beyond.

Physician Assistant Studies

The Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) hosts an elite fellowship annually, for which it selects only 20 physician assistant (PA) studies students from across the United States. Students begin with a three-day conference culminating in an opportunity to advocate for PA education and the profession to political leaders in their respective districts. A Shenandoah second-year PA student, Allie Conroy, (pictured above) has received a spot for the 2021-2022 fellowship year. After working as a Capitol Hill staffer for a U.S. senator in the past, Conroy has renewed her passion for advocacy in the political sphere while continuing to finish out her didactic year. Conroy has also been invited to serve on a PAEA Doctoral Summit national steering committee. 

Physician Assistant Studies students Kristin Salter and Jamie Kennedy (Class of 2022), were both selected to join a two-year Area Health Education Centers educational program where they complete 40 hours of didactic work and 40 hours of clinical work per year. Some of the didactic topics include behavioral health, cultural competency, social determinants of health, substance use disorders, and interprofessional education. The program is designed to increase the number of skilled and culturally competent health professions students prepared to practice in rural and underserved areas.

Occupational Therapy

Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Morghen Sikes, Ph.D., and Master of Science in Occupational Therapy students’ summer intervention research study was presented at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine’s virtual conference at the end of September. Dr. Sikes’ research lab, ActivO.T., provided a week-long activity intervention among adult survivors of brain injury. The program resulted in significant changes in depression, anxiety, and self-efficacy among participants. Reach out to her at esikes@su.edu for more information, or to request information about the  ActivO.T. Intervention Study at Scholar Plaza, Loudoun. 

Occupational Therapy Instructor Allison Shearer, M.O.T., had a paper, “Ethical and Methodological Considerations for the Clinician-Scientist: A Call for Reflexivity,” accepted by the journal Clinical Ethics (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/cet). This paper details ethical and methodological concerns for the clinician-scientist that commonly arise when developing, implementing, and analyzing research in practice, and offers practical suggestions to address these issues. Namely, it outlines the role that reflexivity can play throughout the research process to assist in maintaining ethical and methodological rigor, as well as upholding the moral obligations of both practitioner and researcher.

COTAD backpack drive 2021Shenandoah University’s chapter of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity held a backpack drive that collected more than 60 backpacks and school supplies that were distributed to children at Garland R. Quarles Elementary School, the Evans Home for Children and The Kids Clubs of Northern Shenandoah Valley, all of which are in Winchester, Virginia. 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical Therapy

One of the Shenandoah University Division of Physical Therapy’s newest faculty members, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Joe Signorino, DPT, attended the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists’ (AAOMPT) annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Signorino participated in an oral presentation discussing his research titled, “Identifying Conservative Interventions for Individuals with Subacromial Pain Syndrome Prior to Undergoing a Subacromial Decompression: A Scoping Review.”

SU Physical Therapy faculty Dr. Aaron Hartstein, Dr. Kate Divine, Dr. Megan Bureau, and Dr. Thomas Turner at ELC 2021

Dr. Aaron Hartstein, Dr. Kate Divine, Dr. Megan Bureau, and Dr. Thomas Turner

Shenandoah’s Division of Physical Therapy was heavily represented at the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy’s 2021 Educational Leadership Conference (ELC) in Atlanta, Georgia, which took place Oct. 22-24. Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Thomas Turner, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Kate Divine, DPT, presented “Individualized Remediation: A Pilot Course.” Dean of the School of Health Professions and Professor of Physical Therapy Karen Abraham, Ph.D.; Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Lisa McVey, DPT; and Dr. Divine presented, with others, “Perceptions of Student Physical Therapist Clinical Instructors’ Behaviors and Beliefs Toward Blood Pressure Assessment.” Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Aaron Hartstein, DPT, Ph.D., presented, with others, “Virtual Reality in Physical Therapy Education: A RCT Comparing Virtual Reality and Standardized Patient Experiences.”
 
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Katherine Bain, DPT, had an article she co-wrote, “Isometric Hip Strength and Patient-Reported Outcomes of Individuals With and Without Chronic Ankle Instability,“published in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 
 
Several Shenandoah University Division of Physical Therapy faculty and alumni were recently elected by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Virginia: Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Megan Bureau, DPT (chief delegate); Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Michele Wiley, DPT (delegate); Kyle Feldman, DPT, ’11, ’14  (delegate & Blue Ridge District treasurer); and Megan McIntyre, DPT, ’12, ’15, (delegate). 
 
Shenandoah University’s Division of Physical Therapy recently hosted Dr. Dennis Klima. He offered a 4-hour continuing education course (for free) as a thank you to the division’s clinical instructors and community partners. The course was titled “Innovative Balance and Falls Management in Older Adults: Is Your Patient Having a Good Time?” Physical therapists from all settings attended, representing Valley Health, Fox Rehab, Fauquier Health, FYZICAL Therapy of Rockville, and Encompass Aldie.
 
Performing Arts Medicine
 
Faculty and alumni from the Performing Arts Medicine (PAM) Certificate program presented at the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science conference in October. 
 
Assistant Professor & Associate Director of Performing Arts Medicine Program Michele Pye, Ph.D. and Daphne Batista (SU Doctor of Physical Therapy – DPT – & PAM alumni - Class of 2020) presented "Ankle Function Following High Velocity Low Amplitude Thrust Manipulation in Collegiate Dancers and Non-Dancers with Chronic Ankle Instability."Assistant Professor & Associate Director of Performing Arts Medicine Program Michele Pye, Ph.D. and Daphne Batista (SU Doctor of Physical Therapy – DPT – & PAM alumni – Class of 2020) presented “Ankle Function Following High Velocity Low Amplitude Thrust Manipulation in Collegiate Dancers and Non-Dancers with Chronic Ankle Instability.”
 

 

Dr. Pye and Adjunct Professor Jacob Manley – SU DPT/Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) (2017), PAM (2018) – presented "Ballet is Backwards: An Interactive Forum Where Tradition and Science Clash."Dr. Pye and Adjunct Professor Jacob Manley – SU DPT/Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) (2017), PAM (2018) – presented “Ballet is Backwards: An Interactive Forum Where Tradition and Science Clash.” 

 

 

 

Dr. Katie van den Heuvel (PAM 2019) presented "Vestibular system for dancers: utilizing practical strategies." Dr. Katie van den Heuvel (PAM 2019) presented “Vestibular system for dancers: utilizing practical strategies.” 

 

 

 

 

Associate Professor of Athletic Training & Director of Performing Arts Medicine Program Rose Schmieg, D.H.Sc., and Dr. Manley presented "BFRT: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, hypertrophy or DVT."Associate Professor of Athletic Training & Director of the Performing Arts Medicine Program Rose Schmieg, D.H.Sc., and Dr. Manley presented “BFRT: What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, hypertrophy or DVT.”

 

 

 

Bridgette "Saba" Whitermore (PAM  2019) presented "Hallux Valgus Surgical Considerations for Dancers."Bridgette Saba Whitermore (PAM  2019) presented “Hallux Valgus Surgical Considerations for Dancers.” 

Physician Assistant Studies student Dzevida Pandzic ’21 is the recipient of the 2021 Dr. Thomas Marfing Educational Trust Scholarship.

Funded by the trust, the scholarship has been awarded annually since 2019 to a Physician Assistant Studies student at Shenandoah University. The late Dr. Marfing was a beloved and respected general surgeon in Winchester for 23 years and a great proponent of training the next generation of health care providers. 

“I am deeply honored to have been selected as a recipient of the Dr. Thomas Marfing Education Trust Scholarship,” Pandzic said. “For many of us, this past year was filled with unforeseen challenges and hardships that continue to have profound and lasting impacts. During this time of uncertainty, I am grateful to be part of a community that prioritizes health and wellness while enabling its students to achieve their goals through continued financial assistance and academic support. Without scholarship patrons willing to support higher education, students such as myself would be unable to pursue advanced health care degrees without being engulfed by student loan debt. This scholarship will help lighten my financial burden and serve as an inspiration as I work to complete my degree and go on to pursue a career working with vulnerable and medically underserved populations.”

The Marfing Trust has awarded $10,600 since 2019 to support scholarships in the Physician Assistant Studies program.

Three students in Shenandoah University’s physician assistant studies program have received fellowships from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA). 

Physician assistant (PA) studies students Isabel Contreras and Sarah Yancey were recently named as two of the 20 members of the 2020–2021 Student Health Policy Fellowship cohort, while another PA student, Joshua Montgomery, is one of PAEA’s 15 Future Educator Fellows. In September, Contreras and Yancey participated in the PAEA’s first-ever virtual Student Health Policy Fellowship workshop, which was a three-day event.

Shenandoah’s PA program has produced several PAEA fellows in recent years. Distinguished Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, helped develop the Student Health Policy Fellowship when he served as the PAEA’s chief policy and research officer. Miller said he encourages Shenandoah students to apply for the program, and notes that it’s consistent with the Division of Physician Assistant Studies’ mission, specifically the fellowship’s core value of “supporting advocacy that empowers those in need.” 

“The PA program faculty are very excited that we had students among the few selected for these competitive and prestigious national fellowships for students. I know that our students will serve as outstanding representatives for our PA program and Shenandoah University,” Miller said. 

Distinguished Professor of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, is a newly appointed board member of the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation. Miller’s three year term began Oct. 10. 

“Operating Room Virtual Reality Immersion Improves Self-Efficacy Amongst Preclinical Physician Assistant Students” co-written by Associate Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Erika R. Francis, MSPAS, PA-C; Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Stephanie Bernard, MMSc, PA-C; Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Morgan Nowak, M.S., PA-C; and Associate Professor of Quantitative Methods Sarah Daniel, Ph.D., has been published in the Journal of Surgical Education. The article covers how the introduction of virtual reality simulation improved preclinical PA student self-efficacy in the operating room setting.

An article by Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Alicia Lutman OTD, MOTR/L, ATC, “Autism Awareness Education for First Responders: Closing the Loop,” was published in OT Practice in September. 

The Shenandoah University Division of Occupational Therapy congratulates the first seven graduates of its online Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate program. These students successfully planned and completed their capstone projects during the pandemic, all while managing their ever-changing home and work situations. They presented their findings over Zoom in August.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Michele Wiley, DPT, was featured in a recent article about telehealth in the school-based setting in the APTA Magazine. Dr. Wiley also had a letter to the editor published in the July 2020 issue of the APTA Magazine (July 2020, volume 12, No. 6, pages 7-8). She offered a perspective in response to a previously printed ‘Ethics in Practice’ column (April 2020) about school placement of a child with disabilities.

Nursing student Carmen Mazyck ’22, has been presented with the Jo Anne J. Trow Award from Alpha Lambda Delta for the 2020-21 academic year. The $1,000 award was started in 1988 to honor the past national president of Alpha Lambda Delta. Jo Anne J. Trow is the former vice president for student services at Oregon State University. She served Alpha Lambda Delta as national president from 1985 to 1988.

A piece co-written by Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy student Shivangi Patel, ’21, appeared over the summer in Pharmacy Times. The article, “Expanding the Role of Pharmacists in the Wake of COVID-19,” was composed during a virtual Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiential Rotation with preceptor Jonathan Ogurchak, Pharm.D., CSP, the founder and CEO of STACK, a pharmacy compliance management software. Ogurchak is the article’s other co-writer. 

Division of Physician Assistant Studies Distinguished Professor and Director Anthony Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, along with Bettie Coplan, MPAS, PA-C, of Northern Arizona University, received funding from the Physician Assistant Education Association to conduct scholarship and new research related to the impact of doctoral entry-level degrees in the health professions.

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Lisa McVey, DPT, was named the inaugural SU FITT Award Winner for 2020. She was honored for her innovation in teaching. Her utilization of technology in the classroom has provided students with great learning opportunities.

Shenandoah Division of Physical Therapy students Sam Sova ’21 and Sarah Strong ’20 assisted with the COVID-19 pandemic response with the Loudoun Makersmiths, by making face shields with a 3D printer for first responders. 

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Michele Wiley, PT, DPT, DHSc, discussed the possibilities for telehealth in providing school-based therapy services in Education Week. Dr. Wiley also recently earned her second doctoral degree. She earned her DHSc in Rehabilitation Science from Drexel University. Wiley’s dissertation was “Characteristics of school-based physical therapists and students associated with inclusive physical therapy practices: A secondary data analysis from PT COUNTS.”

Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Occupational Therapy Cathy Shanholtz, OTD,  and Director of Graduate Public Health Programs Michelle Gamber, DrPH, were part of an international delegation to Spain hosted by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). The international delegation included 20 invited guests hailing from the United States, Canada and Argentina. The delegates engaged in a series of professional seminars where ideas and experiences were exchanged regarding intellectual and developmental disabilities, with a goal of establishing opportunities for collaboration and further research with the host country. Delegates visited Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona.

Shenandoah’s School of Health Professions was well represented at the American Physical Therapy Association Education Leadership Conference, where faculty from across Shenandoah programs traveled and learned together. Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Lisa McVey, t-DPT; Dean of the School of Health Professions and Professor of Physical Therapy Karen Abraham, Ph.D.; Director of Pre-Health and Interprofessional Education and Associate Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Anne Schempp, Ed.D., PA-C; Associate Professor of Physical Therapy A.J. Lievre, DPT; Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Aaron Hartstein, t-DPT; Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Kate Divine, DPT; and Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Melissa Wolff-Burke, Ed.D., presented. Dr. Wolff-Burke also received the Outstanding Poster Presentation Award.

The student organization Primary Care Progress spearheaded an effort that led Bombas to donate 1,000 pairs of socks to patients and homeless people at the Sinclair Health Clinic and the Winchester Rescue Mission. Faculty advisors for this student organization are Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Tony Miller, M.Ed., PA-C; Associate Professor of Pharmacy Jeremy Fox, Pharm.D., and Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Lisa McVey, DPT.

Virginia First Lady Pam Northam spoke at Shenandoah University during the fall 2019 semester to occupational therapy students about her career as an occupational therapist and the importance of environmental stewardship, and encouraged others to consider service in their communities.

Shenandoah University’s Division of Occupational Therapy sent a student research project, “Parent Concerns About Interactions of First Responders with Children with Autism” to the OCALICON  conference in Columbus, Ohio, in November 2019. Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Alicia Lutman, OTD, mentored second-year occupational therapy students through the project and had the pleasure to present it at OCALICON, the nation’s premier autism and disabilities conference.

Shenandoah University Student Occupational Therapy Association members volunteered with the Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment and Endowment (F.R.E.E.) in September to help clean, organize, inventory and learn more about rehabilitation equipment. F.R.E.E. is a nonprofit organization that helps to provide equipment such as walkers and wheelchairs to low-income community members.

Second-year physician assistant (PA) studies student Abby Sekulich planned an October workshop for Shenandoah University Physician Assistant Student Society (SUPASS) officers, aimed at reducing PA program burnout. This event was funded through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Health Foundation‘s Be the Change Grant.

By Elise O’Neill-Eckman ’19

Third-year Physician Assistant (PA) Studies student Marie Slisher received the prestigious Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Student Health Policy Fellowship at the association’s meeting, held  Sept. 9, through Sept. 12, in Washington, D.C.

Slisher was chosen to join 13 other PA students who were selected nationwide to participate in PAEA’s 2018 fellowship class centering on professional advocacy and leadership in the health care field.

“It is incredibly competitive,” said Slisher. “They (PAEA) said there was a record number of applicants this year. I was very honored to have been chosen”.

Professor and Director of Shenandoah University’s Division of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, said of Slisher’s selection, “The faculty and I were very pleased that Marie Slisher was accepted to the fellowship from hundreds of applicants across the country. She has been a leader here for Shenandoah’s PA program, and this fellowship will strengthen her leadership and health policy skills so she can continue to effectively advocate for PAs as a graduate.”

Slisher became inspired to explore the legislative side of medicine after she participated in White Coats on Call during spring semester last year, where she and other Shenandoah PA students went to the Virginia House of Delegates. “We talked to representatives about legislation that we felt should be passed at the state level. White Coats on Call was what really started getting me interested in advocacy and [showed me] what I can do as a PA to advocate for my patients,” said Slisher.

PAEA fellows engage with the legislative process at the federal and state levels, cultivating their skills to become powerful advocates for health care and the PA profession. According to the PAEA website, fellows also “build and refine the skills necessary to organize and lead others in advancing health policy issues at the local, state and national level.”

For more information about the PAEA Fellowship, visit www.paeaonline.org.

Adjunct Associate Professor of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Rachel A. Carlson, Ed.D., PA-C, DFAAPA, was named the Virginia PA of the Year by Virginia Academy of Physician Assistants(VAPA) at its state conference in July in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  

“This is a huge honor and was related to the substantive work Rachel had completed through advocacy and advancement of the PA profession as the director of advanced practice clinicians at Valley Health,” said Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Erika R. Francis, MSPAS, PA-C.

Dr. Carlson also served as director of Shenandoah’s PA program from 2012 to 2016, and has been on the faculty since 2002. The university’s PA program is among the Top 20 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

An honor and an affirmation

“This honor was extremely humbling and at the same time affirming,” Carlson said. “My mother pushed me when I was younger to go to school and find something I was passionate about. I remember how upset she was when I told her I was going to go to PA school instead of medical school, and how we were able to talk about this a few years ago about this being the right decision for me and look at all of the opportunities granted me by choosing this path. We came from very meager means, and I know that I couldn’t have made it to where I am today without people supporting me and nurturing me along the way and working extremely hard. Serving my vocation has been my way of paying it forward. I have been blessed with an extremely supportive husband, mother, and children; supervisors at all three of my full-time positions during my career as a PA have encouraged my personal and professional growth, and the colleagues that I have worked with at each place have also been very supportive. Having the opportunity to serve locally, regionally, and nationally for PA organizations has afforded me the ability to create lifelong mentors and relationships. These relationships have nurtured me and allowed me to acquire knowledge to share with the PA students and PA colleagues at Shenandoah and around the country.”

“Dr. Rachel Carlson is most deserving of the Virginia Academy of Physician Assistants’ 2018 PA of the Year honor,” said Shenandoah Distinguished Professor and Director of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, who led the program from 2000 to 2012, and returned to lead it again in 2016. “I had the pleasure of hiring Rachel as one of our earliest faculty members in the Shenandoah PA Program. She was one of my former students at the Medical College of Ohio (now University of Toledo), and I knew that she would eventually become an excellent teacher and strong leader for the PA profession. In her short career so far, she has made significant contributions to Shenandoah University, its PA students, the PAs in the Commonwealth of Virginia and in the nation.” Miller also presented “Physician Assistant Doctorate: A Ticket to Autonomy?” at the VAPA conference.

Teaching from experience, and being a resource

Teaching remains an integral part of Carlson’s life, even though it is no longer her full-time vocation.

“Teaching (or facilitating the acquisition of knowledge) is an honor and a challenge. There is the adage that ‘those who can’t, teach….’ I think that is extremely inaccurate of any teacher. If you ‘can’t,’ then you have no credibility in the classroom, especially in graduate professional education. Teaching is a service to our society and the future of any profession. Having the opportunity to participate in the learning process with students is engaging and enriching to my career, and, hopefully, I have bestowed my knowledge and passion along to students. As an employer of PAs, I think it is extremely important to have a place in their learning. My understanding of the needs of the employment marketplace allows our program’s graduates to have the opportunity to have some ‘inside’ knowledge. I have always availed myself to be a resource for them during their employment process, whether it is for the first job or the third. Shenandoah has been special because of its small class sizes, which allow professors to develop long-term relationships with the students, especially as they become professionals. No student is just a number here and I am extremely proud of the PAs we have graduated over the years,” said Carlson, who, aside from being named PA of the Year at the conference, also gave a self-assessment talk there, focusing on the Physician Assistant National Recertification Exam.

The future of the PA profession

Francis, with fellow assistant professors of physician assistant studies Morgan Nowak, M.S., PA-C, and Stephanie Bernard, M.M.Sc., PA-C, R.D., presented at the conference on the topic “Opportunities Abound: Future PAs Need You!”

Those future PAs are going to enter an evolving field. “The next couple of years is going to tell us a lot about the future of the profession,” Carlson said. “As healthcare institutions increase their hiring rates of PAs (and NPs) to serve the growing needs of patients in this country, the rigor of PA programs and the flexibility of the profession will be challenged to fulfill the needs. PAs will be challenged to step up and advocate for their profession, whether through naming conventions, defined entrustable professional activities for PAs, postgraduate clinical education, clinical doctorates, or decreased regulatory red tape to ensure equal access to high quality care for patients that PAs can provide.”

Two current PA students, Adriana Posadas ’18 and Gabriella Romero ’18, attended the conference, as did alumni Alix Gilbert ‘10, Sara Brendle ’13, K.C. Barney ’17 and Amy Moorhead ’15. Additionally, the current VAPA treasurer is Jessica Gandhi ’13, MSPAS, PA-C, who is also an adjunct professor in Shenandoah’s PA program.

Shenandoah University’s Physician Assistant (PA) Studies class of 2017 has posted a 100 percent first-time pass rate on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE).

It’s the third time in five years 100 percent of program graduates have achieved a perfect first-time pass rate. The Shenandoah PA program’s overall pass rate for first-time exam takers over the past five years is 98 percent, and the program boasts a 100 percent overall pass rate since its first graduating class in 2003.

“I believe that our successful pass rate can be attributed to two major factors,” said Distinguished Professor and Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C. “First, the outstanding students that we attract who are very bright and highly motivated,” he said. “Second, our outstanding faculty who are great teachers and mentors but also are dedicated to the success of our students.”

A Program With National Attention

But those aren’t the only strengths of the program, which is one of the nation’s Top 20 PA programs, according to U.S. News & World Report.

“Our curriculum is designed to prepare our students to be excellent health care providers, so it is natural that they would do well on the national certifying exam,” Miller said. “It focuses on preparing our students to be critical thinkers as well as caring and compassionate individuals.”

Added Elements

Shenandoah’s PA program provides students a chance to study and hone their skills around the world through medical mission trips (the program regularly travels to Nicaragua) and clinical rotations in places such as Clinica Madre de Cristo in Trujillo, Peru.

The program also offers a dual master’s degree in PA studies and public health for students interested in PA and public health positions that address today’s most challenging population health care issues.

Featured photo: Physician Assistant Studies class of 2017 graduation. 

 

The Shenandoah University Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Class of 2019 raised $12,000 for health and human services organizations at its recent gala. 

On June 29, the class presented Winchester-based Special Love, Inc., which provides camp experiences to children with cancer, with a check for $8,000. The Laurel Center (formerly The Shelter for Abused Women), also based in Winchester, has received $2,000 from the gala, and  El Ayudante, a humanitarian organization based in León, Nicaragua, has also received $2,000.

“Each year the students select community organizations that touch their hearts,”  said Distinguished Professor & Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C. The story of PA student Erin Schulte ’19, led, in part, to Special Love’s selection.

PA students who raised funds for Special Love, Inc. with Special Love's signature Mystery Machine-style van.

A Personal Connection To Special Love

“At the age of four I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia,” Schulte said. “I am blessed to say that I have been cancer free since my treatments. After finishing my chemotherapy treatments, I became an active participant in various Special Love events: Camp Fantastic, Family Fun Weekend and Family Ski Weekend. My siblings, Eric and Emily Schulte, also went to Brass Camp.

“My most valuable experience was at Camp Fantastic. I made friends with kids who were going through the same experience and understood how it felt to battle cancer.  It allowed me to be a kid: going horseback riding, playing in the pool and taking mini-cooking classes. Special Love helped my family and I make the most out of those difficult years during and after my treatments (whether it was through camps or ski trips) and allowed us to enjoy what matters most – time with loved ones. For this reason, I am greatly appreciative of the organization and everything that it has done for my family and many others. Simply put, Special Love holds a special place in my heart.”

This is also the second year The Laurel Center has benefited from the gala.

Shenandoah’s PA classes recently marked their 13th year of holding galas, all of which are successful due to the students’ hard work, Miller said. “They go out to friends and family and to the Shenandoah Valley community to get donations that are auctioned at this event (silent auction), and there are some prizes that are awarded via raffle.”

Miller said helping the community is part of the PA mindset. “Our students are attracted to the PA profession because they want to pursue a career that is about helping others. So doing these galas to raise money for community agencies is natural for them – it is in their DNA.”

Three of the six physician assistant studies (PA) students chosen as Paul Ambrose Scholars this year are from Shenandoah University.

Pamela Audrey Lee, Catherine Mahon, and Melissa Rabinek were selected for the scholars program, which is planned and implemented by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR).

According to its website, APTR “is the professional organization representing accredited and emerging graduate public health programs, medical and health professions faculty, and students dedicated to interprofessional prevention education and research.”

Up to 40 students are selected for the program annually. Those selected must show an interest in integrating public health into their future clinical practice. Students come from graduate nursing, dentistry, graduate physician assistant, MD/DO, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and public health programs across the nation.

Those chosen for the program work on a community-based project assessing health promotion or disease prevention within their communities. They have one year to report project outcomes.

Information about all of the scholars’ projects can be found online at ambrosescholars.org.

Community-Based Projects

Lee’s project is to “create video training materials and resources materials and resources targeted for obstetricians, pediatricians, and primary care providers, to help identify high-risk NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) parents.”

Lee is also the mother of three prematurely born children.

As for Mahon, who is a dual PA and Master of Public Health student, her “aim is to increase access and awareness of the importance of Hepatitis C screening in high-risk populations of homeless and intravenous drug users (IDU) in Winchester, Virginia — an area hard-hit by poverty and the current opioid crisis.”

Mahon’s project is “oriented towards connecting these at-risk populations with formal health services, screening, education, and disease management.”

Rabinek’s project is “to confront mental health disparities in the Winchester community through the utilization of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT).” She plans to work with the Sinclair Health Clinic, a free medical clinic in Winchester.

The clinic is the ideal partner for this project, Rabinek said. “Their mission is to deliver low-cost, community-based health services to local individuals in need.” Rabinek also hopes to expand Sinclair’s utilization of DBT to reach more patient populations.

A Strong Class And Academic Partnership

Shenandoah Distinguished Professor and Director of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, credits the excellent students in the PA class of 2018, notably Lee, Mahon and Rabinek, as well a strong relationship with the new Shenandoah public health program, for such high Shenandoah PA representation in the Paul Ambrose Scholars Program.

Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Leocadia Conlon, PA-C, M.P.H., and Director of Graduate Public Health Programs Michelle Gamber, Dr.P.H., are serving as these students’ mentors throughout their time in this program.

“We both guided these students through the application process, and will also continue to mentor them and play an active role throughout their research process,” Dr. Gamber said.

Physician Assistant (PA) Studies faculty and students attended the World Health Organization (WHO) Forum on Human Resources for Health in Dublin, Ireland, in November. This meeting was the largest-ever forum focusing on health workers and global health, with delegates from 70 countries attending. WHO has called for innovation to expand and transform the health workforce, as it estimates a health worker shortfall of 18 million globally by 2030. Addressing the workforce globally is vital to meeting one of the aims of WHO’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): to achieve universal health coverage of all United Nations (U.N.) member states by 2030 (SDG target 3.8).

Shenandoah University Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Physician Assistant Studies Leocadia Pietrowski-Conlon, PA-C, MPH, presented on the implementation of a student-led community health worker (CHW) program and its potential for aligning with goals of social accountability in health professional education. This student-led CHW program is a pilot project that began in June 2017 in partnership with the Lord Fairfax District Health District. The project aims to help build a local CHW program in response to community needs, and to promote social accountability among health professional students. Educational activities that align with social accountability are important to the development of health care professionals who are prepared to address the burden of health inequities. It was an honor and a unique opportunity to have faculty present on an innovative program at Shenandoah University in front of an audience of leaders in the global health community.

Students had the additional honor of attending the first-ever Youth Forum on Human Resources for Health. Audrey Lee ’18 (PA student), Catherine Mahon ’18 (Dual PA/Master of Public Health student), and Christina Wojnarwsky ’18 (Dual PA/Master of Public Health student), were the only PA students accepted, after an application process, to be a part of a delegation of 100 students from across the globe. Some of the countries represented at the Youth Forum included Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Jordan, England, Ireland, Canada, Greece, Portugal, Singapore and South Africa. Students spent a day engaged in workshops to discuss innovations to build and expand the health care workforce globally.

Shenandoah University PA student Audrey Lee '18 reporting out on the Youth Forum at the WHO Forum on Human Resources for Health .

Shenandoah University PA student Audrey Lee ’18 reporting out on the Youth Forum at the WHO Forum on Human Resources for Health in Dublin, Ireland.

“It was a unique and empowering opportunity to be surrounded by a diverse, intelligent, motivated and hopeful group of students and young professionals from around the globe, actively working towards a better future with accessible quality care and prevention for everyone,” Mahon said. “It really showed me what resources we have available to us, and that we do have the skills and knowledge to make a difference, and we just have to be bold enough to stand up and do something with it,” Wojnarwski added. During the forum, Lee delivered a report from the work achieved during the student forum that contributed to the development of an official call to action, “Youth Call for Action on Human Resources for Health,” which is available on the WHO website.

Featured photo above/From left to right: Christina Wojnarwsky, Leocadia Pietrowski-Conlon, MPH, PA-C (PA faculty), Audrey Lee and Catherine Mahon. 

Physician Assistant (PA) Studies student Judith Pascarella ’17, received the LtC David Gwinn Memorial/Veterans Caucus Scholarship for 2017 from the Veterans Caucus. Pascarella, who is a lieutenant colonel with 19 years of service (six years of active service and the remainder in the Virginia National Guard and Army Reserves), learned about the scholarship from the Veterans Caucus website. She was excited and honored to be awarded the $2,000 scholarship, which helps with the cost of tuition, commuting to more remote clinical sites, and housing. “It is a competitive scholarship, and to be chosen among so many amazing candidates was a great privilege,” said Pascarella, who decided to be come a PA after being exposed to the work of PAs while serving in a medical brigade. “I love the practice model based on team work and the flexibility of the profession. I chose Shenandoah’s PA program for multiple reasons, including its commitment to under-served communities, the warm and inclusive teaching and learning environment, and opportunities for veteran education.”

Physician Assistant Studies student James Dillard ’18 was recently commissioned in the United States Air Force (USAF) as a second lieutenant through the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). This program provides reimbursement for  tuition, living, and other expenses in return for three years of active duty service in the USAF followed by five years of inactive reserve service, which will begin upon graduation and licensure as a physician assistant (PA).  Dillard said, “I look forward to practicing as a PA in the military serving those who protect and defend our freedom or those who sacrifice time with their loved one for our country. I also am excited to bring the skills I acquire from my service to the community in which I one day live.”

Photo: Judith Pascarella ’17 and Distinguished Professor & Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, with Pascarella’s Veterans Caucus scholarship award.

Associate Professor in the Division of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies & Director of Pre-Health and Interprofessional Education Anne Schempp, MPAS, PA-C, has been named chair of the Physician Assistant Education Association’s (PAEA) End of Curriculum Exam Development Board. As chair of this board, Schempp will help develop and oversee a new exam for graduating PA students, an undertaking that has been in the works for several years. The work of this board continues as part of the Assessment Council under PAEA, the national organization for PA education.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Cameron Bolton ’14, D.P.T., and Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Kate Divine ’08, ’10, D.P.T., were recently honored at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, for earning their Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist and Women’s Health Clinical Specialists certifications, respectively.

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy A.J. Lievre ’02, ’04, t-D.P.T.; Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Aaron Hartstein, M.P.T.; Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Megan Bureau ’04, D.P.T., and Associate Professor & Interim Director of Physical Therapy Sheri Hale, Ph.D., PT, ATC, along with third-year physical therapy students, presented two research projects at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Hartstein and Drs. Lievre and Hale, with students Kristina Clinton ’17, Julia Falkenklous ’17, Erika Finn ’17, Reihle Kash ’17, Heather Lauth ’17 and Robert Nester ’17, presented “The immediate effects of thoracic spine manipulation versus a sham comparator on the upper limb provocation test and seated slump test,” while Dr. Bureau, Ruth Maher, and students Melissa Conway ’17, Paul Ellington ’17, Amber Harrison ’17, and Chelsey Thornsberry ’17, presented, “In Vivo Ultrasound of radial head motion and effect of mobilization direction on forearm range of motion.”

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Director of Clinical Education Melissa Wolff-Burke, Ed.D., PT, M.S., was featured, along with several Shenandoah physical therapy (PT) students, in the March Blue Ridge LIFE magazine article, “Back on the Slopes,” about the adaptive PT and ski program Dr. Burke oversees each year at Wintergreen Resort in Nellysford, Virginia.

Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Callie Victor, Ph.D., OTR/L, was chosen through a peer-review process to present at the annual American Occupational Therapy Association conference held this spring in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first session was a poster presentation titled “Workplace Discrimination and Visual Impairment: Still a Concern After the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.” Her second session was a scientific research panel discussion titled “Assessing Perceived Work Discrimination from Visual Impairments After the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.”

Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Erika Francis, MSPAS, PA-C, co-presented along with second-year PA students, Megan Freismidl and Kaity Garnett, in February at the Active Citizens Conference at the College of William & Mary. The topic of the workshop presentation was “Service in a Busy Season” and included interactive online polling, brainstorming amongst conference attendees, as well as social media integration. The presentation was supported by a faculty-student collaborative grant. Francis also presented – along with her colleagues Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Stephanie Bernard, M.M.S., PA-C, and Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Morgan Nowak, M.S., PA-C, at the annual Wine, Cheese and Scholarship event held in the Brandt Student Center, Ferrari Room, in February. She and her colleagues’ research concerned, “The Flipped Classroom: Innovations in Recitation Across Campuses.” The Division of Physician Assistant Studies, after a two-year review, redesigned its curriculum in 2011 to a hybrid teaching model. This model trades the “sage on the stage” traditional lecture pedagogy for one that includes several strategies for educating students including: self-directed learning, expert teaching cases and interactive recitation sessions. The recitation sessions are used to highlight key concepts through conversation, action, role-play, illustration and competition. These opportunities for “active learning” help facilitate students’ understanding and application of critical medical concepts. The establishment of a satellite site presented a new challenge to recitation strategies. A positive role for technology in facilitating the flipped classroom has been demonstrated in the literature. Over the past year, faculty members closely monitored student outcomes in order to assess the impact of dual-campus recitation via video teleconference (VTC).

Distinguished Professor and Director of the Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C, was recently awarded the 2017 Faculty Generated Research Grant from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), along with C. Jayne Brahler, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Dayton.

“As we continue to recognize that the key to health professions education is not simply memorizing a great number of facts, the importance of examining how to determine critical thinking skills rises to the top,” said Miller. “I am hopeful this research will help to illuminate how critical thinking skills impact the success of physician assistant studies students.”

The grant is an opportunity for researchers to gain support for their investigation of a question of critical interest to PA education and/or the profession. The pair’s research will explore two questions:

  1. Do Health Science Reasoning Test scores predict PA student didactic year success as measured by persistence, number of course grades less than “B,” and end of the post-didactic/pre-clinical grade point averages (GPAs)?
  2. Is there a significant difference in changes in PA student abilities to think critically as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test, based on the pedagogical model a program uses?

Miller and Dr. Brahler’s winning proposal was chosen through a rigorous two-phase, blinded process. A panel of reviewers from the PAEA Research Council and the Grants and Scholarship Review Group comprise the review board.

Read more about the project here.

Karen Abraham, Ph.D., has been named Shenandoah University’s interim dean of the School of Health Professions. She will begin her new position on January 3, 2017, and will serve through the 2017-18 academic year.

Dr. Abraham currently serves as the university’s fellow for academic excellence and professor of physical therapy at Shenandoah University, previously served as director of the university’s Division of Physical Therapy from 2008 to 2015, and has been a member of the faculty since 2001.

“Although this is an interim appointment, it is far from a caretaker position,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Adrienne Bloss, Ph.D. “Karen has extensive administrative experience at the division, school, and university levels, and she will have full authority to provide forward-looking leadership for both internal and external activities. I look forward to seeing Karen excel in this new role.”

Abraham succeeds Timothy Ford, Ph.D., the university’s first dean of the School of Health Professions, who moves on to serve as chair of environmental health sciences in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to lead the School of Health Professions, and its very talented group of faculty, staff and students, as the interim dean,” said Abraham. “I hope to build on the foundation laid by Dr. Ford, and look forward to building new relationships at Shenandoah and within the region to benefit the the School of Health Professions. There are many exciting initiatives within the school, such as new programs in public health and the continued growth of interprofessional education. Shenandoah has been an incredible place for me to grow personally and professionally, and I look forward to this new challenge and new way to serve the university.”

Abraham is by training an orthopedic therapist with a special interest in women’s health issues. She has used her background in basic science and pain research as a foundation for her current research projects in women’s health physical therapy.

She has been a member of the Section on Women’s Health of the American Physical Therapy Association APTA since 1996, and has served as a member of many of the section’s task forces and as an investigator in several grant-funded studies. In February 2015, she was awarded the section’s highest honor, the Elizabeth Noble Award. She is also a Virginia State APTA Delegate.

Abraham has served on the Specialization Task Force of the Section on Women’s Health of the APTA, the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) Specialty Council for Women’s Health Specialty Certification, and on the review boards of the Physical Therapy Journal (journal of the APTA), Spinal Cord, and Anatomical Sciences Education. She is an associate editor and reviewer for the Journal of Women’s Health Physical Therapy.  

She has brought physical therapy advocacy to a global community, serving as an ambassador for physical therapy to Haiti, India, the Philippines and Nicaragua.

Abraham holds a bachelor of science degree in physical therapy from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and a Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. She has completed the Education Leadership Institute Fellowship of the APTA.

The university anticipates launching a national search for the dean of the School of Health Professions position in the fall of 2017.

Palliative and hospice care are important issues for health care professionals to consider, particularly as the U.S. population ages. However, they aren’t issues only for the elderly – they’re meaningful to any person, regardless of age, dealing with chronic or terminal disease, as well as that person’s family and loved ones.

On June 22, Shenandoah University physician assistant (PA) studies program student Dustin Bogan ’16, participated in the Patient Quality of Life Coalition’s Lobby Day at the U.S Capitol to discuss hospice and palliative care education, awareness and research. A special concluding event, hosted by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, included a roundtable discussion featuring  CMS Chief Medical Officer Patrick Conway, special guest Rory Feek, and Dr. Atul Gawande, author of “Being Mortal,” and a special viewing of the PBS documentary, “Being Mortal,” based on Gawande’s book.

Afterward, Bogan reflected on the event and his education as a PA student, which has taught him to “individualize a patient’s medical care and act in the best interest of the patient.” But, when a patient is incurable, a caregiver can feel like a failure, which he said should not be the case. “It is important for guilt and shame to be eliminated from our minds and be replaced with hope and positivity, because hospice and palliative care are two valuable avenues of medicine that are poorly misunderstood and underutilized. It is time to eliminate the negative connotations around those words and determine when to inform patients about the availability of hospice and palliative services in order to ensure that they can utilize them effectively before it is too late,” he said.

At Lobby Day, Bogan said he was fortunate enough to meet Gawande, view the documentary, and hear positive stories about hospice from Gawande, Rory Feek and others. “I heard from a woman who had watched her father struggle with lung cancer before deciding to go on hospice, which allowed him four of the happiest years of his life. Another woman shared the story of her three-month-old son, whom she adopted knowing that he was destined to spend the entirety of his life in palliative care. This had only reinforced what I already knew, that everyone is touched directly or indirectly by the suffering of chronic disease. It also reinforced that hospice and palliative care are not death sentences, but are in fact able to improve the quality of a patient’s life regardless of the quantity of days that they have remaining. Gawande provided an enlightening end to the day as he shared his own experiences – both personal and professional – with these fields of medicine. It was evident that his support for palliative care and hospice was tied to his own life and experience. He had witnessed patients and family members struggle to adapt to the severity of their illness only to turn to hope and positivity through hospice or palliative care.  Gawande relived each experience as the documentary played across the screen – from the first patient to make him think about the end of life to his extremely personal experiences with his own father.

        “Beside Dr. Gawande was Rory Feek, who some may know for his musical career and others know for his public campaign to share his wife Joey’s story. Joey passed away earlier this year after a battle with cancer, but she was fortunate enough to spend the last portion of her life in hospice. Rory described those last few months as the best time of the couple’s life. No one can truly depict the emotions surrounding such a decision, but Rory said that he hoped that his personal journey with Joey would further shine a light on the positive utilization of hospice in particular. He wanted everyone to understand that this was a way to spend quality time with the ones that you love in the most critical of times.

        “It was an honor to meet these individuals and hear their experiences, but that is not as important as the message that they all share. Palliative care is something that should be provided alongside curative medicine in order to improve the quality of a patient’s life. Hospice allows patients to choose how they wish to spend the last days of their life. These services allow patients with a way to have the best life possible from the beginning to the end. Not only does it provide medical care, but also support to those who need it the most.”

Photo: PA student Dustin Bogan with other health care professionals from across the U.S. who work in hospice and palliative care.

Adjunct Faculty, Senior Practicum Proctor for ASD program and International Health Policy Course Faculty Lisa Darsch, MSN, and Assistant Director of Northern Virginia Campus at Scholar Plaza and Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Leocadia Conlon, M.P.H. led nursing, physician assistant and pharmacy students on a May Global Experiential Learning (GEL) trip to Geneva, Switzerland to attend the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) to learn more about global health policy.  

Prior to traveling, Shenandoah University partnered with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and students wrote issues briefs for ICN international delegates on major topics discussed at WHA. While in Geneva, students attended WHA and ICN events as delegates and saw, first-hand, how policy is discussed and developed in the global landscape. “GEL Switzerland represented a course change for me in my life and career, and I found attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) 69 particularly humbling,” said physician assistant studies student Judith Pascarella ’17. “I learned a great deal about how global health leaders interact and the processes that govern change. I had so many meaningful experiences in this trip that allowed me to not only network with global health leaders, but also those individuals on the forefront who are making the changes discussed at the highest levels on the international stage.”

Shenandoah students outside the International Red Cross Red Crescent

Students outside the International Red Cross Red Crescent.

Students and faculty also attended a special roundtable session on cervical cancer screening and prevention, conducted by the health ministers from the Commonwealth countries of WHO. “The most meaningful experiences for me were in the small-group setting. It was encouraging to see progress made and relationships forged,” Pascarella said. “For example, in the HPV and Cervical Cancer panel discussion, a small group of experts were able to allay concerns about cost-effective interventions in developing countries, benefits of using existing networks, and current research into new lab procedures that tied into the plan. These speakers did not hide the fact that challenges remained, and the group was able to have candid conversations about the way forward.”

In addition, the group visited the headquarters of WHO, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. Students took the opportunity to share American culture and cooked American-style barbeque at an evening event with leaders in global health, hosted by the executive director of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth.

“At the conclusion of the trip, the strongest take-away for me was that education, preventative health, secure systems, government support, and funding are the keys to success in global health initiatives,” Pascarella added. “It is essential to be proactive rather than reactive. As the message spreads, the hope is that public health will become a natural part of daily governance rather than an afterthought. It felt like a lot of progress was made this year, and it was an unforgettable honor to be invited to attend history in the making.”

 

The Division of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies has expanded to the Northern Virginia Campus, and 12 students are to begin studies there in July, as members of the class of 2018, which also includes 42 students studying in Winchester. With the expansion, the program has added a full-time faculty member, Stephanie Bernard, MMS, PA-C, RD, LD. Bernard trained at Yale University School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program. She has a background of clinical experience in cardiology, oncology, and emergency medicine.  She previously worked as a cardiology PA on the Heart Care Unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  Before that, she worked for Dana Farber Cancer Institute on the Intensive Pain and Palliative Care Unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Her emergency medicine experience comes from working as a PA in the Emergency Department at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. She is also a registered dietitian and brings her expertise in nutrition and dietetics to the PA program.

Third-year Physician Assistant Studies student Laura Bonner was published in the June 2015 edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Read her piece, titled “A Good Day,” in which she recounts a day’s worth of experiences when she was a first-year student. 

Featured Photo Credit: a.drian via Compfight cc

Consider the thought process of many millennials as they ponder the future. They want satisfying careers. Maybe something science- or tech-related, or maybe marketing, maybe working with artists and athletes, or something else entirely. They don’t want to pay off student loans for the rest of their lives. And they don’t want to struggle to get jobs – they watched too many people do that during the great recession.

So, what does a millennial trying to determine the right career path do? Well, one idea is to consult a recent report by the group Young Invincibles, which determined the top 25 careers for millennials through 2022, in terms of both job availability and compensation, through an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information. And, many of the listed careers can be prepared for with study in Shenandoah University’s creatively engaged, intellectually challenging atmosphere.

20150407_875_RSAccording to the report, the number of physician assistants (PAs) will grow 38 percent by 2022 for millennials, with a median income of $90,930, making it the field most attractive to the current 18-to-34-year-old age group. U.S. News & World Report ranks Shenandoah’s Physician Assistant Studies graduate program 16th-best in the nation.

“Our PA program has continued to grow in popularity, and each year for the last several years the number of applicants applying has grown,” said Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies Rachel A. Carlson, Ed.D., PA-C. “For the Class of 2017, there were 935 applications for 42 seats.” Dr. Carlson also noted that Glassdoor.com has also pegged physician assistants as having the best jobs in the United States for 2015.

20150407_892_RS“The demand for advanced practice clinicians is growing as the U.S. health care system looks to provide healthcare to a growing and aging population in a cost-effective manner,” Carlson said. “Their training is shorter than the traditional medical school model, which allows programs to respond quickly to provider-shortage demands. PAs are broadly trained to be versatile upon graduation and fill the needs of healthcare in a variety of settings. Graduates are prepared to practice in primary care medicine, as well as specialties, and practice in outpatient and inpatient settings. They also have the ability to change between specialties without going back to school or through residency programs as physicians do. All of these features of the profession are attractive as students look for ways to enter the health care field and maximize their potential as a provider.”

Other job titles noted in the report are pharmacists, marketers and public relations specialists, therapists, actuaries, statisticians, biomedical and petroleum engineers, financial analysts, credit analysts, managers/agents for performers and sports figures, logisticians, and medical scientists (the top 25 chart is on page four of the report). In general, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields are predominant. “. . . thirteen of the top twenty-five positions are STEM occupations, with another five in health care related fields (often requiring an educational background in the sciences). Together, these eighteen occupations make up almost three quarters of the list – something worth considering for a millennial who is about to choose her or his college major,” the report states.

Actuaries, statisticians, biomedical and petroleum engineers, financial analysts, credit analysts, managers/agents for performers and sports figures, logisticians, and medical scientists all made the list, too. (Full report — chart of the Top 25 professions is on page 4).

The data from the Young Invincibles report reveals the true importance of a liberal arts education, adds Jeff Coker, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. “It adds more evidence to the idea that increasingly we are moving into what might be called the ‘Liberal Arts Economy.’ In a world that demands innovation, creativity, and communication abilities more than ever, it’s not a surprise that opportunities for students with a liberal arts education are trending up.  Almost half of the positions listed here are careers that link directly to Arts & Science majors.  From science-related fields (including math) to communications and social sciences, this list has something for a wide range of students in the arts & sciences.  And, of course, a liberal arts degree lays the foundation for success in virtually any field.”  

While a variety of careers are open to undergraduates majoring in business at Shenandoah’s Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business or in subjects in the arts and sciences, physician assistant studies and pharmacy are specialized fields, requiring graduate-level education. And while both fields are lucrative, that’s not what lies at the heart of their appeal.

“People should become PAs because they are passionate about improving the health and lives of other people,” Dr. Carlson said. “PA school is extremely demanding, but the reward is the privilege to participate in the healing of others and improve their wellness.” Students who study at Shenandoah are learning in a program delivered in an innovative fashion. “The program has taken the best parts of problem-based learning, flipped classroom learning, and traditional face-to-face learning to enhance the learning process for the students and help develop them to be critical-thinkers and problem-solvers in the 21st century,” Carlson said. “The faculty-to-student ratio allows for personalized advising and mentoring to help students develop their professional skills and be practice-ready in primary care upon graduation.”

26Pharmacy tends to draw in people who enjoy the sciences, said Penny S. Shelton, Pharm.D., associate dean for academic affairs for the Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy, and it’s a field that requires practitioners to have good communication and people skills, particularly since the pharmacist’s role is continuing to evolve into one that serves as part of a team-based approach to health care.

“Quite frankly, we’re looking for people who can think critically and problem-solve,” Dr. Shelton said. Pharmacists need to be able to think on their feet and determine creative solutions for problems experienced by both patients and health systems.

While many people tend to think only of their community pharmacists when they consider the field, it’s one with many career options, Shelton said. “It’s very expansive.” Emerging roles for pharmacists include ones where they’re embedded in physician practices or other health systems, working in chronic care disease management, and assisting with overall patient care management. Roles also exist for pharmacists in the growing area of specialized medicine, and Shenandoah’s program has long incorporated the study of pharmacogenomics, which uses a patient’s genetic makeup to create individualized drug treatments.

Shenandoah’s curriculum has been adjusted over the last few years to incorporate preparedness for these new and advanced roles. For example, the school completely overhauled its patient assessment courses. “We want to produce a profession-ready graduate,” Shelton said.

While PA studies and pharmacy are high-fliers, the report also notes “. . . the health care industry is the only major industry sector employing large numbers of millennials that has seen its median wages increase in the past decade, which makes its prevalence on the list no surprise.” And don’t forget that Shenandoah is also home to the Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing, which includes respiratory care studies, and the School of Health Professions, which includes divisions of occupational and physical therapy and athletic training.

Physician Assistant Studies graduate student Jillian Goles ’16 has been published in the fall 2015 volume of the VA Engage Journal, an engaged scholarship project of the VA Engage Network.

Goles’ journal article is titled “The Inclusion of Women’s Health in Sustainable Medical Mission Trip Models: A PA Student’s Perspective.” The article examines sustainable medical mission models while illuminating the importance of women’s health teams and their role in the prevention of cervical cancer in Nicaragua.

Physician Assistant Studies student Jillian Goles interacts with local children during a trip to Nicaragua“As a PA student with growing interests in global and public health, I was compelled to share my experiences in Nicaragua,” said Goles. “It is my hope that medical mission teams across the nation will adopt a similar model that includes women’s health.”

This volume also includes work by undergraduate and graduate students representing Old Dominion University, Virginia Military Institute, Washington and Lee University and the University of Richmond.

The VA Engage Journal promotes engaged scholarship by undergraduate, professional, and graduate students. The journal provides a forum for students to publish research studies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods), reflection essays, and reviews of current literature and engagement practice, all with guidance and mentorship from engaged faculty and staff.

Any undergraduate or graduate student enrolled full- or part-time at a two- or four-year college or university in Virginia is eligible to submit an article. Submissions with multiple authors are welcome. The VA Engage Journal is published once annually. The submission deadline for the next journal volume is June 1, 2016.

For several years, Shenandoah University’s Division of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies has collaborated with Shenandoah Conservatory acting students to provide graduate students with the means to enhance their learning through simulation exercises. Interprofessional case learning is a critical component of today’s health education, and learning in small groups helps PA students to practice what they are learning as they react to various types of simulated patients.

“Simulation in the form of standardized patients provides an opportunity for students to engage in real-life experiences while they’re in the formative stages of their learning,” said Director and Associate Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Rachel Carlson, Ed.D. “It provides depth and breadth and gives them the opportunity to learn how to gather information from patients. I think it also helps student actors as they practice their craft.”

CASE STUDY APPROACH TO SIMULATION

Physician assistant students approach simulation using a small-group case study approach, where the professor serves as an observer and facilitator. Each student brings his or her strengths and weaknesses to the scenario, and each is assigned a role to play.

“The hardest part as a facilitator is to remain quiet, but that’s our job,” Carlson emphasized. “We ask probing questions and let them talk themselves through the process.”

In simulation, PA students conduct the interviews and ask questions, interacting with their student counterparts who serve as standardized patients. The actors follow a script describing patient names and ages; medical, social and family history; and symptoms and medication. From there, they have to develop their characters and play the roles required for the exercise.

Each case is delivered through Blackboard, and each PA student is assigned a specific leadership role. They use their laptops to view the case; take and share notes; look up information in electronic library resources or search Google for terms and descriptions.

Each student takes a turn interviewing the standardized patient (i.e., acting student), while the others observe and take notes. Then each one returns to the small group to discuss what worked or didn’t work and to fill in the gaps of information needed as they work collectively through the case.

“We know, and the evidence has shown, that when students learn on their own and together, they retain the information better,” said Carlson. “When they come across problems or need to puzzle through the answers required for a particular symptom, they spend time in the literature, asking the right questions and gathering the information they need to make good diagnostic decisions.”

With each case scenario, students gain more confidence in themselves as well as in their ability to ask the right questions. They learn to address the issues related to the case as they interact with the simulated patients.

“It’s really impressive for us to see the growth that occurs from these sessions,” said Carlson. “They enter the program as individuals who know very little about medicine, and then they turn into clinicians, right before our eyes.”

‘PRACTICING’ WITH STANDARDIZED PATIENTS

“Working with the standardized patients is a good experience,” said first-year PA student Kaitlyn Robinson. “It’s the most real-life experience we can get in the classroom. You never know what you’re going to run into, and it lets us practice in a variety of situations.”

Robinson said the simulation exercise helped reveal some things she needs to work on as a provider.

“I had never worked with multiple patients at once,” said Robinson. “The ‘family member’ I interviewed was giving me lots of data, but the patient who needed the medication didn’t offer much feedback at all,” she said. “That was difficult, because they were bickering back forth, and it was hard to get them to focus on the what I needed to know.”

It’s also an exercise, she said, that requires some imagination.

“We’re not actors, we’re PA students,” said said. “So, in simulation, you have to remember that while you’re looking at a 20 year-old college student, she represents a 49 year-old, obese woman with diabetes. You have to look beyond this young, fit person and envision who this person represents.”

“We’re used to practicing on one another,” explained first-year PA student Amy Moorhead. “So there’s a level of comfort there, but it doesn’t feel very real. When we have someone in front of us that we don’t know, it’s a little more natural, like you’re actually with a patient. They give you a response and stay in character, and we don’t get that when we’re just working with each other.”

“Patients won’t know what you’re going to ask, and they sure aren’t going to know how to respond in medical terms,” said first-year PA student Walker Necessary. “So it was a great experience to talk to a ‘real’ patient, and to see how our skills are right now, and how we can improve them.”

According to Moorhead, it’s not the medical issue but the human factor that makes working with simulation patients so rewarding.

“Patients are so much more than their clinical signs and symptoms, and even though something may be very clear on paper, people aren’t simple. So, being able to connect with a person wherever they are seems to be the way to get a better health outcome.”

INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

The opportunity for PAs and actors to collaborate in an academic health care setting appears to be a win-win for both PA and acting students. In this second year of patient simulations conducted in small-group settings, collaboration between the School of Health Professions and Shenandoah Conservatory continues to evolve.

“There aren’t many schools of health professions within a university that are connected to a conservatory,” said Carlson. “This opportunity to cross disciplines is not something every institution can do.”

— Contributed by Cathy Loranger

U.S. News & World Report has released its list of Best Graduate Schools for 2016, and Shenandoah University’s Physician Assistant Studies Program is again ranked among the best in the nation in the health disciplines category, rising from 22nd to 16th out of 141 ranked programs. Rankings for this program were last updated in 2011.

“Being ranked in the top 20 is quite an honor,” said Timothy Ford, Ph.D., dean of the School of Health Professions. “To be recognized in this way, especially by peers in the PA field, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the faculty, staff and students of our PA program.”

Shenandoah’s Physician Assistant Studies Program is an accredited, eight-semester, 30-month graduate-level program leading to a Master of Science in physician assistant studies. The Shenandoah PA program is housed in the university’s Health Professions Building, on the campus of Winchester Medical Center in Winchester, Virginia. Multi-modal learning that quickly develops clinical reasoning and critical thinking skills, small class sizes and faculty-student mentoring are hallmarks of the program.

Of those schools ranked in the top 20, Shenandoah’s PA program is the youngest one, first accredited in 2001. The program celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first graduating class at the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ 41st Annual Physician Assistant Conference in Washington, D.C. in 2013. The most recent class of graduates in December 2014 was the program’s largest at 40 graduates, bringing the total number of Shenandoah PA alumni to 347.

The 2016 Best Graduate Schools rankings include detailed statistical information on more than 1,800 programs nationwide. According to U.S. News, the organization ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine each year.

This year, new peer assessment surveys were conducted and new rankings published in five areas in health last updated in 2011: health care management, physician assistant, public health, rehabilitation counseling and veterinary medicine. The 2016 rankings also introduce the first expanded ranking of master’s programs in nursing.

Three additional Shenandoah University graduate programs are ranked in the top 100 — pharmacy, #71; physical therapy, #85; and occupational therapy, #100. Updates for these rankings are scheduled to be released in 2016.

For information about Best Colleges, visit www.usnews.com/grad.