Alumni Recognition

AAPA Awards 2009 PAragon Award to MEDEX Seattle Class 26 Graduate Laurie Benton, PA-C

Texas Physician Assistant, Laurie Benton received the Physician - PA Partnership Award at the 2009 AAPA National Conference May 22nd, 2009. Benton, a PA-C from Temple, TX has worked with Charles Foulks, MD developing programs designed to educate medical providers and patients on the causes and prevention of chronic kidney disease. Read the offical press release for more details about Laurie, Dr. Foulks and the PAragon Award.

MEDEX Graduates from All Over Attended the AAPA Conference in San Diego, CA

MEDEX Graduates, Students and, Faculty came together with PAs from across the country at the AAPA annual conference held May 22nd through May 26th, 2009. This event offered an opportunity to earn continuing medical education credits (CME), attend poster sessions and discussion groups regarding current issues facing practicing PAs, and gave everyone a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues.

The 2009 conference wasn't "all work and no play". Conference organizers arranged for tickets to the San Diego Padres home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It seems the PAs in attendance brought the Padres some luck as the team lead the series two games to one.

MEDEX Graduates and Faculty enjoying the WAPA Reception at the AAPA Conference .

MEDEX Faculty Grace Landel, PA-C (left) and Graduate Seattle class 18, John Yerxa, PA-C (right)	Graduate Seattle class 36, Jamie Notzka PA-C (left), Graduates Seattle class 37; Jodi Leisholm PA-C, Angie Baker PA-C and, Gary Johnson PA-C (right)
Graduate Yakima class 1 Linda Dale PA-C (right), Graduate Yakima class 9 Debbie Spitler PA-C(center) and guest.	From right to left: Graduates Seattle class 31 Barbara Fayette PA-C and Sinclair Blake Jr. PA-C, Seattle class 33 graduate Kevin Hall, PA-C, Seattle Part-Time class 6 Graduate Laurie Brown, PA-C and quests.
Former MEDEX Factulty, Kaye Kvam PA-C	Seated: Current WAPA President Bill Crowell, PA-C (right) with Linda Krause (left) Executive Administrator. Standing: WAPA Past President, David Woods, PA-C (right) speaking with reception attendees.

Graduates Seattle class 34 (left to right) Lori Hill PA-C, MayLou Hernandez, PA-C and, Nicole Zalewski PA-C.

2009 MEDEX Alumni Reception

The 2009 MEDEX Alumni Reception was held Saturday evening, January 24th at the WAPA conference. WAPA and the School of Medicine Alumni Association were contributing sponsors. We had a large turnout and were able to award four alumni awards, a preceptor recognition certificate and over $10,000 in student scholarships. WAPA scholarships were also awarded at this event.

Bridget Albright, PA-C	Robert Glazewski, PA-C	Peter Martin, PA-C

		The Spirit of MEDEX MEDEX Northwest Physician Assistant Traning Program Each year faculty selects from the graduating class several students to receive the MEDEX alumni scholarship. These recipients are chosen because they best exemplify “The Spirit of MEDEX” Faculty in Seattle, Yakima and Spokane have choosen Hope McGratty and Jonathan Cyphers, graduates of Seattle class 40, Oliver Dickmann, graduate of Yakima class 13 and, Richard Hedrick, graduate of Spokane class 10, to receive this award. All of these student have worked hard to achieve success in the MEDEX PA program and are recognized for their leadership. MEDEX Northwest has a 40-year history of training primary care physicians assistants (PA’s) to work medically underserved populations in the Pacific Northwest Region.The MEDEX program graduated over 1,600 PAs since its creation in 1969 under the joint sponsorship of the University of Washington and the Washington State Medical Association. The MEDEX program selects experienced health care personnel for training in an intensive eight-quarters program. Students spend four quarters in didactic training followed by four quarters of clinical rotations, which include a six- month primary care preceptorship with a family physician or general internist.

UW School of Medicine / MEDEX Northwest Multicultural Leadership Award 2008

MEDEX Northwest Leadership Award The MEDEX Northwest Leadership award was presented to Ed Lopez, PA-C at an awards dinner sponsered by the Multicultural Affairs office and the UW School of Medice March 13th, 2008. Ed has helped expand the role of physician assistant (PA), and his own career reflects this breadth. Coming from inner-city Los Angeles, he joined the MEDEX class 15 in 1981. He workedin a community health center in Washington, trained in surgery in New York, and then headed a PA surgery service in Flint, Mich. He later pioneered PA roles in cardiovascular surgery and helped establish the PA hospitalist role in Tacoma, Wash. He is now working to upgrade primary care in the prison system. While he is best know as a strong advocate for PAs in new roles, he is also a role model for Hispanic / Latino PAs nationwide.

Montana's 2007 PA of the Year

Laurie Brown , PA-C, MEDEX – Spokane Part time Class 6, was recognized as Montana's 2007 PA of the Year at their annual CME and General Membership meeting. She is the current president of the Montana Association of Physician Assistants (MTAPA) residing in Butte, MT where she is working at the Community Health Center. Laurie also received her MPAS in Family Medicine from the University of Nebraska in May 2007.

Group Health Clinicians Honored

Dan Myhre, PA-C, MEDEX –Spokane Class 3, and Paula Togawa, PA-C, MEDEX – Seattle class 26 received the Steven Turnipseed Award for Outstanding Clinical Excellence for Non-Physicians. Both practice family medicine-Myhre at the Group Health Veradale Medical Center in Spokane, and Togawa at the Capitol Hill Campus. This award us in honor of Steven Turnipseed PA-C, graduate MEDEX – Seattle class 1.