Alumni Recognition
UW School of Medicine / MEDEX Northwest Multicultural Leadership Award 2008
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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.
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2008 MEDEX Alumni Reception
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The 2008 MEDEX Alumni Reception was held Saturday evening, January 26th at the WAPA conference. WAPA and the School of Medicine Alumni Association were contributing sponsors. We had a large turnout (over 150) and were able to award three alumni awards, a preceptor recognition certificate and over $10,000 in student scholarships. WAPA scholarships were also awarded at this event.
ALUMNI AWARDS
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Robert Fairfax, PA-C, Graduate of Part-time Class 1 (on left) received the Excellence in Teaching Award. Robert teaches suturing and orientation to surgery at the Spokane site, is a preceptor for students in the clinical year and is a member of the MEDEX admissions committee.
Becky Royer, PA-C, Graduate of Seattle Class 18 (middle) received the Humanitarian Award for her service to vulnerable and underserved populations. Much of her PA career has been in HIV primary care and research. She has most recently been involved in Breast Cancer treatment and management.
Ashley Marquardt, PA-C, Graduate of Seattle Class 33 (on right) is a primary care PA in Anchorage, AK. He is past president of the Alaska PA Academy and has successfully mentored two current students. We look forward to an increased role for Ash as MEDEX opens a didactic training site in Anchorage in 2009.
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MEDEX PRECEPTOR RECOGNITION AWARD
Katherine Whipple, MD loves to share her knowledge, be it in the classroom or in the clinic. Some of her classroom teaching aids are unique, such as the use of a Jeopardy styled game to get all of her students involved in a fun way. She was awarded the Golden Apple Teaching Award for her lecture style, using case studies and clinical "pearls" and she provides a special perspective as a provider working with Native Americans to improve their health.
As a Family Practice preceptor, she uses patient interactions as "teaching moments" to both inform and encourage our students, making her site a highly requested one. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics so is a wealth of knowledge, willing to share and to turn any situation into a learning one. She holds the highest standards for patient care, does not judge, nor fault the student for not attaining them, yet helps set those standards for the students. She is gentle, yet firm with both the patients and students, open to questions, again willing to share. She has been teaching and precepting for MEDEX for more than five years.
Her participation in the selection conference also indicates her willingness to actively seek out the best and most qualified students, and to support the PA profession at every level. Her insight and reflections help guide our decision-making process to accept those best suited for the physician assistant profession. Dr. Whipple is a wonderful example of a physician partner. |
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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.
MEDEX Graduates Receive MEDEX Alumni Scholarship
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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 Aaron Issac and Matt Otta, graduates of Seattle class 39, Brian Stark, graduate of Yakima class 12 and, Michael Liberato, graduate of Spokane class 9, 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 35-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 1,200 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.
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Congratulations to the MEDEX graduates for their contribution to the Physician Assistant Profession.
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