I graduated from the MEDEX program with Class 11 (1978) and returned to practice in Ashland, Oregon as the community’s first PA. My undergraduate degree is from Southern Oregon State College and I also earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington (1997). Barry University, in Florida, awarded me an honorary doctorate in 1999 in recognition of my political and policy leadership in the PA profession.

After working clinically in both family practice and public health, I joined the MEDEX faculty in 1981 and became the Program Director in 1985. The program has expanded significantly since then and I’m proud to have participated in most of those changes. I’ve been very involved in PA professional organizations and have served as President of the Association of Physician Assistant Programs, the Washington Academy of Physician Assistants, and the Society for the Preservation of PA History. My activities include work with a number of physician organizations to promote the effective utilization of PAs. I’m an active participant in the leadership functions of the UW School of Medicine and serve on the Executive Admissions Committee for the school. Community involvement is a high priority, and I currently serve as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Group Health Cooperative. My interests include health care access, women’s health care concerns and rural health issues. I lecture on these topics across several MEDEX courses.

Douglas M. Brock, PhD (Doug)
Research Faculty
click here for Abridged CV

I was born and raised in Montana and attended the University of Montana, where I earned a degree in Mathematics in 1982 and a second degree in Geology in 1983. I taught school for a year, was briefly a mathematics graduate student and did consulting until making a 180-degree turn, attending graduate school in education and receiving an MEd in 1987. I then took another 180-degree turn and entered the Personality program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington, where I earned a PhD in 1995 with an emphasis in quantitative design and a focus on attachment theory, social support and relationship development. I’ve worked as a usability engineer for Microsoft, and since 1999 have been employed by the Department of Medical Education and Biomedical Informatics where I oversee the School of Medicine Testing Service and have multiple evaluation responsibilities. I am also part-time faculty at MEDEX. Currently my professional interests include communication, program and student evaluation, simulation and validation of complex assessment tools.

I was a child of the 60s, growing up in St. Louis MO. An unsuccessful attempt at college led me to enlist in the Air Force in 1971. I graduated from the Air Force/University of Nebraska PA program in 1978, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. After spending six years in family practice, I attended a mini-residency in orthopedic surgery at Travis Air Force Base. I also earned a master’s degree in Adult and Community Education. Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1992 I moved to Spokane and worked full-time in orthopedic surgery until 1997. At that time I joined MEDEX and helped open the Spokane satellite. In the final phase of my education I earned a PhD from Gonzaga University in 2005. I am a father and grandfather with four adult children and three grandchildren. Three of the four children are here in Spokane (one son is in the Navy). I enjoy reading, music, plays, and golf. I am also a self-proclaimed technology “geek”.

I went to college, medical school, and graduate school at the University of Michigan. I did my internal medicine internship and residency at Duke University and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Washington, where I am now Associate Professor of Medicine. I began teaching PA students in the MEDEX program in about 1987 and have been increasingly involved with the program since. In 2000, I was appointed Medical Director. I give about 200 hours of lecture a year, most to the MEDEX students, in addition to other activities. I am currently a commissioner on the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (2001-2007). Year in and year out, our PA students are smart, hardworking, dedicated, and a pleasure and privilege to work with.

I am a Washintonian born and raised. I grew up on Vashon Island and attended college at Western Washington University, where I earned my degree in Business Administration and Marketing in 2004. Before beginning my MEDEX career in 2005, I worked as an International Peer Advisor and event planner while at Western, and also for the Seattle Mariners as the supervisor of the team store at Safeco Field. My life outside of MEDEX pretty much consists of the Seattle sports scene (As I am an avid Seahawks and Mariners fan). I also enjoy playing other sports like golf and bowling.

Before becoming a Physician Assistant Paul was a member for the US Air Force Teaching English to Japanese nationals. Paul has been involved in coaching high school track and taught Outdoor Emergency Care for White Pass Ski Patrol. After graduating from the D'Youville College PA Program in Buffalo, New York he worked in both primary care clinics and emergency medicine. His most recent clinical practice was with Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Clinic.

Originally from the East Coast, I migrated to Colorado to finish my undergraduate degree (originally in Forestry) at Colorado State University in very Social Studies, with an elective in skiing. I also have a minor in Sociology and did an interdisciplinary study in Criminal Justice. Attending PA school at Duke University Medical Center, I did most of my medical training in and around North Carolina and graduated in 1990. Before coming to MEDEX in 2003, I have enjoyed working in Family Medicine/Urgent Care, Internal Medicine, and especially Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Presently, I am working on my dual master’s degrees in Geriatric Health and Health Administration.

I have several passions in life…educating patients and providers on Stroke Prevention and Management, freelance writing, ski patrolling, camping, and winning my tennis serve! I have three kids who add joy and humor to my day and keep me young at heart.

I was born in Seattle and grew up in the Green Lake area when there was only a dirt and cinder path around the lake. I joined the Army directly out of high school and spent a year each in Texas, Viet Nam and Turkey. Back in Seattle, four friends and I started the Country Doctor Community Clinic to care for the newly unemployed when Boeing was struggling. I graduated from MEDEX in 1975 and joined the faculty that same year. In 1979 I moved to Bethesda MD, where I conducted clinical research in colon cancer and immunotherapy at the National Cancer Institute. I returned to Seattle in 1986, married to Esther and with two great boys. I joined MEDEX as clinical faculty, helped start the AIDS Clinical Trial Unit at Harborview Medical Center, then became full-time MEDEX faculty in 1994. Esther and I live in Ballard with two cats and our son Micah, who is a massage therapist. Gabriel is passionately working in the film industry in Los Angeles. Gardening, reading and writing keep us entertained.

I was born in New Hampshire and grew up in Connecticut (good New England stock), and, after graduating from college in New York, realized I was "a round peg in a square hole" and headed west. Soon after settling in the Seattle area, medicine called. Five years in women's health and 6 months as a volunteer health worker in earthquake ravaged Guatemala convinced me PA school was the way to go. I put down my guitar (not really) and headed to Charleston, South Carolina where I completed my PA training in 1979. Since then, speaking Spanish has been very helpful in my 27 years in Yakima working in community health with native speakers. Being a glutton for punishment, I returned to school and got my MBA in 1991. My first faculty stint with MEDEX in 1994 lasted only 2 years, as my husband Dave became a student in the Yakima program. Luckily, our son is too busy snowboarding and enjoying university life in Vancouver, BC to consider PA training, so I anticipate a longer stint with MEDEX this go-around. In addition to part-time work with MEDEX, I continue my clinical work in pediatrics, focusing on adolescent issues. I'm a musician (but not full time because I enjoy eating), and really DID put down my guitar (but not for good) and started playing piano in my contra dance band. Because of music, dancing, friends, family and the usual northwest activities, and yes, my work, life is good.

I am a native Seattleite, and grew up spending summers on Whidbey Island. I am a graduate of the University of Washington College of Education. I spent a few years teaching elementary school in the Edmonds School District before joining the MEDEX staff. I have been involved in the growth of the MEDEX program from a certificate-only program of 18 students in the early 1980s to the present enrollment of 240 didactic and clinical students in three classroom and multiple clinical sites. I have fiscal oversight of the program, and experience in grant-writing and management. I am the liaison to the MEDEX Alumni Association in the School of Medicine, which helps me keep in touch with our 1300 graduates. As the Director of Admissions, I travel extensively, working with applicants throughout the WWAMI region. I am the degree advisor for the MEDEX Bachelor of Clinical Health Services degree. Nationally, I have been a consultant to developing PA programs, presenter at PAEA conferences, and have chaired the CASPA committee, establishing the Central Application Service for PA programs. I have two adult children, both living in Seattle, and one grandson I thought I would never get!

I grew up in the Los Angeles area where my brothers and I had the opportunity to attend several schools through the first busing plan in the country to integrate schools. I earned my BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz where I also worked at the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Collective. I graduated from the Baylor College of Medicine PA program. My first job was in a small town (pop 5,600) in Nebraska where I got to do everything I had learned in PA school. From there I returned to the west coast and worked in outpatient family practice. I have been on faculty with MEDEX since 1990 and continue to see patients at the family practice residency one day a week.  My partner and I have two dogs and retirement property in a small town on the Oregon coast. I enjoy sports, making jewelry and my PA volunteer activities.

I grew up in Minneapolis MN and received my undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1980. I earned a master’s degree in geography at the University of Calgary in Alberta. After a year of wandering around Asia with my wife Mary, I entered the doctoral program in geography at the University of Washington in 1988. A research assistantship at the UW’s Department of Family Medicine turned into a career in health services research with an emphasis on rural health and health workforce research. I joined MEDEX as a senior research scientist in 2006. Outside of work, the central preoccupations of my existence are my wife and two children, acoustic blues, travel, sailing, and wooden boats.

I have lived many places, including Colorado, New York, California, Idaho, Alaska and Oregon but I feel at home in Washington after living here 18 years. I graduated from MEDEX Northwest in 1995. As a PA I have worked in Family Practice, Oncology, Anesthesia and for the past five years, in Neurological Surgery at the UWMC, before returning to MEDEX to teach. Prior to PA school, I worked as a Reproductive Health Specialist at Planned Parenthood. My husband (Dave) and I have three children ages 9 months, 11 and 16 years. We enjoy traveling, skiing, snowshoeing, gardening, cycling and cheering our kids’ activities such as soccer, choir, crew, horseback riding and crawling.

Born and raised in Brooklyn and Long Island, I graduated from the State University College of New York at Potsdam with a degree in psychology, and served as a Navy Corpsman from 1969 to 1974, working mostly in psychiatric inpatient and outpatient settings. Having a greater interest in medicine than psychology, I later graduated from the Duke University Physician Associate Program in 1977 and worked for several years as a primary care solo practitioner in rural communities in Atkinson NC and Grand Coulee WA before joining the Family Medicine Spokane Residency Program in 1984. In 1985, the Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center was created as part of the University of Washington WWAMI-AHEC Program, and I was the director from its inception through September 2005, when I left to join MEDEX. My wife, Christy, and I live in the small town of Medical Lake just outside of Spokane since 1984. She is a registered nurse working at the local family medicine clinic. We have four adult children and are both very actively involved in the community. Camping, hiking, canoeing and other outdoor activities help keep us young!

Patty Morrison
Clinical Program Manager

As an Air Force Nurse Practitioner and veteran of 27 years, I didn't feel there would be a problem when I joined the MEDEX Northwest Spokane site at its birth in 1997. And I was right! Air Force NPs and PAs have always worked together—in the military, anyway—and I hope to foster that relationship through my teaching, advising and clinical duties here at MEDEX. My husband, two daughters and I retired to Spokane in 1995, and I have worked here as a Women’s Health Care NP, most recently with the Spokane tribe in Wellpinit WA. We have three granddaughters, two of them here with us in Spokane, and one in Germany with her Air Force parents. I’m originally from Illinois and my husband, Rick, is from San Diego. When I am not helping Rick take care of his garden or playing with the granddaughters, I enjoy counted cross-stitch and other handwork, the Red Hat Ladies at my church, and just enjoying the outdoors. I’m also collecting “fat quarters” from my site visits for a quilt some day.

I was born in New Jersey but grew up mostly in Houston, Texas. I moved to the Seattle area in 2004 with my husband. As a PA, my prior experience consists of urgent care, allergy and asthma, internal medicine, and geriatrics. I graduated with a Masters in Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Illinois. My hobbies include reading, dancing, and hiking. I joined MEDEX in 2007 and I am currently the course coordinator for Technical Skills and Emergency Medicine. I am honored and privileged to be working with the MEDEX team and students.

Before arriving at MEDEX, I was a teacher in the Yakima School District and then later in the Seattle School District working with elementary school children. I have always enjoyed interacting with students and that continues today; the only difference is that those students are now adults. Besides my work at MEDEX, I find great pleasure in traveling to interesting and varied places around the globe. My husband and I have recently discovered Peru and have made several trips there to explore and enjoy the diversity in Peruvian people, their history and culture. I think life after MEDEX will be full of travels and adventure.

Our family moved to Alaska from the midwest when I was 10, and since then I have considered myself to be Alaskan. My healthcare career began with Navy training as a hospital corpsman in 1962. In 1974, I completed the Air Force Physician Assistant program at Sheppard AFB, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska. I spent the next 14 years practicing family medicine and primary care in the Air Force. After 28 years of military service, I took a position with the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Corporation, a native health organization. I provided healthcare in a remote village (pop. 1,000) for 15 months, after which I became an instructor for the Alaska Community Health Aide Training Program in Sitka. By 1992, I had joined the faculty of MEDEX Northwest. My position as a Clinical Coordinator has taken me to every part of our WWAMI service region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) and several states beyond. My main hobby is boating.

I have been a faculty member of the UW MEDEX Northwest Physician Assistant Program and an instructor for the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Department of Health Sciences since 2002. Prior to PA school I earned an MS in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin and did bird research on cranes and hawks. I was trained as a physician assistant at the University of Wisconsin, and graduated in 1984. I taught in the Anchorage Area Community Health Aide Program in 1986 and 1987. Since 1988 I have practiced at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, and I served as Medical Director there from 1997 to 2002. My primary clinical interest is improving health delivery systems for chronic disease care. To that end, I am certified as a Master Trainer for the Chronic Disease Self- Management Program developed at Stanford. I have been an active board member of the Alaska Primary Care Association and the Alaska Public Health Association. I enjoy the Alaskan wilderness by foot, kayak, ski, bike and gazing out the window during long meetings.

Lori is a 1982 graduate of the UC San Francisco Nurse Practitioner Program. She has worked as a Nurse Practitioner at the local hospital and the Yakima Valley Farmworkers clinic since then. During a trip to Honduras with Northwest Medical Teams, Lori accompanied a team of physicians as a ARNP pediatrician screening children with
cleft lip or palate disorders, facial or hand burns, for surgical treatment. Lori has lectured for MEDEX Northwest in Yakima over the years and decided to take a permanent faculty position when it became available. When Lori is not working she loves spending time with her husband and daughter, traveling, hiking, cooking and reading.

I am originally from East Texas, and grew up during a time of segregation in the midst of the civil rights movement. I remember the struggle for equality and the disparate healthcare in my community. I remember clearly the challenges for survival. In the 1970s, my family moved to Seattle, where I attended Garfield High School. Through the Seattle Public Schools Work Training Program, I worked at the UW Health Sciences each day after school and during the summers. This gave me a valuable opportunity to train, work with and be exposed to those in the medical field. As a lab technician, I worked in the Virology Division when HIV was in its early stages in America, and was honored to work with some very bright clinical researchers. I am a graduate of MEDEX Class 25 (class president), and have trained and worked in both rural and urban communities in Washington. I have also worked in HIV vaccine research and have provided primary care to HIV-positive patients. I joined the MEDEX faculty in 1996 and maintain a practice at the University of Washington Family Practice Residency.

My father was a Navy officer, so I grew up moving around a lot. The two years we lived in Japan made a life-long impression on me. Rhode Island and the Philadelphia area are the two places where I spent the most time prior to moving to the Northwest in 1978. I earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in History and was working as a hospital orderly when I heard about a new profession called physician assistant in 1972. I found myself in the third PA class at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital (now part of Drexel University), graduating in 1975. I worked on their faculty for three years before coming to MEDEX, where I have been ever since. I did part-time clinical work in internal medicine and community clinics until 1994. I married one of Ruth’s MEDEX classmates from Class 11, Wendy Hamai. We live in Tacoma with our high school age son, who has taught us more than we ever wanted to know about hip hop music and graffiti art.

I grew up in Seattle, lived in Chicago during college, and returned to medical school at the University of Washington. I chose the UW School of Medicine because of its reputation in Family Medicine and my strong desire to take care of “real people” and not be an academic! My residency training was at the Providence Family Practice Residency in Seattle, where care to urban and underserved populations was emphasized. I joined a private practice in north Seattle where I saw a wide range of family medicine patients and also practiced obstetrics for 11 years. My strong interest in administrative medicine led to a second career in medical group administration and work for a health plan and a pharmaceutical company. Now, twenty-five years after attending the UW medical school, and never planning to return, I’m back. As MEDEX faculty, I am the course chair for the Maternal and Child Health course and the Seattle Site Didactic Coordinator. My family includes my spouse, Steve Brown, and two teenage daughters, Anne and Carol, and our pet bird. I am honored and excited to continue my medical career with MEDEX Northwest.

I’m a 5th generation Washingtonian, raised in Aberdeen on the muddy banks of the Wishkah. I received my first undergraduate degree in 1985 from the Pacific Lutheran School of Nursing and spent the next decade working as an ER nurse, EMT and EMT instructor. Before applying to Medex I worked for a couple of years at the Pierce County Jail, and had every intention of returning to correctional medicine after PA school, but somehow along the way, I fell in love with family practice. After graduating from Medex in 2000, I worked for nearly 7 years in community health on Tacoma’s Hilltop. My clients were nearly all Spanish-speaking and my clinical interests included pediatrics, women’s health, and substance abuse. I recently completed an MS in Advanced Physician Assistant Studies (Forensic Medicine) at A.T. Still University/Arizona School of Health Sciences. When not working or studying, I spend my time with my husband Bob and our two cats. We have two grown children, Alex and Amelia. Bob and I enjoy traveling and reading, and often fight over who ‘gets to’ cook. I love ice hockey, knitting, and cooking magazines. I’m very happy to be back home at Medex.

After growing up in Seattle, I attended San Francisco State University where I earned a BA in English in 1990. At the University of Leeds (northern England), I earned a master’s degree through the Centre for Medieval Studies (1991) and a PhD in the School of English (1996) with a focus on medieval Scandinavian literature. While at the University of Leeds, I also worked as an editorial assistant and as the founding manager for the Leeds International Medieval Congress, launched in 1994. I joined MEDEX Northwest in 1997, first as temporary, then full-time research staff. Working with MEDEX faculty and students on a broad range of topics is both enjoyable and rewarding. In addition to continuing and expanding the research effort at MEDEX, future projects include the development and implementation of the new master’s degree program.