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CHA/PA Newsletter
Read on to learn more about recent faculty and student accomplishments, our 2nd annual Giving Day, scholarship recipients, upcoming events and much more!
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CHA/PA represents PAEA on Legislative Trip to DC
Over spring break a group of faculty and students traveled to Washington, D.C. in partnership with PAEA (PA Education Association) to provide students an opportunity to get involved in advocacy and policy work through first-hand experience. Faculty and students representing CHA/PA included: Jonathan Bowser (Program Director), Amy Akerman and Denise Ogden (Faculty); and Sahran Al Busaidy, Dolores Garcia, Madeline Lockhart, Maria Michelloti, Taylor Morris, and Morgan Sulger. This trip was made possible for students by the Leadership and Advocacy scholarship.
On Day 1 CHA/PA representatives received education and training on the legislative process as well as an overview on Title VII (Seventh Section of the Public Health Service Act) and its potential impact on both PA students and PA professionals. Day two, the group met with the legislative staffs of Colorado Senators and Representatives to discuss the following legislative priorities:
• Primary Care Training and Enhancement grants
• Area Health Education Centers
• Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students
As an added bonus, student Maria Michellotti got to meet with Senator Jon Tester representing her home state of Montana.
Student Madeline Lockhart said she learned the importance of advocacy work based on this experience and decided that she wants to continue to be involved with health policy initiatives through PAEA. |
Save the Date for our Next PA Info Session
We are eager to hold our second in-person information session of the year. The session will be held Friday, April 28, 2023 from 1-3pm in person. The registration form and details are available on the Information Sessions page of the CU Physician Assistant website.
The goal of the information session is to provide information about the program, the PA profession, and the admissions process. Current students will be available for a Q&A session and a tour of campus.
Please share this event with anyone who may be interested in learning about the CHA/PA program.
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CHA/PA News
We are proud to share that Faculty Member, Kelsey Dougherty, PA-C contributed to an On-Demand Webinar and a Podcast focused on Aquifer. The On-Demand Webinar topic was Strategies for Teaching Clinical Skills with Aquifer. Kelsey and the other educators shared how they have successfully implemented Aquifer cases using a range of teaching methods to enhance communication skills and build confidence and clinical reasoning skills in students. This webinar is ideal for faculty, deans, program directors, and any medical or health professions staff who are looking for new ways to leverage Aquifer to support their students.
Kelsey also hosted a Podcast with Aquifer titled, "Debriefing Aquifer Cases: Templates for Dynamic Discussions." In this episode, she outlined the benefits of using a debriefing template to achieve program learning objectives by ensuring that all small group faculty highlight key concepts in class discussions. She emphasized that the template is highly adaptable for use in all health professions educational programs and that it allows for creativity within a standardized approach. The template is downloadable and allows participants to follow along as Kelsey walks through the template and discusses how to approach the use of each component part. |
Welcome New Staff Member!
Michele Martinez serves as our new Admissions and Finance Coordinator by assisting with the program’s application process and procurement requests. She is originally from Hawaii and moved to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado at Denver. Michele graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has 10 years of experience, serving students, faculty, and staff, within higher education institutions. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, watching reality tv shows, and traveling. We are excited to have Michele on our team.
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Medical Director, Tai Lockspeiser, MD Receives Inaugural Professorship
Tai Lockspeiser, MD, MHPE, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Assistant Dean of Medical Education and Director of Assessment, Evaluations, and Outcomes, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Jones Family Professorship in Medical Education by Dean Reilly.
Dean Reilly is quoted as follows, "This is a well-deserved endowed position for Tai, who oversees a critically important process in our school’s Office of Medical Education. Adding even more meaning to this honor is that it is a gift from former Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and former Chair of Pediatrics Doug Jones, MD. We are grateful for his generous and continuing support and leadership at our school and his commitment to competency-based assessment as an active member of our curriculum team. We also congratulate Tai and thank her for her outstanding commitment to continuous improvement of the MD program. "
Congratulations, Dr. Lockspeiser!
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Global Health Track Student Shares her Experience in Tanzania
Charlotte Mitchell is a 3rd year student with CHA/PA in the Global Health Track, which allowed her to travel abroad for an international rotation in September 2022 to Tanzania. Charlotte decided to go to Tanzania because she had an interest in Global Health and how PAs can work with supervising physicians internationally to provide superior care to patients. She also speaks KiSwahili, which allowed her to communicate with the patients and finally, she was very interested in how evidence-based medicine can be implemented in low resource environments.
Read below for Charlotte's recap of her time in Tanzania:
"The biggest challenges I faced during my time in Tanzania were related to the lack of medical resources in the community. During my time in Ifakara, I completed a Labor and Delivery (L & D) rotation. Lack of imaging and medical equipment, including those for fetal monitoring made it difficult to provide the same level of care that would be provided to laboring individuals in the U.S. Some of the biggest rewards were working with the amazing Tanzanian providers and staff! It was inspiring to see how their clinical acumen and physical exam skills allowed them to provide the best care they could to their patients. I think I will forever cherish my rotation in Tanzania in my career as a PA. One take away I think I will carry into my practice is being acutely aware of medical resources, and the importance of clinically correlating any testing or imaging I will order in my career. Finally, I think for any students with an interest in L&D or in global health who would like to learn more about how medicine is practiced in low income countries, this is a great opportunity!"
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Second Annual Giving Day!
On April 13, CU Anschutz alumni, friends, faculty, and staff will come together for a 24-hour, online giving event to raise dollars for scholarships and program support across campus. Join us in going further for CHA/PA. This is where something small can turn into something big. This is where we make the commitment to Go Further, Together.
With your support, CHA/PA will be able to:
- Fund the Justina Ford, MD Endowed Diversity Scholarship which provides scholarship opportunities to underrepresented students pursuing a CHA/PA program degree
How can you show your support during Go Further, Together?
- Give: Make a gift of $5 or more to support CHA/PA students and your gift will be matched 1:1
- Share: Use the hashtag #GoFurtherTogether to share your support and your CU Anschutz story on social media!
We know you’ll help us make Go Further, Together a huge success. Make your gift ahead of time at Go Further Together and still have it count toward our big day.
Let’s Go Further, Together for the future of CU Anschutz students and the community!
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HPSP Awardee - Darin Stites
We are pleased to share that 2nd year student, Darin Stites, has been awarded the Physician Assistant Veteran Affairs Health Professional Scholarship Program (HPSP). Before PA School, Darin spent 4 years as a combat medic in the Army, which is where he fell in love with medicine. His mentor in the Army was his battalion PA who took the time to train him and teach him about how a caring, knowledgeable medical provider can help others. After his service in the Army, he knew that the PA profession is where he could thrive and continue a lifelong service to others.
The HPSP Award will cover the remainder of Darin's tuition until graduation, as well as a monthly stipend to help cover living expenses. In return, he has committed to a 2 year service obligation to work in the Veterans Affairs (VA) System.
As a veteran, he already knew that he wanted to work with other vets and working at the VA is the greatest way to reach that population and make a difference. Now that Darin is a recipient of the VA HPSP scholarship, he will already have his foot in the door and he intends to make a career with the VA, helping veterans to receive the outstanding medical care they deserve.
Darin leaves us with the following thoughts, "Many veterans leave service and feel displaced when they return to civilian life and they are often further confounded when trying to seek medical care. Many stop trying to seek medical care after having poor experiences with medical providers who don't seem to understand or care. By working with veterans and demonstrating professionalism, integrity, and empathy with every patient interaction, you can help change their perspective on healthcare and healthcare providers and seek positive change in our community and the lives of those who have served our country."
We are very proud of Darin and the impact he will make on the Veterans he serves.
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Last month the Colorado Academy of Physician Assistants (CAPA) hosted their annual CME conference and CHA/PA was well represented by faculty and students in attendance. Faculty members Kristen Oase, PA-C and Kelsey Dougherty, PA-C serve on the CAPA CME Committee so they were involved in conference planning.
During the conference, Faculty Members Kristen and Denise Oase, PA-C presented "Updates in Colorectal Cancer Screening", Kelsey participated in a student panel, and our students participated in the Challenge Bowl with other PA students from local programs. We are so proud of their commitment to continuing education in the PA field.
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Guest Lecture Spotlight!
We are pleased to spotlight our Guest Lecturers as they contribute to the amazing learning environment in our program. We would like to highlight Dr. Eric Groce. Dr. Groce was born and raised in Duncanville, Texas (just South of Dallas) and attended undergrad at Texas Christian University and medical school at the University of North Texas, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Ft Worth, Texas. He currently works full time in clinical practice - 90% is with Kaiser Urgent Care in Aurora, and 10% telehealth for Kaiser Chat. Dr. Groce first lectured with CHA/PA approximately 8 years ago when he was invited by Faculty Member, Denise Ogden. He typically lectures on the topic of Adult Valvular Heart Disease, but has also lectured on Renal Physiology and Altered Mental Status. Dr. Groce describes his lectures as a little nonconformist with typical lecture structure as he leaves about 30 minutes at the end for free-for-all questions on any medical topic. This offers a review for students on any topics that interest them. His favorite thing about working with the CHA/PA group is the enthusiasm and professionalism of the students. Dr. Groce notes, "We are all colleagues in the medical system, and I hope to show the relevance of early year training topics on their future practice." His favorite thing about living in Colorado is the diversity of seasons, activities, and people. Colorado is awesome! We are so grateful to Dr. Groce and the many guest lecturers that take the time to contribute to our program.
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Have an Idea for our Newsletter?
We love to hear from our alumni that are doing unique things in the PA field. If you are interested in being a part of a future alumni spotlight in our newsletter, please email [email protected] and we will follow-up with you.
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Interested in precepting CHA/PA students?
There are so many advantages to training our next generation of PA students. If you are considering being a preceptor to CHA/PA students check out this area of our website Preceptor section and contact us today!
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Job Listings!
Do you know that we have an active job listings page on our website? If you are looking for a new opportunity, you can find job listings on the Alumni webpage.
If you have an open PA position in your practice, we are happy to post the listing to our website. Email [email protected] to add a listing to our website.
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