2021 AAPA Award Recipients
The AAPA Awards Committee has announced the recipients of the 2021 Individual Excellence Awards. These prestigious awards honor PAs and PA students who have served their patients, their communities, and the PA profession with great distinction. The awards are the highest recognition bestowed on members by the Academy.
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PA of the Year Award
This award honors a PA who, within the course of a one-year period, demonstrates exemplary service to the community; exemplifies the PA profession’s philosophy of providing accessible, quality healthcare to all; and furthers the image of the profession in a positive, meaningful way.
Ho’onani (Nani) Cuadrado, MSPAS, PA-C, is the 2021 recipient of the PA of the Year Award. Cuadrado is the Program Director of Valley Health Partners Street Medicine and has dedicated her career to serving persons experiencing homelessness and victims of sex trafficking. Read More
PA Student of the Year Award
This award honors a PA student who furthers the image of PAs and PA students; gives self-sacrificing time and effort in service to community; demonstrates leadership and professionalism; and exemplifies the PA profession’s philosophy of providing accessible, quality healthcare to all.
Victoria Ho is the 2021 recipient of the PA Student of the Year Award. A PA student at Sacred Heart University, Ho was selected as a recipient of the LBGT PA Caucus Student Leader Award, through which she co-founded an LGBT support group for pre-PAs. Read More
Military Service Award
This award recognizes a veteran or active duty PA who demonstrates exemplary healthcare service and exemplifies the PA profession’s philosophy of providing accessible, quality healthcare to current members of the military, veterans, or a medically underserved community.
Col. James J. Jones, PhD, PA-C, is the 2021 recipient of the Military Service Award. Jones is the Branch Chief of the Interservice Physician Assistant Program. He was the first PA to serve as the Deputy Director and Chief of Protective Medicine in the White House Medical Unit. Read More
AAPA/PAEA Preceptor of the Year Award
This award honors a preceptor who demonstrates exemplary service in the clinical education of PA students as a mentor, role model, and instructor; and furthers the image of PAs by exemplifying the PA profession’s philosophy of providing accessible, quality healthcare.
Katie Sorensen, MSPAS, PA-C, is the 2021 recipient of the AAPA/PAEA Preceptor of the Year Award. Sorensen is a general surgery PA in Duluth, Minnesota, has been precepting for 10 years, and provides resources and advice to thousand of students via social media. Read More
Publishing Award
This award is granted to a PA who published, during the prior calendar year, a new clinical or research article expressing original and/or scientifically rigorous ideas substantiated by best practices, and contributing to the advancement of the PA profession.
Joanne Rolls, MEHP, MPAS, PA-C, is the 2021 recipient of the Publishing Award. Her article, “Curricular Approaches to Transgender Health in Physician Assistant Education,” is the first national survey of transgender healthcare curricula in PA education. Read More
Outstanding Student Society
This award recognizes one student society for outstanding service to the profession in the areas of public education and advocacy; public service and outreach; promotion of diversity; and professional involvement.
The Morehouse School of Medicine Henry Lee “Buddy” Treadwell PA Student Society is AAPA’s 2021 Outstanding Student Society. Throughout 2020, Morehouse held a variety of events including a town hall focused on diversity in the profession, a food drive, a march to the Georgia State Capitol for social justice, and more. Read More