Looking Back: PAs Share Personal Triumphs from 2010s

Career Accomplishments and Breakthroughs in the Past Decade

January 3, 2010

As we wrap up one decade and roll right into the next, AAPA wanted to hear from PAs and PAs-to-be about their best experiences from the 2010s. So, we asked them on social media about their proudest accomplishments and biggest career breakthroughs – here are a few of the responses.

Helen Hobbs Page, PA-C, Dermatology and IT Department at Reliant Medical Group in Worcester, Massachusetts:  Combining patient care and working in information technology for EMR provider optimization program. Hoping to help my physician and AP colleagues prevent burnout.

Catherine Partington Roden, PA-C, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Hershey, Pennsylvania: Our institution has established an advancement program… Therefore, I am literally having to document all my achievements from the past 12 years of working there! I am surprised how much I have accomplished and am hoping (I) will be rewarded for it (financially).

Marianna Luyando-Smith, PA-C, Brownsville Community Health Center, Brownsville, Texas: I have been in practice for 21 years! The ability to develop a successful practice is my most satisfying accomplishment. It has been accomplished with hard work, long working hours, and a commitment of life-long learning.

Tammera Park, PA-C, Family Care Center, Mocksville, North Carolina: I am proud of being a solo practitioner. Patients trust me with their health, their families, and sometimes their lives. While I have the full support of my supervising physician and administration, they allow me the freedom to practice at my highest comfort level.

[Experience your next breakthrough at AAPA 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee, May 16-20]

Kimberly Just, PA-C, Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Neuro Rehab department, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Creating a true interdisciplinary team appointment for our ALS population. It’s a well-oiled machine by now. We have been using this model to serve our Veterans for about 7-8 years at this point.

Kim Thames, starting PA school at Charleston Southern University in January:  Getting into PA school! So excited to start classes in 2 weeks and get started in my new career.

Danielle Kaufman, MS, PA-C, Lead APP of the Preoperative Evaluation Center at WVU Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia: Mine has been a whirlwind of transitions over what has been the biggest part of my PA career… My biggest accomplishment has been the transition to having confidence in my judgement and my clinical intuition – learning to trust my inner knowledge and own my decisions as a provider. Those are qualities they don’t teach in PA school and skills that are learned and groomed with time, experience, and personal/professional reflection.