2025 PA Student of the Year Helps Patients and Providers Better Navigate the Healthcare System

Phoebe Zhang Aims to Remove Barriers to Care for Patients

May 8, 2025

By Josh Birch

Phoebe Zhang, AAPA’s 2025 PA Student of the Year, is passionate about advocating for others. In 2022, Zhang launched HowMedWorks, a website aimed at helping patients better understand and navigate what often can be a confusing healthcare system.

The PA Student of the Year 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.

Zhang, who is currently in her clinical year at the Long Island University PA Program, always knew she would end up in medicine—and the PA profession was the perfect fit for her goals. “Becoming a PA student was equally about pursuing the career I had always wanted and positioning myself to expand access to high-quality care for those who need it most,” she says.

“When my life shifted from a two-parent, upper-middle class household to a single-parent, low-income one, I saw how our healthcare system fails to accommodate working-class and immigrant families,” Zhang says. “The standard nine-to-five job, assumption of English proficiency, and expectation of medical literacy all create significant barriers for many patients.”

Drawing from both her personal experiences and observations during the pandemic, Zhang founded HowMedWorks to address healthcare accessibility challenges. Her goal was to create a resource where patients could learn how to get the medical care they deserved and feel empowered to self-advocate, particularly as access to in-patient care became more limited during the pandemic.

“This perspective has been the driving force behind my community service efforts, which include volunteering on several medical mission trips to Mexico, organizing community health fairs, studying medical Mandarin to better advocate for a predominantly Chinese-speaking patient population, and donating necessities to a women’s shelter and individuals experiencing homelessness,” Zhang says.

HowMedWorks has grown over the years—both in content and in following. It now averages thousands of visitors each month with her content being viewed by people all around the globe, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. “When I started this journey, I knew I wanted to help others. I just could have never imagined how far that impact would reach,” she says.

After being accepted into PA school, Zhang began expanding on HowMedWorks, detailing her own experiences with the application process to help other pre-PAs. Her content has continued to evolve and now includes resources for other PA students, including tips for excelling in PA school, as well as study guides for both didactic and clinical years that have proved highly effective for herself and her peers.

Along with managing her website, Zhang balances both PA school and several volunteer leadership positions. She serves as an AAPA House of Delegates Student Delegate, the 2025 Physician Assistant History Society Student Trustee, and her student society’s Student Academy Representative. In her PA program, she has played an active role in facilitating student involvement, including encouraging class participation in PAs on the Plaza during PA Week and increasing peer attendance at professional conferences.

“I have been consistently amazed by how PAs, PA students, and even pre-PA students foster a culture where everyone actively supports and champions each other’s growth and success,” she says. “This spirit of camaraderie makes our profession not just a career path, but a true professional home.”

Outside of PA school, Zhang serves as a pre-PA mentor and personal statement reviewer. Additionally, she is co-authoring  a research paper on cardiovascular disease risk in type 1 diabetes with an endocrinologist she worked closely with during her time in the Stanford COMET Fellowship.

“By combining clinical excellence with active participation in our professional community,” Zhang says, “we grow not just as skilled providers but as empowered advocates for our patients and profession.”

Josh Birch is AAPA’s Senior manager of Media Relations. He can be reached at [email protected].