Until Next Year: AAPA 2025 Highlights
Thank you to everyone who attended AAPA 2025! See you in New Orleans!
May 21, 2024
This year in Denver, PAs and PA students traveled from across the country to take part in AAPA 2025. Attendees participated in stimulating CME sessions, networking opportunities, two spectacular Main Stage events, and a raging PA-only block party!
Over 200 Hours of Lectures and Hands-on Learning Opportunities
While there are plenty of fun offerings at conference, nothing compares to the knowledge that can be gained inside the convention center walls. This year, over 200 hours of CME were offered across 49 different learning tracks. These sessions provide participants with the tools and resources needed to become better providers to every one of their patients. Attendees got the chance to hear from industry leaders on an array of topics and participate in hands-on training workshops.
AAPA’s First Ever Hackathon Focused on Food Medicine
For the first time ever at an AAPA conference, PAs and PA students came together to solve problems and develop solutions for this year’s AAPA Hackathon topic: Food Is Medicine. Fourteen teams registered registered to develop real-world solutions at the intersection of food, health, and technology. The winning team, “Food for Me, Food for You,” included PAs Kristin Batla and Betsy Piburn, PA students Abbie Meyer, Julie Lane, and Tracy Rangel, and pre-PA Olivia Ye.
Two Eye-Opening Main Stage Events
On Saturday, during the first Main Stage Event, creator and host of the What’s the Future, Health? Podcast, Jessica DaMassa, hosted leaders from RenewRx, Affineon Health, and Eon Health as they showcased groundbreaking innovations that will shape the future of healthcare and PA practice. Attendees left this session inspired to innovate and equipped with the insights to leverage tools that can make healthcare more effective, equitable, and human.
“The pace of the adoption of innovation in healthcare is faster than ever,” said David Norris, co-Founder and CEO of Affineon Health. “This is the most exciting time to be in healthcare, because we’re actually making a difference. It’s not theoretical anymore.”
On Monday, attendees reconnected with their “why,” renewed their energy, and strengthened their ability to lead with compassion and resilience with bestselling author, healthcare entrepreneur, and Harvard Medical School instructor Suneel Gupta.
Gupta shared insights paired with practical strategies to help attendees stay grounded in what matters most — their patients. Gupta explained that through small, intentional actions, attendees can keep their passion for care front and center, build resilience, and create meaningful impact in their practice and beyond. “What the science tells us is that rest is not a reward — it is a resource. It’s not a reward for what you have done. It’s a resource for what you are about to do.”
Calling All PA Students
During the annual National Medical Challenge Bowl, students showed off their school spirit and cheered on their classmates as they tested their medical knowledge. This year, 90 teams from PA programs across the country came to Denver to compete, and Yale PA Online Students emerged victorious!
PA Night Out
In the third annual PA Night Out, attendees visited five unique and iconic bars on Denver’s Market Street. It was a night filled with dancing, gaming, and building connections. A night many will remember for years to come!
AAPA 2025: Join us in New Orleans!
We are already counting down the days until we can be together again, and we know you are excited too. Next year, AAPA is heading to New Orleans — and it’s time for some serious self-care at AAPA 2026. Feed your mind with CME, get inspiration at our Main Stage Events, and explore authentic experiences with colleagues in PA Adventures or PA Night Out. Save the date: Registration opens Oct. 29, 2025.
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