Health Equity and DEI

PA Kirsten Brondstater was told she would never work in medicine because of her hearing impairment. This only fueled her resolve, and she has since become a PA and earned a Doctor of Medical Science degree. Now, she advocates for appropriate accommodations and inclusivity in medical settings and beyond for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

As a young adult, Ashley Tolliver was surprised to learn that people in small rural towns and big cities experience the same barriers to healthcare. Now a physician associate in Maryland, Tolliver founded Redicare to provide urgent care and primary care services in the home—an important step in beginning to tackle these barriers.

Howard Straker, EdD, MPH, PA-C, is the 2026 recipient of the Eugene A. Stead Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor—AAPA’s highest distinction—recognizes individuals whose work has made a lasting, far-reaching impact on the physician associate profession.

EDGE-PA, the recipient of AAPA’s 2026 Diversity Award, began as a pipeline program to increase the representation of African American men in the PA profession. In 2025, the program expanded to support students of all genders, races, and ethnicities who have faced significant challenges on their path to PA education.

The recipient of the 2025 CO Outreach and Advocacy Award is the LBGT PA Caucus for advancing health equity, strengthening PA leadership, and fostering inclusive professional communities during a period of rapid change and increasing need within healthcare.

Justice Gray, a physician associate in psychiatry, encourages her young patients and kids everywhere to accept themselves just as they are through her picture book, “What is Normal Anyway? Because the Best Kind of Normal is Being You.”

In January 2026, Mount St. Mary’s University will welcome its inaugural class to a new PA program. The program will emphasize service within underserved and under-resourced communities and offer tools for students to sustain long-term professional resilience and prevent burnout.