Another year of the Burton Elementary School annual health education event is in the books! ... The afternoon started with a skit where Minecraft character “Blue”, played by Divine Mengue, visited the Physician Assistant, played by Maddie Parker, and took at trip through the body meeting germs and exploring the body.

I serve as the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Chair for our student organization, the Stead Society. In this role, I am the liaison between the Stead Society/my classmates and the Duke Health Center for Interprofessional Education and Care (IPEC). IPEC is made up of students and faculty from the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. The School of Medicine includes physician assistant (PA), doctor of medicine, physical therapy, and occupational therapy students. The PA program alone has nine students who are part of IPEC.

Near-peer teaching, in which senior students provide instruction to students in the classes below them, has received growing recognition for its utility and efficacy in medical education. At the Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program, three new student organizations are implementing near-peer teaching as a way to build student-learning opportunities: the Semi-Pro Seminars, the Duke Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Society, and the Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group (SIG).

“Chúc mừng năm mới sức khỏe dồi dào!” This is a common Vietnamese Lunar New Year greeting that expresses celebration and wishes for good health in the coming year.

Growing up, I always heard about the challenges and adversities my family had gone through in order to immigrate to the United States and create a better life for my brother and me. It was not until we began visiting India regularly that I began feeling so fortunate for my life here in the States. In late 2016, I had gone on what I believed to be another family vacation to India alongside my family.

“Pockets” was one of the first patients I treated as a street-based EMT. Our friendship started off on the right foot – literally - when I treated his right foot for a fungal infection. For patients with diabetes like Pockets, a simple fungus can easily become a critical infection, like MRSA, and a life-or-death matter.

Orgullosamente Latina!

Embrace Your Journey

Physician Assistant (PA) school is a journey filled with countless moments of joy, expansion of knowledge, perseverance, growth, exhaustion, reflection, and the occasional unexpected trial. It will also push you to heights you never thought possible.

I was sitting at my desk at Duke University Hospital when I received probably the most awaited email of my life – Offer of Admission, Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program. The outpatient abdominal transplant team surrounded me, the people who had inspired me to learn, grow, and take this giant leap.