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).

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.

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.  

“Inclusion is within everyone’s ability level.” 

“Unprecedented times.” A phrase we’ve become all too familiar with in recent days. It peppered email inboxes and public broadcasts alike. Covid’s arrival to the US found me finishing up my career as a critical care nurse and preparing for Duke.