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Linda Brandt, longtime director of the Norwalk/Yale PA Surgical Residency Program in Connecticut, died on January 6, 2004, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. A second memorial service is being planned at the Norwalk Hospital on Friday, February 6, since inclement weather prevented many friends from attending the service in Plantsville, Connecticut. Norwalk Hospital physicians Horace A. Laffaye, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, and Kathleen A. LaVorgna, MD, medical director and director of the residency program, praised Ms. Brandt’s total devotion to the program and her tireless efforts to ensure its reputation as one of the best in the country. The physicians announced the establishment of a memorial fund for an award in Ms. Brandt’s memory to be given at each year’s graduation ceremony. Donations may be made to Norwalk Hospital Foundation for the Linda Brandt Memorial One friend recalls Ms. Brandt’s work on behalf of the residency program, as well as their close ties. Linda was a passionate woman who was very dedicated to the surgical residency program. She traveled throughout the country touting the merits of the program and recruiting mostly newly trained PAs to expand their surgical knowledge by coming to the program. Since the inception of the program, she has been part of the fuel that has kept its reputation burning bright. In November of 2003, I received an e-mail from Linda. She said, “Cindy, I can’t imagine not being here. It is difficult to say goodbye forever to good friends and family. I still keep praying for a miracle.” To that I say, Linda, you ARE here in the hearts and memories of your friends and family and in your work that continues on. Indeed, I am the one who has been blessed, to be able to be called one of Linda Brandt’s friends. —Cynthia Lee Carson Another remembers Linda Brandt’s influence as one of the first twelve PA students to enter the residency program. Linda Brandt was the uniting force, the gentle guiding voice, who helped us [the 12 members of the first class of the Norwalk/Yale PA Surgical Residency Program] going during those long days and nights during our residency year. She not only touched my life during her journey here on earth, but…[that of] every PA resident and student who walked in front of her desk over the last 27 years. —Mary Alice Morton Kirsten Thomsen also met Linda Brandt in Thomsen’s own student days. I first met Linda when I was a student doing a rotation at Norwalk years ago. During that time she was extremely helpful and always kind to a student who was quite anxious about doing a surgery rotation, but found that she loved it, thanks to Linda and the terrific PAs and surgeons at Norwalk. Linda will be missed by many more than she could ever imagine. —Kirsten Thomsen And as a friend and graduate of the program, Rosann Ippolito offers her reflections. Linda Brandt was the consummate PA, i.e., PA advocate. She was a passionate spokesperson for PA education and the profession. Linda was the cohesive force and the welcoming face behind the Norwalk/Yale PA Surgical Residency Program. She was always concerned with the well being of the PAs and students; she continuously fostered the professional development of hundreds of PA surgical residents and contributed to the education of thousands of PA students from all over the country. Linda was compassionate, altruistic, and always there to listen. On the national level, she was a consistent voice for APAP and a leader in APPAP [the Association of Physician Assistant Postgraduate Programs]. She was a remarkable individual. —Rosann Ippolito
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