2007 Education Forum Attendees Elect Officers, Debate Key Issues in PA Education

Strand, Goldgar Will Join the Board in January

The 2007 PAEA Annual Education Forum was one of the Association’s most successful meetings, with a record-setting attendance, two well-known and thought-provoking plenary speakers, a large and vibrant exhibit hall, and a host of educational sessions that provided options for faculty at varying levels of experience and with divergent professional interests. The final tallies were 460 registered attendees, representing 150 programs — including postgraduate residency programs and programs from outside the United States.

If you attended the meeting, please watch your e-mail box for an online evaluation survey in the next few days. As always, constructive feedback is invaluable and will be used to shape the content and format of future meetings. Many of the materials from the meeting — including handouts and PowerPoint presentations — are available on the Education Forum page of the PAEA Web site.

Election of Officers

Association members elected two new officers to the PAEA Board of Directors. Justine Strand, chief of the Physician Assistant Division at Duke University Medical Center, was elected president elect, and Connie Goldgar, associate director at the University of Utah Physician Assistant Program, was elected director at large. Both will take office beginning January 1. Leaving the board at that time will be Director at Large Frank Acevedo and Past President Dawn Morton-Rias, whose terms of office will expire. Acevedo and Morton-Rias received plaques and thanks for their service from President Anita Glicken at the Awards Luncheon.

Business Meeting

Voting representatives and others who attended the business meeting debated seven motions covering several important hot topics in PA education, including the clinical doctorate, payment for preceptors, and cultural competencies. The motion that generated the most debate was the issue of the clinical doctorate. Two different motions on this issue went through multiple amendments before a final version was passed: “PAEA supports creating a mechanism to address whether the PA Education Association should or should not consider endorsing an entry-level doctorate and the implications of this change for our profession.” The PAEA Board of Directors will consider how best to implement this action and will report back to the membership at the earliest opportunity. A complete summary of actions of the business meeting is available, and the proposed minutes of the business meeting will also be available on the Web site in the near future.