2008 Education Forum Attracts Record Numbers, International Visitors

Ruback, Brenneman Elected to Board; Thomsen Re-elected; Lohenry Appointed to Vacancy

By Steven Lane

Although the formal evaluations are not yet in, the 2008 PAEA Annual Education Forum appears to have been one of the Association’s most successful meetings in its history. Attendance numbers were at an all-time high, with 465 registrants representing 117 member programs. The restructured format put together by the Education Committee and meetings staff seemed to strike a good balance among different kinds of sessions each day and created additional time for unopposed poster presentations and other educational sessions. As President Dana Sayre-Stanhope put it in her report at the board meeting, “The biggest complaint we have had is that rooms are too full.”

The meeting had a pronounced international flavor, with a keynote address covering the development of the PA profession in the United Kingdom and challenges facing the profession globally, a four-organization leadership panel on the international development of the profession, and a full-day meeting of the International Forum on Physician Assistant Education (IFPAE). The IFPAE meeting was not a formal part of the Education Forum, but took place in conjunction with it to allow attendees from non-U.S. PA programs to maximize the value of travelling to Savannah. Countries represented at the meeting were Australia, Canada, England, Netherlands, Scotland, Ghana, and Taiwan.

A highlight of this year’s conference was the HERO project, which piggybacked on the scheduled Halloween tours of Savannah — “America’s most haunted city” — to raise more than $5,000 for students at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston PA Program whose education has been disrupted by Hurricane Ike.

Members also heard reports on the latest data from CASPA and from the Association’s revised annual survey.

Election of Officers

The Association membership elected two new members to the board of directors: Ted Ruback, director of the PA program at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, was voted president elect, and Anthony Brenneman, director of clinical education at the University of Iowa PA Program, was elected to one of the two vacant director at large positions. Incumbent Director at Large Kirsten Thomsen, George Washington University, was re-elected to her second term. In addition, the board appointed outgoing Director at Large Kevin Lohenry, a former member of the Finance Commitee, to serve the one year remaining on the term of Secretary/Treasurer Charles Brakhage, who resigned his position for personal reasons. The new board members will assume their positions in January. Also joining the board at that time will be Vickie Lisowski, a student at Touro University-Nevada, who will replace Jessica Boudreaux-Milligan as student director at large. The student member at large is elected at the SAAAPA meeting  in May, and approved by the PAEA Board of Directors.

Business Meeting

A relatively uneventful business meeting saw only four motions debated — all for bylaws amendments put forward by the board of directors on the recommendation of the PAEA Governance Committee. The motion that generated the most debate concerned the institution of electronic voting and the removal of the possibility of nominations from the floor. Members were in favor of electronic voting but wanted to preserve the possibility of floor nominations. This motion was defeated. A complete summary of actions is available here.