Winners of Student Writing Competition Honored at AAPA Conference

L to R: Robert Hadley, Katie Dickey, Marisa Parker, Nour Saad, Kevin Lohenry

The three PA student winners of the 2011 Student Writing Competition received their monetary prizes and an opportunity to present their papers, all focusing on clinical care and other issues affecting the practice of medicine by PAs, during an awards ceremony held during the AAPA Annual PA Conference. The winners were chosen from 85 scholarly papers entered in the competition. The prizes of $500, $300, and $200 as well as expenses for travel, lodging, meals, and registration were provided by JAAPA. Each student gave a brief presentation about their paper during the ceremony, which was moderated by PAEA President, Kevin Lohenry. Student Writing Subcommittee member Robert Hadley introduced each award recipient.

The winning students and their papers this year were:

First Place
Nour Saad from the University of Detroit Mercy Physician Assistant Program, Detroit, Michigan
“Voluntary Active Euthanasia of the Terminally Ill”

In accepting the award, Saad said: "One can have the best education and the greatest skills as a caregiver, yet fail to morally meet his or her obligation to patients. I am always interested in hearing different ethical perspectives that may alter the way I respond in a certain situation. Therefore, I felt medical ethics was an appropriate topic for the competition. It is an honor to have won the writing contest, and I am very excited to present my paper at the conference."

Second Place
Marisa Parker from UC Davis School of Medicine Family Nurse Practitioner & Physician Assistant Program, Sacramento, California
“HIV Screening: Missed Opportunities”

Parkers' acceptance remarks: "The only way to eradicate HIV is through education and awareness. I hope that anyone who reads my article will feel more comfortable discussing HIV with their patients and testing for it. Until there is a cure, this is the best we can do."

Parker also commented on the research process: "I had no idea hunting down references was such a time-consuming process! It was an eye-opening experience for sure. I want to write more."

Third Place
Katie Dickey from Missouri State University Physician Assistant Program, Springfield, Missouri
“Childhood and Adolescent Obesity/Overweight”

Dickey’s acceptance remarks: “Future generations currently have life expectancies shorter than their parents. Childhood obesity is a battle that medical practitioners must participate in to improve the quality of life for generations to come.”

The preliminary round of judging was done by 83 faculty members from PA programs across the country. This response to the call for reviewers made it possible for each paper to receive at least three unique reviews by faculty not affiliated with the programs from which the papers originated. The final round of judging was conducted by Student Writing Competition Subcommittee members: Committee Chair William Schweinle, Karen Graham, Robert Hadley, Antone Opekun, Eric Vangsnes, Claire O’Connell, and Virginia Hass.

PAEA is grateful to JAAPA and looks forward to continuing this partnership in the future. PAEA also would like to thank the Student Writing Competition Subcommittee for its oversight of the competition.