“Teaching to patients or to students requires an intuitive ability to connect with them and recognize the depth of understanding of any material, to assist in growing critical thinking skills.
I focus my efforts on creating learning experiences that motivate students to interact with the didactic material by inviting them to apply their unique personal experiences. The result is ownership of the material, driven by its perceived application. To that end, providing the students with a safe environment in which they may fail initially, to succeed ultimately, can result in an even deeper level of understanding and reinvigorate a love for learning and reinforce the ability to succeed.
A practitioner rooted in rural Family and Internal Medicine and then PA education, taught me to recognize the level of didactic preparation and application a student has and to assist in enhancing that baseline for the clinical year. I have created and taught multiple courses and developed diverse evaluation tools across the didactic and clinical years, to test and track student outcomes, and employ quality improvement.
In addition to my adjunct faculty position at Franklin College PA program, I enjoy professional tutoring of PA and Medical students, recognizing each student’s potential and assisting them to succeed. I am married to a pharmacist, have a college age son in mechanical engineering and enjoy riding my curly horse mare, traveling and scuba diving.
During my time precepting medical students and PA’s, my preceptor gave me some advice. He stated “remember, for every student you touch in your classroom, that student will graduate and potentially touch multiple patients each day.” That generous advice has served to inspire me to continue to teach and is what drives me to contribute to my profession as an educator still.”

Lecturer of Physician Assistant Studies

Master of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Nebraska Medical School, 2012
Physician Assistant Associate of Applied Science degree, Albany Medical College/Hudson Valley Community College, 1986
B.A., Interdisciplinary nursing and biology, Our Lady of the Elms College, Chicope, MA, 1984

2020

Inducted into the PAEA Pi Alpha, national honor society for Physician Assistants, for distinguished scholarship. May 13, 2018
Invited to present at the Lilly International Teaching Conference-Bethesda, MD, 2014, Designing Effective Teaching.
Presenter of SPENT: an online game, utilizing gamification versus immersion experiences to impact student insight and behavior
Invited to participate in an aired community preventive health television commercial, designed to increase health awareness of drugs and alcohol, and responsible health behavior choices. Sponsored by Baptist Health Centers, Birmingham, Al., March 1997
Submitted and accepted. Co-PI on a curriculum enhancement grant: “Enhancing clinical reasoning skills in physician assistant students” Submitted January 26, 2018 and accepted March 29, 2018
Submitted and rejected. Faculty advisor for development and submission of an AAPA student IMPACT Grant 2016 proposal, April 2016. Quality Improvements: Diabetes screening, education, and treatment/management
Submitted and accepted. Consultant on a recruitment script and kidney disease survey in partnership with Professor Priscilla Ryder of Butler University, on a grant application for an Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Inc. Kidney Disease study, 2012

In my spare time I scuba dive, own and ride my Curly horse mare, snow ski.

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