Third Class of Physician Assistant Students Receive White Coats

By Kelly Gardner

Edward Williams, assistant professor in the physician assistant program, helps a student into her white coat while program director Patricia Kelly looks on.

Edward Williams, assistant professor in the physician assistant program, helps a student into her white coat while program director Patricia Kelly looks on.

Two weeks into the 28-month master’s degree program, the students donned their white coats for the first time then recited the Physician Assistant Professional Oath. The students pledged to be ethical, responsible, compassionate and helpful to patients and their families. Then one by one they were coated by Patricia Kelly, Ph.D., PA-C, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and program director, and Edward Williams, M.P.A.S., M.Ed., PA-C, assistant professor.

“The path to serving others in health care is a journey, not a destination,” said keynote speaker Lee Wilbur, M.D., director of the UAMS Office of Interprofessional Education. “This is a lifelong journey that you are embarking on with this white coat and this oath.”

“This white coat is not a cloak of authority,” Murphy said. “Regard it as a sign of your role as an educated, compassionate servant and a pledge to the patients you treat that you will diagnose them responsibly and treat them as partners in care.”

Courtney Mosely, president of the Class of 2015 that will graduate in August, told the new students that the minute they put on the coat their role would change because they would be looked to for care, to listen to and keep in confidence patient information and become a representative of a profession that is still not well known in Arkansas. “Be a sponge” for the knowledge and skills taught in the program.

The  physician assistant students recite the Physician Assistant Oath.

The physician assistant students recite the Physician Assistant Oath.

“And know that these coats are also sponges for dirt and grime, so get a good dry cleaner,” she said.

The students in the physician assistant Class of 2017:

Ashley Barksdale
North Little Rock
Jennifer Goodwin
Rogers
Rachel Neal
The Woodlands, Texas
Amy Borota
Greenwood
Samantha Gray
North Little Rock
Aaron Parsley
Rector
Alli Brooks
Bentonville
Brittany Healey
Lindale, Texas
Mira Patel
Amory, Miss.
Anne Brown
Havertown, Pa.
Haley Hobson
Peaster, Texas
Emily Rideout
Fort Smith
Mallory Burroughs
Hot Springs
Cassidy Jacobs
Fort Smith
Daniel Ring
Cabot
Kyla Byers
Springfield, Mo.
Tabitha Jaggers
Sheridan
Christina Short
Little Elm, Texas
Allen Childers
Smackover
Jesse Klein
Kirby
Kenneth Spencer
Texarkana
Catherine Chumbley
Athens, Ala.
Ashley Lunsford
Dennison, Texas
Rachele Struthers
Magnolia, Texas
Nirja Desai
Clarksville
Tyler McAnally
Melbourne
Sommer Walker
Hope
Courteney Evans
Ridgeland, Miss.
John McCormick
Fayetteville
Ryland Walt
Altheimer
Raven Falls
Texarkana
Layne Miller
Tulsa, Okla.
Wesley Wenzel
Portland, Ore.
Byrun Fulk
Bridgewater, Va.

The UAMS physician assistant program was established in 2011. Physician assistants are licensed medical providers who work with the supervision of a physician.