Barry Physician Assistant Students Honored at White Coat Ceremony

On August 21, 2008 forty-five Physician Assistant (PA) students from the Barry University PA program on the Miami Shores campus were honored in a special White Coat Ceremony for completion of their first year of didactic studies.  On the following evening, August 22, twenty-four students from the class of 2009 in St. Petersburg were honored at the St. Petersburg College University Partnership Center Digitorium for their accomplishment of finishing their didactic courses.

Keith Moore, JD, PA-C, associate program director for the Barry PA program delivered an inspiring keynote address for the St. Petersburg White Coat Ceremony.  Major General Bernard Loeffke, adjunct clinical faculty member for the Barry PA program provided a compelling keynote address for the ceremony held on the Barry campus in Miami Shores.

The PA program has made impressive progress since its inception in the fall of 1997.  The Miami Shores program received its full national accreditation in 1999 and has graduated more than 300 physician assistants.  In fall 2005, the PA program began admitting students on the west coast of Florida in partnership with the University Partnership Center at St. Petersburg College via interactive video-conferencing on Internet2.  In December 2007 the Program celebrated the first graduation of one class seated in two locations.

Dr. Chet Evans, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine awarded the Dean’s Scholarship which is given to the ten students with the highest grade point average.  The recipients from the Miami Shores campus were:  Kathryn Bluske, Lyndsey Cobb, Katie Kopin, Laura Larios, and Angela Vallejo.  Dr. Michael Siegel, associate academic dean presented the Dean’s Scholarship Award to Kirsty Leavy, Kimberly Flynn, Jennifer Finger, Natalie Wilbanks, and Karen Marshall on the St. Petersburg campus.

The Catherine Margaret Parkhurst Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Joetta Troyer in St. Petersburg and Mayret Padron in Miami Shores, for demonstration of compassion and sensitivity.  In St. Petersburg, Natalie Wilbanks and Lindsay Pelletier were nominated for this award; while Kendra Aalund was nominated on the Miami Shores campus.  All nominees for this award received a certificate of recognition.

The Carolyn Parkhurst Rosser Scholarship was awarded to Clayton Noa in St. Petersburg and Tyler Nelson in Miami Shores for their demonstration of strong moral and ethical character, Lance Comstock and Jason Redd in St. Petersburg and Lauren Dolan and Claude Guerrier in Miami Shores, were nominated for this award and received certificates of recognition.

The Goldie Fien Memorial Award was presented to Nora Watson in St. Petersburg and Lee De Dore in Miami Shores for demonstration of academic excellence in physical diagnosis and for possessing the qualities of compassion and caring that a PA should have.  On the St. Petersburg campus, Jill Thompson, Travis Rogers, and Lance Comstock; Miguel Garcia, Laura Larios, Justin Adrien, and Claude Guerrier from the Miami Shoes campus were nominated for this award and received certificates of recognition.

On both campuses students were greeted by Dr. Richard Fien, director for didactic studies who handed the coats to Dr. Carmen Queral, director of clinical education, symbolically passing the responsibility of further training from the classroom and didactic faculty to the clinical setting and preceptors.  Professor Terry Helopoulos placed the PA program pins on the coats while other faculty members congratulated the students for their academic accomplishments on both campuses.

Dr. Doreen C. Parkhurst presents PA student Mayret Padron with the Catherine Margaret Parkhurst Memorial Scholarship Award