by Aimee Larson | Feb 2, 2024 | Staff
The PA program was fortunate again this year to receive a substantial grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to continue our efforts toward diversifying the healthcare workforce. This grant allows us to provide seven scholarships that will cover half of each student’s tuition in addition to the ability to cover diversity initiatives and support for smaller daily living burdens for our students. While there are a number of very deserving students who applied, these seven recipients stood out for the adversity they faced on their journey to PA school and their overwhelming commitment to our mission. Congratulations to (from left to right): Tagreed Al Abed, Farrah Shidid, Danielle Haynes, Moamal Flayh, Fattimah Fakih, Shwe Aye, and Karishma Agarwal.
Submitted by: Dr. Aimee Larson, Program Director, PA Studies
by Aimee Larson | Jan 24, 2024 | Staff
Through the support of the Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program and generously funded by a grant from Interfaith America (IA), a new collection of eBooks offers perspectives on the intersection of faith, spirituality and healing. This collection was selected thanks to the generous guidance of Jonathan Lawrence, Shyam Sriram and Ryan Grimmer using a portion of the recent IFA grant awarded to the PA program for use in developing programs that merge health and faith. In addition to this collection, the PA program held a panel discussion with faith leaders of many denominations in the area to speak specifically about faith, spirituality and end-of-life care.
Click here to view the full collection.
We hope the broad campus community will enjoy the addition of these free resources and consider sharing them with your students.
Submitted by: Dr. Aimee Larson, Program Director, PA Studies
by Aimee Larson | Jan 22, 2024 | Staff
The PA program is very proud to announce the first Prentice Family Foundation Fellowship recipient of Canisius University from the PA program.
Aspen Flynn is a member of the class of 2025, joining us from sunnier California. She has a very impressive background in health initiatives prior to joining us. She is the founder of JustMilk, a 501(c)3 nonprofit developing a novel method of infant medication delivery. She also spent several years working on international health care projects and research in South Africa, Tanzania, India, and Peru. She then spent time in the federal government, working on drinking water quality at the Environmental Protection Agency and documenting racial disparities in cardiovascular outcomes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Prentice Family Foundation was created by its generous benefactors, Bryant H. Prentice, III and his wife Joan P. Prentice. Its goal is to promote the economic development of the Western New York area by combining support for college and graduate students who demonstrate an entrepreneurial drive with investments in businesses located in Western New York.
Aspen joins a number of very impressive fellows from Canisius University in other areas such as business, finance, and education. To read more about them, visit: https://prenticefoundation.org/fellows/current/
Submitted by: Dr. Aimee Larson, Program Director, PA Studies
by Aimee Larson | Nov 1, 2023 | Faculty
The PA program is proud to announce that Emily Cross, from the Class of 2025, was awarded one of three annual scholarships by the New York State Society of Physician Assistant (NYSSPA).
Emily is a first-year PA student at Canisius University and the social chair for Canisius University SPAA. She graduated from Skidmore College with a bachelor of arts in neuroscience and a minor in theater, and then completed her master’s degree in community health education at Merrimack College. Before attending graduate school, Cross spent time as a courier intern with Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky, where she learned about rural healthcare through remote hospice networks, the RAM Clinic and local volunteer work.
This award will be presented at the upcoming annual conference where she will represent Canisius University and its PA program remarkably well.
To read more, click here.
Submitted by: Aimee Larson, Program Director, PA Studies
by Aimee Larson | Oct 6, 2023 | Faculty
Each year, the nation celebrates physician assistants, and their contributions to improved health access and outcomes. National PA Day was initially celebrated October 6, 1987, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the first graduating class of physician assistants. Eugene A. Stead, Jr., MD, who is credited with founding the profession, was born October 6. It has since grown into a week of celebration from October 6 -12 each year.
In honor of our Jesuit values and call to serve, we honor this week at Canisius by hosting our annual Health Equity Week. Stay tuned for the amazing work our students are doing to serve our local communities as outlined in the flyer.
Oh, and feel free to hug your PA this week!
Submitted by: Aimee Larson, Program Director, PA Studies
