First-year PA students, with Program Chair and Director Jolene Kelly, PA-C’96, show off their National PA Week t-shirts, which state, “PA – the other white coat.”

Last year, the website CNN Money tagged physician assistant as the number-two best job for salary, satisfying work and big growth opportunities. The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment of physician assistants to grow by 39 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations. That growth, the bureau states, reflects “the expansion of health care industries and an emphasis on cost containment, which results in increasing use of PAs by health care establishments.”

Physician assistants, as a profession, have come a long way since four ex-Navy hospital corpsmen enrolled in 1965 in the first PA program at Duke University.

2011 marks the 30th anniversary of DMU’s PA program, the nation’s 31st but the first to be associated with an osteopathic medical institution. Funded initially by two health professions training grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the program became DMU’s second academic program in 1981, accepted its first students in 1982 and graduated a class of 10 in 1983.

“The idea behind it was two-fold – to extend the physician by providing a person who could do almost the same things and to train military people who’d already had medical training,” says William Case, PA-C, clinical coordinator for DMU’s Iowa Center for Patient Safety and Clinical Skills. A consultant on developing DMU’s PA program, Case was its first employee.

Gary Hudson was an emergency medical technician with the Pleasant Hill, IA, Fire and Rescue Department when a course he was taking opened his eyes to the PA profession. He is a member of DMU’s first PA class.

“The instructors pretty much taught us what they were teaching the osteopathic students. They were excellent,” recalls Hudson, a PA at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines for the past 26 years.

DMU’s PA program faculty, many relative longtimers at the University, focus on producing highly trained, patient-focused clinicians. That’s no small task given the growing amount of material that must be taught in a two-year program. That requires students of both high intellect and maturity, which the program attracts in force: More than 650 candidates apply for each class’s 50 spots; members of the Class of 2011 had a 98 percent first-time pass rate on the certifying exam.

“Our preceptors tell us we have the best students,” says Jolene Kelly, PA-C’96, M.P.A.S., PA program chair and director. “Many say students from other PA programs don’t want to work nights and weekends, but we teach our students that medicine is 24-7. It’s our expectation.”

Laurie Clair credits others for her success, including her mom, Mary Clair, daughter Morgan and sister Ann Hanson. “I’m so blessed and humbled to have the sorts of people I have in my life,” she says.

Laurie Clair was having a bad day. She’d been pondering pursuing a career in health care, but she knew she couldn’t juggle that with her high-stress, travel-intensive job as an event manager with a central Iowa firm. The single mom of a pre-schooler, Clair was anxious about chasing her dream but even more frustrated by her current situation.

That’s why, when she drove by DMU that day, she had to pull over. “I thought, ‘I have to walk on campus.’ It was like lightning struck me,” she recalls. She walked into the office of Joshua Kvinlaug, one of the University’s admission directors, and asked, “What does it mean to be a PA?”

That was a full three years before Clair applied to DMU’s physician assistant program. She first had to switch to a more flexible job in the medical field to gain health care experience, a PA program prerequisite. An undergraduate finance and management major, she had to complete several prerequisite science courses and finish getting her bachelor’s degree. She had to get over the fact she’d flunked high school chemistry. Amid those challenges, though, she never doubted her decision.

“I put ‘Laurie Clair, PA-C’ on a Post-it note on my bathroom mirror and looked at it every day,” she says.

It doesn’t matter if you’re homeless or if you don’t have all your science prerequisites. It doesn’t matter if you flunked out of high school chemistry. You can still change your life.

If you think Clair is determined, you would be only about one-third right, because she’s at least three times as strong as you think. At a young age, she established a successful career in not-for-wimps Los Angeles. To fulfill prerequisites for the PA program, she took classes at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), Simpson College, Grand View and Drake universities and online.

Her mightiest show of strength, however, occurred in 2003, when her abusive husband put her in the hospital and landed himself in jail. Angered at her demands for a divorce, he cancelled the couple’s apartment when he was released. At age 22, Clair was the homeless mother of a three-month-old daughter.

As is often the case in domestic abuse situations, Clair is not someone you’d pick to be a victim. A few years earlier, at age 19 and with $500 in her pocket, she packed up her Ford Mustang, left her parents sobbing in their Le Mars, IA, driveway and set her sights on Los Angeles. There, she worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week, as an interior/exterior set designer, event planner and model. Two years later, after her parents and sister had moved to Des Moines, she returned to Iowa.

“I was massively burned out,” she says. By then divorced, Clair took the central Iowa job that didn’t make things much better. At one point, she had worked 48 consecutive days – five days in the office, two days staffing events for clients, then back to the office. She arrived at one event to find the audio-video equipment she’d requested wasn’t in place, which sent her scrambling.

“The clients were walking in. I talked to the hotel and to the hotel across the street and got everything put together while trying to keep my cool,” she says. “Afterward, I went back to my hotel room. My hands were shaking so bad, I just sunk to the floor. I thought, ‘I’ve got to make a change.’”

Clair emphasizes she was able to do so thanks to the support of others, including daughter Morgan, now 9. “There were nights I’d take her to DMU and say, ‘Here are your dolls, here’s your DS game, Mommy’s got research to do,’” she says. “She’s phenomenal, very mature and supportive. She’s my sense of humor when I think I’m losing it. When I’m frustrated, she’ll crack a joke or say, ‘Let’s take a walk.’”

Clair’s mother, Mary Clair, also is among her biggest supporters. One night she came over while Laurie was near-meltdown during the PA program’s difficult block 2. “She sat next to me and said, ‘I’ve seen you go through hell and back. You can do this. Let’s put on the coffee. Give me your book and I’ll quiz you,’” Clair recalls. “She stayed up with me several times until one or two in the morning.”

Clair credits others for helping her on the journey: her sister, Ann Hanson, who’s always supportive. Josh Kvinlaug, the DMU admission director who helped her map out her prerequisites long before she was admitted to the University. The PA program faculty who have taught and supported her. Pat Garvey, the DMACC professor who tutored her in chemistry. “He built my confidence, taught me that what I lacked in natural ability I could make up for in effort, and that probably changed my life,” Clair says.

Now in her second-year rotations, she’s jazzed about the PA program and the profession. “I’m a team player, and PAs are very oriented to being team players in health care,” she says. “Being a PA will also give me flexibility in my career. It’s a perfect marriage of my life and career goals. To help people lead healthier lives – that’s great.”

She’s had several celebratory moments as a DMU student, including passing pharmacology and experiencing DMU’s White Coat Ceremony. But the best day was when she interviewed for the PA program.

“I knew it was a huge gamble for me. I knew the program would have a ton of applicants,” she recalls. “During the interview, they asked, ‘What’s your proudest moment?’ I started crying. ‘Right now, you are living the moment with me,’ I said. I’d worked so hard to get there.”

That’s why Clair is willing to share her story, both good parts and bad. “The main reason is that it doesn’t matter if you’re homeless or if you don’t have all your science prerequisites. It doesn’t matter if you flunked out of high school chemistry. You can still change your life because the future always starts tomorrow,” she notes. “You just have to start somewhere and have faith in your abilities. You can do it if you work hard and above all believe in yourself.”

We have good reason to worry about losing mental function as we age. According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, in 2010 an estimated 35.6 million people worldwide were living with dementia, a number that is expected to nearly double every 20 years.

But don’t despair, advises Robert Bender Jr., M.D., medical director and geriatrician at the Healthy Aging and Memory Clinic in West Des Moines and an adjunct faculty member in DMU’s family medicine department. At the Heartland Global Health Consortium Conference held at DMU on Oct. 12, he offered 10 basic tips for brain wellness.

➊ Socialize: “Human beings are meant to be connected,” Bender said. Interacting with others on superficial (the friendly grocery store staff), intellectual (workmates, fellow book club members) and intimate (loved ones) levels all helps.

➋ Exercise: “It’s incredible the type of condition we can get into with just 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity a day. When we exercise, the brain is stimulated with greater blood flow.”

➌ Reserve one day a week for down time, spiritual expression and rest.

➍ Manage stress. Prolonged stress raises cortisol levels in your body, which weakens your immune system and decreases the number of brain cells, shrinking memory.

➎ Consume nothing in excess.

➏ Use your talents to help yourself and others. Maintain a sense of purpose.

➐ Avoid head injuries.

➑ Have a good health care team.

➒ Practice brain wellness by learning new and diverse things. “When we combine new learning with physical exercise, the new brain cells in our memory centers thrive.”

➓ Maximize your spiritual side. Nurture your inner self with reflection and a focus on what’s really important in life.

“Des Moines University has been very deliberate and reflective in this self-study process, which has allowed us to document our greatest strengths and accomplishments while acknowledging areas of challenge which need to be improved,” says DMU President Angela Walker Franklin. “Our own findings from this self-study, along with the thoughtful feedback we hope to receive from the consultant-evaluator team of higher education leaders assembled by the Higher Learning Commission, will provide a foundation upon which we can build a clearer vision and direction for the future.”

DMU has been accredited by the commission since 1986. The team will review the institution’s ongoing ability to meet its criteria for accreditation, available at www.ncahlc.org, categorized as mission and integrity; preparing for the future; student learning and effective teaching; acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge; and engagement and service. Information about the accrediting process and the University’s self study is available at www.dmu.edu/about/accreditation/
accreditation.

The public is invited to send comments regarding DMU to the following address: Public Comment on Des Moines University, The Higher Learning Commission, 230 South LaSalle St., Suite 7-500, Chicago, IL 60604-1411.

Comments also may be submitted on the Higher Learning Commission’s website, www.ncahlc.org/Information-for-the-Public/third-party-comment.html.
Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. All comments must be in writing and must be received by Dec. 31, 2011.

Susan L. Beck, D.O.’84, FACOS

Susan L. Beck, D.O.’84, FACOS, is a surgeon with Katzmann Breast Center in Clive, IA, and Surgical Affiliates in Des Moines. Former chair of surgery at Des Moines University and currently associate professor, she is president of the medical staff at Mercy Medical Center and a faculty member in its general surgery residency program. Active in the Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association, American College of Osteopathic Surgeons and the American Osteopathic Association, she has participated in several global health service trips.

Eric T. Crowell, M.H.A.

Eric T. Crowell, M.H.A., has been president and chief executive officer of Iowa Health-Des Moines since 2001 and senior vice president of the Iowa Health System since 1999. Iowa Health-Des Moines encompasses Iowa Methodist, Methodist West, Lutheran and Blank Children’s hospitals. The many organizations he has served include the Greater Des Moines Partnership, United Way of Des Moines, Grand View University and the Iowa Hospital Association. He is an adjunct faculty member for DMU’s College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery and the University of Iowa health care administration program.

Charles A. Finch Jr., D.O.’94, FACOEP, FACEP

Charles A. Finch Jr., D.O.’94, FACOEP, FACEP, is staff physician in the department of emergency medicine, Scottsdale (AZ) Emergency Physicians Ltd., and in pediatric emergency medicine, Maricopa Medical Center. He also serves as medical director for the Salt River, AZ, Fire Department, the Mesa Community College EMT program, and MedFlight 911, a patient-centered air ambulance company. He holds faculty and committee positions at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he is chair of the integrative medicine department; A.T. Still University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona; Midwestern University College of Osteopathic Medicine; and DMU, where he is an adjunct clinical assistant professor.

Finch serves on the board of directors of Stepping Stones of Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing care and education to grieving children, families, adults and communities. He is the founder and camp director of Camp Paz, a Stepping Stones program in which grieving adults and children come together to heal in a safe environment. He has received numerous honors, including being named the 2011 DMU College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumnus of the Year and 2011 Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association Physician of the Year.

Renee Hardman, M.B.A.

Renee Hardman, M.B.A., has been senior vice president of human resources at Bankers Trust Co., Des Moines, since 1996. She is a member of numerous community organizations, including Character Counts in Iowa, the Iowa Governor’s Statewide Diversity Commission, the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Habitat for Humanity. Her many honors and awards include being selected as honoree of the 2008 DMU Glanton Scholarship Dinner.

Victoria L. Herring, J.D.

Victoria L. Herring, J.D., is a Des Moines attorney practicing primarily in civil rights, discrimination and employment law on state and federal levels. She has extensive administrative law and appellate experience and has served as an expert on the issues of attorney fees in civil rights litigation and sexual harassment law and practice. She is and has been active in numerous law-related activities, including the American Association for Justice and the American Bar Association.

Mary A. Radia, D.O.’81

Mary A. Radia, D.O.’81, is a rheumatologist with Mercy Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center, Des Moines, and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She graduated with distinction from DMU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and also earned a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from Drake University.

A professor's painting benefits medical student leaders.

Gary Hoff, D.O., FACOI, FACC, chair of DMU’s medical humanities and ethics department, provided a painting of Andrew Taylor Still, a physician considered the father of osteopathy, to College of Osteopathic Medicine student government leaders for the American Osteopathic Association House of Delegates auction in July. A family physician in Florida bid $1,000 to win the painting, shown at left with Kelsey Berlin, D.O.’14, president of the COM Class of 2014; Akash Shah, D.O.’14, Student Government Association president; and Roberto Fernandez, D.O.’13, national legislative affairs representative on the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP).

Auction proceeds support activities of the COSGP, a council within the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and the parent organization of the student government associations at all 34 member osteopathic colleges. Hoff’s painting was the second highest money earner of the auction, which raised $11,185, exceeding the organization’s $10,000 goal.

Jeff Gray, M.S., Ph.D.

Des Moines University may be better known for the high quality of its educational programs than its research enterprise, but Jeffrey Gray, M.S., Ph.D., believes the latter strengthens the former.

“We have the opportunity to become a leader with our research culture and environment, to train the highest quality student researchers and develop strong research programs that will further our scholarship and educational goals,” he says. “DMU enjoys a legacy of over 100 years of enhancing the lives of the people in Iowa and the United States, and the research challenges of today make this an exciting time to further our societal impact. DMU is a strong health sciences university, and the development of productive areas of research emphasis will allow us to further our university mission and vision.”

Gray, professor of microbiology and immunology, in October was named vice president for research after serving as interim vice president for five months. A DMU faculty member the past five years, he has developed a strong publication record, obtained external funding and served as the major advisor to five Ph.D. and 11 M.S. students. Current president of the American Society for Microbiology, north central branch, he’s received several faculty awards, presented at dozens of conferences and served on numerous University and scientific committees. Gray has built a number of successful research teams in his career at DMU and in previous positions at the University of Guelph, University of Nebraska and in government.

Scholarly activity and research serve students as well as the community, scientific disciplines and humanity, he says. “The research environment we create expands our students’ experience and opportunities,” he explains. “A robust research environment allows the campus to address societal medical problems while also exposing students to the exciting experience of considering a problem that no one else has been able to solve previously.”

The photo above captures two experiences to treasure: first, the donning of a white coat; second, a child’s loving kiss. Two-year-old Katherine Rose Cloos planted a well-deserved wet one on her father, Michael Cloos, at the University’s White Coat Ceremony in August, under the fond gaze of his mother-in-law, Christine Asbury.

Cloos, who had worked as a professional engineer for six years “before making the very wise switch to medicine,” is a first-year student in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. His brother, Ryan Cloos, graduated from DMU in 2005 and is now a practicing orthopedic surgeon in Dubuque, IA. Michael’s wife, Carla Cloos, M.D., a University of Iowa medical graduate, recently finished her family medicine residency at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport, IA.

DMU initiated the White Coat Ceremony for first-year students in its osteopathic, podiatric, physical therapy and physician assistant programs more than 10 years ago. Students don their white jackets – 150 of the 386 total this year purchased for them by alumni and friends – as a class and also sign the University’s Professional Integrity Code.

“The White Coat Ceremony was a proud moment for my family and me,” Cloos says. “It represents all the hard work that it took to get to this point, and it is also a reminder of all the work that has yet to be done to become a practicing physician.”

Fortunately, fate led her to a secretarial job in a local hospital’s chemical dependency outpatient center, where she “fell in love with health care.” She took a full-time administrative position at the hospital, finished a master’s degree in health care administration and later enrolled in DMU’s master of public health program. A course on global health policy, she says, “was my ah-ha moment.” This summer, she was one of five DMU students to land internships with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Three of those students – McCool, public health program classmate Caitlin Molsberry and osteopathic medical student Hallie Lehman – interned at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a WHO public health agency headquartered in Washington, DC, that works to improve health and living standards in the countries of North, Central and South Americas.

Yogesh Shah, M.D., DMU’s associate dean of global health, visited students Caitlin Molsberry, Hallie Lehman and Sarah McCool this summer at PAHO headquarters in Washington, DC.

McCool worked on a comprehensive report, released every five years, that gives a detailed analysis of the health status of all PAHO member nations. Her name appears on the report’s second chapter, “Determinants of Health.” Even better, one of her supervisors asked her to return to PAHO next summer to work as a paid consultant.

“All these amazing things kept happening,” McCool says. “Thanks to DMU, I found my passion and profession.”

Molsberry wedged her PAHO internship in with her studies at DMU and a full-time position in the family health bureau of the Iowa Department of Public Health. She interviewed with PAHO while she was on a DMU health service trip in Honduras. At the agency, she wrote reports and did research, all of which she translated into Spanish. She was acknowledged as a technical contributor in a major PAHO publication, “Non-communicable Diseases in the Americas: Building a Healthier Future.”

“To be on the phone with someone in Belize, then in Trinidad and Tobago, then later meeting with someone from another country – most of the day, I was in a different culture,” Molsberry says. “It was strong affirmation that global public health is the right professional field for me.”

Meanwhile, osteopathic medical students Amy Borden and Roberto Fernandez bookended the human lifespan in their summer WHO internships in Geneva, Switzerland: Borden worked on projects in early child development and adolescent mental health, while Fernandez helped plan World Health Day 2012, which will focus on healthy aging.

“Aging cuts across all segments of society and sectors of the economy. Everyone is affected,” he says. He notes two major transitions occurring around the globe: the exponential rise in the number of adults over age 60, and the epidemiologic transition from infectious disease to more chronic or non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes.

“These two changes will transform the world as we know it, and governments need to prepare, plan and take action now,” he adds. “There is only a short window of opportunity. The current systems around the world – health care, social, etc. – are inadequate.”

All five students agree their summer internships will help them plan their own career paths.

“Working for WHO solidified and refined my passions and interests,” Borden says. “No matter where I end up, I now have a broader view of health and how health policy works on an international level. I am now more prepared and feel more capable of affecting change when I encounter a need or injustice in my future work.”

PA students joined assistant professor and asthma sufferer Laura Delaney, PA-C, M.P.A.S., second from right, at the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Walk.

DMU students are known for their community service. They were out in full force again this fall. Students in the physician assistant program joined Laura Delaney, PA-C, M.P.A.S., assistant professor, to volunteer at and walk in the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Walk on Oct. 1. One week later, as they do annually to honor Pam Harrison Chambers, PA-C’92, M.P.H.’01, associate professor in the PA program and a leukemia survivor, PA students participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk and also raised $900 for the cause.

PA students Tara Garber and Kari McClintick, CHS Dean Jodi Cahalan, Ph.D., M.P.H.’01, M.S.’93, PA-C’89, and Associate Professor Pam Harrison Chambers, PA-C’92, M.P.H.’01, participated in the Light the Night Walk.

“Pam Chambers is a great mentor and professor, and this is a way that the class can show our appreciation for all the respect that we are given from her as well as our other professors,” says Katrina Enderle, PA’13, PA Club vice president. By participating in the walk, she adds, “we are essentially seeing the other side of a blood cancer in addition to knowing the medicine behind it. I believe this will enable us to take an even stronger empathetic approach to treatment of these patients and other patients that we will work with throughout our career.”

CPMS students stepped out to support an American Diabetes Association walk.

On Sept. 18, more than 75 College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery (CPMS) students and Dean R. Tim Yoho, D.P.M., FACFAS, were among the volunteers and participants at the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes in Des Moines. They raised nearly $1,500 for the association as walkers and helped with registration, greeting other walkers, set-up and parking. Step Out is an annual event that this year took place in 135 cities across the country to raise awareness about diabetes and raise funds to help fight the disease.

CPMS students also joined Robert Eells, D.P.M.’93, a podiatric physician with Southridge Foot Clinic in Des Moines, and Judy Reinking, D.P.M.’90, of Algona (IA) Podiatry LLC, at the Special Olympics Iowa MedFest at the University of Iowa on Oct. 1. At the event, Special Olympics athletes received free physical and health screenings.

“It was exciting to see how the third-year students have grown and were able to ‘teach’ their underclassmen, especially the first-years,” says Reinking, a Special Olympics volunteer for several years. “At Medfest, the group saw things such as sprained ankles, heel pain, athlete’s foot, improper footwear and infected ingrown toenails. It was definitely a win-win situation for the athletes and the students.”

Kathy Irving, special programs director at Special Olympics of Iowa, adds, “I can’t say enough about how hard the students worked and even more importantly how well they treated the athletes…They were instrumental in making this day a success.”