Women in Medicine: Amy, PA-C
6:00 AM
Hi friends!
I'm so excited to share an interview I did with Amy. She's a practicing Physician Assistant and was kind enough to share some of her journey.
What has your educational journey been?
In undergrad, I started out as a pre-law student. It wasn’t until my sophomore year, when I was studying for the LSAT, that I realized I wanted something more. I had always been interested in medicine, but I was afraid I was too late to pursue a medical career. I knew I wanted to at least try, so I switched my major to Biology. This is a great major of study because it encompasses a lot of the pre-requisites needed for both medical school and PA school. I also took many other relevant courses such as virology, cancer biology, parasitology, etc to enhance my application. I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and began PA school the following January! My PA program was 24 months (they vary in length). The first year was completely didactic and was the hardest year by far. There is a common analogy for PA school: it is like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant. It all comes at you so fast, and you have to be able to absorb it. The second year was clinical rotations, which was much more fun! Across the country, there are 7 required rotations for PA students including emergency med, internal med, pediatrics, OBGYN, psychiatry, family med, and general surgery. Most, if not all programs also offer elective rotations. I chose to do mine in Dermatology and Cardiothoracic surgery! I graduated with my Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies and passed the national boards exam. Now I am a board-certified Physician Assistant practicing in Critical care and Pulmonology.When did you first become interested in the PA field?
When I was a sophomore in college I met a PA for the first time. I shadowed her a bit to see what her daily routine was like. She worked in orthopedic surgery, and I was immediately in awe of how competent she was. She was able to treat patients in the clinic autonomously and was a critical asset in the OR. I loved that she was able to take a little bit more time with the patients and really give them great patient education!
What drives you to pursue your goals?
I find that the goals that I am most passionate about need no outside motivation. When you are truly interested in something, you do what it takes to get where you want to be. I learn something new every single day, and that keeps it interesting. Each night (or morning) when I come home, I know that there is so much more information out there for me to discover! This keeps it so exciting!
What drives you to pursue your goals?
I find that the goals that I am most passionate about need no outside motivation. When you are truly interested in something, you do what it takes to get where you want to be. I learn something new every single day, and that keeps it interesting. Each night (or morning) when I come home, I know that there is so much more information out there for me to discover! This keeps it so exciting!
Have you had any challenges or struggles that others may benefit from hearing?
One semester during my sophomore year of college, I became lax in my studies and was more interested in hanging out with my friends and being involved in my sorority. And my grades suffered. I had always been a student who was somewhat neurotic about my grades and schoolwork, and I had always taken pride in my exam scores and study habits. After this semester, I felt extremely discouraged. I thought that I had ruined my entire future for a few months of fun. It took me a couple semesters to get back into my regular routine of getting consistently high grades. And as most of you know, a GPA is easy to lower and very hard to raise, especially with a lot of credits under your belt. So, I began to enhance my application in other ways. I began tutoring at the local children’s hospital and shadowing PAs whenever I could. I joined clubs on campus like the Wellness Committee and Future Greek Leaders Conference, and I began working in the virology lab. I wanted to do whatever I could to become more well rounded. I ended up graduating with honors, but I truly feel that it was everything else that helped me to stand out from the crowd when I applied to schools.
My point is this: if you feel that you don’t have the GPA to pursue your dreams, there are so many things you can do to enhance your application. Even if you get denied from every school you apply to the first cycle, dust yourself off and use that year to show them that you won’t stop until you’ve accomplished your goals! Show them that you see your weaknesses and are working to improve them.
What do you hope your career will look like in the future?
The beauty of the PA profession is that as board-certified generalists we can change specialties at any time. I am happy with my choice to practice in critical care, and I feel that I will be able to make a difference in the lives of my patients and their families. Beauty and skincare has always been a passion of mine as well, so I am sure at some point I will practice dermatology in some capacity. In critical care the schedule is grueling, but it also allows for stretches of days off which gives me time to work on my other passions!
What do you enjoy outside of the medical field?
Outside of medicine, I have always had a passion for skincare, beauty and styling. So, in my free time I enjoy cultivating these passions and working with others who enjoy the same things!
Follow Amy at @chasingamy on Instagram!
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