Division News

Rachel Porter, Ph.D., was recently promoted to a faculty position in the Duke Physician Assistant Program and will serve as the senior education strategist. Previously, Porter held a staff position at the PA program as educational technology specialist, and prior to that worked as director of adult programs for the Triangle Literacy Council. Porter earned a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction in 2009 from N.C. State, and a doctorate in education research and policy analysis in 2013, also from N.C. State. She also earned a post-graduate certificate in nonprofit management in 2014 from UNC Greensboro.

A paper co-authored by Chris Everett, Ph.D, MPH, PA-C, and Perri Morgan, Ph.D., PA-C, won Article of the Year at the PAEA Education Forum in Washington, D.C., on October 10. The article, "Intermediate Diabetes Outcomes in Patients Managed by Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, or Physician Assistants: A Cohort Study," was published in Annals of Internal Medicine in December of 2018 (e-published in November of 2018). George Jackson, Ph.D., MHA, in the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences, was the first author. 

Alicia R. Bolden, DMSc, MPH, PA-C, joined the Department of Family Medicine & Community as assistant professor in the Duke Physician Assistant Program, effective July 1. She earned a Doctor of Medical Sciences from the University of Lynchburg in 2019, a Master of Public Health from Nova Southeastern University in 2016, and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Florida in 2005.

Nick Hudak, MSEd, MPA, PA-C; Melinda Blazar, MHS, PA-C; April Stouder, MHS, PA-C; and Duke colleaugue Nancy Knudsen, M.D., were recognized by PAEA's Support to Advance Research (STAR) Program. The STAR Program offers PA researchers the opportunity to include their own survey questions in the annual PAEA Program Survey, which every PAEA member program is required to complete.

Read the full announcement and interview with Hudak.

Betsy Melcher, M.S., ATC, MHS, PA-C, assistant professor, serves as an academic coordinator for the Duke Physician Assistant Program. She completed a master’s degree in sports health care at the Arizona School of Health Sciences in 2000 and practiced as an athletic trainer at N.C. State University prior to attending the Duke PA program.

The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has two graduate programs ranked among the Top 10 medical training programs in the nation, announced today by U.S. News & World Report. The Duke Physician Assistant Program is ranked No. 1, tied with the University of Iowa, among 169 programs evaluated — a top spot it has held for the past 8 years.

Four Duke Community & Family Medicine faculty members have been awarded grant funding through Duke AHEAD for three educational innovation projects.

Melinda Blazar, MHS, PA-C, assistant professor of community and family medicine, has been named director of clinical education of the Duke Physician Assistant Program. Blazar is a 2007 graduate of the Duke PA program and has served as clinical coordinator for the program since 2011.