Ryan O’Hara, DMSc, MBA, PA-C ’18, CAQ-EM, always had a plan, but a tragic pulmonary embolism days before his 30th birthday in 2023 changed everything.
“Ryan approached life with intention,” says Kendall Woodlief, JD, MS ‘19, BS ’18, who he was engaged to marry. “He had a plan for everything, big and small.”
That included his birthday, which he was going to celebrate as a kind of bachelor party with friends from his time in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine PA Program and family. He had plans to do much more as a PA, as well as to laugh, live, and love—traits his friends all readily recall.
In his memory, those who knew and loved him have started a plan of their own. They are honoring him by funding the Ryan Jacob O’Hara Memorial Scholarship to support PA students at the School of Medicine. A crowdfunding effort raised over $34,000 from nearly 300 donors, inspiring a new goal to endow the scholarship.
“The support has been incredible,” Woodlief says. “Ryan would be thrilled to know that second-year PA students will travel and learn through this scholarship, as he loved his psychiatry rotation in Kauai, Hawaii. By endowing the scholarship, we can inspire not only the next generation, but every future generation of Wake Forest PAs, to carry on Ryan’s legacy of service and scholarship.”
An Inspiration
The response to the scholarship fund reflects how O’Hara touched the lives of those around him.
“I am convinced he would have continued to seek out and create new roles for PAs outside the ordinary definition,” says classmate Emily Colomb, PA-C ’18, now working as an orthopedic surgery PA in New Hampshire. She fondly recalled his dependability, devotion to friends and family, and “his hugs, ridiculous dancing, and singing.”
O’Hara worked as an emergency medicine PA at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point Medical Center, taught at High Point University, served as a preceptor to PA students, often advised students who were applying to the PA Program, wrote recommendation letters, and helped guide new PAs on their job searches. He later transitioned to the pharmaceutical industry and worked as an oncology medical science liaison.
“Although his career and schoolwork were important to him, I know his most valued titles were son, brother, fiancé, and friend,” Colomb says. “He loved his squad, and he made sure you knew it. He was easy to talk to and always looking to laugh, have fun, and could talk about anything and everything.”
His planning knew few limits, according to his parents, Patrick and Denese O’Hara of Asheboro, N.C. When he wanted to study abroad for a semester in London, England, during his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, they say he created a PowerPoint presentation to convince them of the idea over lunch.
“He showed us how much it was going to cost, what he would do, what he would learn, and had everything down to the details,” Patrick O’Hara says. “How could we say anything other than ‘go and enjoy it?’ He did it so that we wouldn’t worry about it. He went over there and worked with boys and girls who were handicapped, and he loved it.”
A Lasting Legacy
His parents credit Woodlief as the driving force in establishing the scholarship.
“That was Kendall’s brainchild, and we were just overjoyed that she came up with that idea,” Denese O’Hara says. In her grief, Woodlief says she retreated to Ryan’s favorite spot – Starbucks – for inspiration, ordered his favorite Pumpkin Cold Brew, and wrote out plans for the scholarship.
“Ryan loved deeply and protected those who were in his corner by always showing up,” Woodlief says. “Family came first, and if you were Ryan’s friend, you were his family. He was the glue to his closest friend group, which he affectionately called his ‘PAmily,’ and in true Ryan fashion, he always had a plan for their next reunion.”
“He was selfless, sentimental, and a bit stubborn in a way that challenged you to dream bigger and work harder because he knew it was possible. Ryan’s personality, humor, and heart were simply bigger than words.”
Thanks to their inspiring work to establish a scholarship in his name, friends and family are ensuring these aspects of Ryan O’Hara’s legacy will live on.