Student News

IPE Expands to Include Boone Campus

On April 9, Wake PA students on both campuses participated in an Interprofessional Education Event (IPE) aimed at fostering collaboration and understanding among health professionals.

In Winston-Salem, Wake PA teamed up with Winston-Salem State University and Forsyth Tech Community College. The three schools have been partnering on this IPE since 2020, starting online and transitioning to in-person in 2024.

This year, for the first time, the IPE took place concurrently on the Boone campus. Wake PA students and faculty in Boone collaborated with Appalachian State Health Sciences programs, including Speech and Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Nursing, and Social Work.

On the Wake Forest University School of Medicine campus in Winston-Salem, students participating in the IPE represented PA Studies, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Nursing, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Healthcare Management, Healthcare Administration, Therapeutic Recreation, Rehabilitation Counseling, and Social Work programs.

In both locations, students were divided into mixed-discipline teams and tasked with working through virtual escape rooms to care for a patient who had suffered a serious fall while working. The rooms transitioned from acute care to in-patient rehabilitation to home care after discharge. Teams discussed crucial patient care topics related to each setting and helped one another learn more about the vocabulary and acronyms used in their disciplines with the “jargon jar.”

Second-Year Students Present Research at Annual Symposium

The Class of 2025 shared their research and findings at the annual Wake PA Graduate Project Symposium on March 3 in the Biotech Atrium. M. Tiye Young, MMS, PA-C ’24, delivered the keynote address, relating how the focus of her own Graduate Project research – the role of poor communication in cervical cancer disparities in Black and Hispanic communities – translates to improved patient care.

Professor Robert L. Wooten Jr., PA-C '81, presented Young with a certificate recognizing her leadership during relief efforts in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Young is a Major in the NC Army National Guard and served as the Command & Control and Operations Officer for the NC Western Branch Emergency Management Headquarters in Conover, NC. Read more about Young’s service in this alumni spotlight.

The Graduate Project course series spans both the pre-clinical and clinical years. Working in small teams, students formulate a relevant topic, review related literature, and critically appraise and synthesize results. Research teams present summary findings to a faculty panel, prepare a scholarly manuscript, and share with their work with first-year students, faculty, and other guests at the symposium.

One of the research teams at this year’s symposium was also invited to present their poster, “Evaluating Racial Disparities in the Quality of Care of Patients with Epilepsy in Ambulatory Clinical Settings,” at the North Carolina Neurological Society Annual Meeting held in late February. To reach their conclusions, second-year students Janerys Muñoz Feliciano, June Sohn, and Liam Forstein Sharanya Uchil and Antione J. Trent conducted a secondary analysis of National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data. The team was mentored by Wake PA faculty members Kelly Conner, PhD, MMS, PA-C, and Chris Gillette, PhD, as well as Heidi Munger-Clary, MD, MPH.

2025 Project Titles and Research Teams

Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Screening: Role in Primary Care
Connor Curtin, Thea Pflum, Samantha Roberts, Sarah Stim, Deja Wright

Colorectal Cancer Screening: Identifying the Barriers to Completion and Proposed Solutions to Increase Screening Adherence in Adults Aged 45–75
Maggie Gebauer, Kelsey Graziose, Micaela Jackson, Jenny Kim, Molly Moran, Melissa Petri with Delaney Provenza, MMS, PA-C ’21

Evaluating Outcomes and Access Disparities: In-Person vs. Virtual Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation
Megan Swintosky, Erin Palmer, Ashley Vines Ivey, Kaitlin Jenkins, Lauren Raich, Gannon Millsaps with Caroline Sisson, MMS, PA-C ’13

Evaluating the Clinical Utility of Pharmacogenomics in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder
Madison Phillips, Blake Bloomfield, Justin Suarez with Samuel Pendergraft, PhD ’16, MMS, PA-C ’18

Evaluating Racial Disparities in the Quality of Care of Patients with Epilepsy in Ambulatory Clinical Setting
Janerys Muñoz Feliciano, June Sohn, Liam Forstein, Sharanya Uchil, Antione J. Trent with Heidi Munger-Clary, MD, MPH, Kelly Conner, PhD, MMS, PA-C ’16, Chris Gillette, PhD

Evaluation of Adolescent Depression and Suicidal Ideation Screening in the Primary Care Setting
AJ Chen, Gillian Danielson, Madison Massey, Kamryn Sheffield, Samantha White

Exploring the PA Role in Reducing and Improving Outcomes of Peripartum Cardiomyopathy
Erin Howard, Chelsey Wylder, Amoli Kothari, Jessica Hopper, English Flaherty, Vandana Padmaraju with Lauren Eyadiel, MMS, PA-C ’16, FHFSA

Hormone Optimization in Menopausal and Post-Menopausal Women: Efficacy, Safety, and Options
Isabella Kallo, Katherine Miller, Amari Smith, Elizabeth Strom with Sarah J. Garvick, MS, MMS, PA-C

Primary Prevention of Fragility Fractures in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Patients
Lorenzo Bayuga, Kirsten Ornelas, Kendra Dumsky, Grace Simmons, Mariam Kharbat, Taylor Wilson with C. Taylor Jensen, MMS, PA-C ’18

The Impacts of Humanitarian Crises
Kathryn Trovato, Darryl Beauchamp, Ileah Cartagena, Michelina Nardone, Abigail Murphy

The Intersection of Palliative Care and Mental Health: Barriers to Access and Integration
Elizabeth Ashley, Alex Ficarro, Shachi Hegde, Kyle Jonas, Rachel Moorman, Emily Simonson

Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention in South Africa
Kayla Clark, Jasmine Essa, Juliet Kelly, Josephine Mannino, Danielle McManus, Olivia Pelaez

Viability of Heat Exposure Therapy as a Complementary Treatment in Patients with Heart Failure
Cole Cibu, Charlotte Plehn, Polina Cherkez, Gabrielle DuFour, Brandon Bolton with Cathy Shull, MPAS, PA-C ’80

What Are the Clinical Outcomes of Antibiotic Therapy Compared to Appendectomy in the Management of Acute Appendicitis?
Addison Butler, Caroline Womack, Elizabeth Kitslaar, Parker Smith, Rebecca Prettyman

Wake PA Well Represented at NCAPA Day at the Legislature

On March 19 several Wake PA students, faculty, and alumni joined with other PAs, educators, and students from across the state for the largest NCAPA Day at the Legislature on record! Hundreds of PA advocates spent the morning talking to North Carolina legislators – including Wake PA graduate Senator Mark Hollo, PA-C ’83 – about the great work PAs do for patients and ways that impact can expand.

Among the PA representatives gathered in Raleigh were three members of Wake PA’s Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) Leadership Track, Ashley Nordan, MHPE, MSCR, MPAP, PA-C, Kim Stabingas, MHPE, MS, PA-C, and Alisha DeTroye, MMS, PA-C '04. Wonderful to see so many current and future PAs turn out to champion their profession!

Cole Cibu ’25 Authors Essay Published by JAAPA

Cole Cibu at the Wake PA 2025 Commencement Ceremony.

Class of 2025 graduate Cole Cibu wrote a reflection on “Becoming a PA” that was published in the May edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Associates (JAAPA).

Cibu’s piece, “Well, I do,” recounts his interactions with a patient during his clinical rotation with a hospital’s child psychiatric service, as well as an earlier experience with a suicidal friend. In the same issue, Ethan Stonerook, MS, MPAS, PA-C '12, Director of Student Services, had essay in JAAPA’s “Art of Medicine.”

At the Graduate Awards Brunch on May 17, Cibu was recognized for Outstanding Contributions to the Class of 2025 by his classmates. He also received the Joel B. Miller Pro Humanitate Award and was part of a team that received the Kitty Bowman Research Award for their graduate research project.

Upon acceptance to Wake PA, Cibu was invited to join the Emerging Leaders Program and earned a Master of Studies in Law from the Wake Forest University School of Law prior to entering the PA Program. At Wake PA’s Hooding and Commencement Ceremony on May 17, he was recognized as a Graduate with Distinction, a classification reserved for the top 10% of the graduating cohort.