Department of Physician Assistant Studies announces Scholarly Project Awards

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The winners have been announced for the Scholarly Project Poster Display hosted by the University of North Dakota Department of Physician Assistant Studies on May 7 at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The winners were announced at the Department’s Hooding Ceremony for the Class of 2015 on May 15. Jody Bauer, Master of Physician Assistant Studies ’15, of Bismarck, N.D., had her work selected by a consensus of her peers for the Outstanding Scholarly Project Student Choice Award. Her project was titled “Oral Immunotherapy in IgE-Mediated Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy.” In addition, faculty evaluators from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences selected Jessica Curcio, Master of Physician Assistant Studies ’15, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, to receive the Outstanding Scholarly Project Faculty Choice Award for her project titled “Alpha Lipoic Acid: A potential therapeutic option for painful peripheral neuropathies.” Since its inception in 1970, the PA program at the UND SMHS has had continuous accreditation by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant. Over the course of the program, students rotate between the classroom on the UND campus in Grand Forks and a physician\u27s practice in the student’s home community. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences has more than 1,600 graduates from the PA program. Physician assistants are health professionals who practice medicine collegially with and under the supervision of physicians, especially in primary care in rural areas of North Dakota and other rural and underserved areas within the United States. The University of North Dakota Department of Physician Assistant Studies is one of 149 PA programs in the United States and is the only PA program in North Dakota