August 13, 2019

Arkansas PA Student Accepted into PAEA Fellowship

The UAMS PA Program is pleased to announce 2nd-year PA student Aaron Woodall has been accepted into the PAEA (Physician Assistant Education Association) Student Health Policy Fellowship. This is a competitive national fellowship that only accepts 14 students each year. As part of the fellowship, Aaron will attend a 3-day workshop in Washington DC in September, where he will learn about advocacy and policymaking processes, and meet with representatives and staff on Capitol Hill. As part of this fellowship, he will complete an advocacy project by September 2020. Past projects include organizing a lobby day at the capitol, hosting a member of congress at the PA program, student advocacy presentations at PA state association meetings, and PA awareness campaigns. When asked about his motivation for applying for the fellowship, Aaron replied: “I applied for the PAEA fellowship because I am really passionate about advocacy work, and PAs in Arkansas are vastly underrepresented and underutilized. I want to eventually work in politics to advocate not only for the PA profession, but also to expand access to care for underserved patient populations such as the LGBTQ community. Through this fellowship I hope to learn more about advocacy and the policymaking process, and be equipped with the resources to help advance the PA profession here in Arkansas!” More information about the scholarship can be found at: https://paealearning.org/student-health-policy-fellowship/.