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Dear AAPA Fellow Members,
This is a friendly reminder that, as an AAPA Fellow member, you are invited and encouraged to participate in the AAPA Board of Trustees (BOT) election! Voting is open now and will remain open throughout the entire month of September. Those who are attending the 47th Annual Conference in person in Minneapolis next week will have the opportunity to cast their vote onsite. All other Fellow members are invited to cast their vote online via SurveyMonkey (check your email inbox for the ballot invite from [email protected]).
Each week during September, we will highlight one of the four candidates up for election. For our next BOT Candidate Spotlight, we are featuring Erika Paulsen, MS, PA(ASCP)CM.
Name: Erika Paulsen, MS, PA(ASCP) CM
Organization: Loyola University Medical Center
Location: Chicago, IL
Fellow Member Since: 2011
Current AAPA Position: BOT Adjunct to the Commission on Cancer, Section Author Grossing Guidelines
Please tell the AAPA membership about yourself, and describe your past volunteer work.
After being a histotech for six years, I entered the Rosalind Franklin Pathologists’ Assistant Program and graduated in 2010. My first job was at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where I was for twelve years, most recently as adjunct faculty with the RF program. I became involved with the AAPA when I was still a student, then volunteered as the AAPA Liaison to RF right after graduation, from 2010-2012. I was also involved in conference speaker recruitment for a few years. I have been involved with the Grossing Guidelines since its inception. I am currently the prostate subsection author and GI and GU section editor. In 2017 I became the AAPA BOT Adjunct to the Commission on Cancer and am still in that role. Finally, in August of 2019 I presented a lecture called “Human Colors: The Rainbow Garden of Pathology” at our spring conference. I live in Chicago with my husband, two kids, and two cats. I love cooking and baking (and eating all the things I make), plus singing and listening to anything with electric guitar.
Why are you interested in serving on the AAPA BOT?
Being a PA is one of the true joys of my life. Despite dealing with difficult residents, sore wrists and legs, and some very late nights, joy comes with knowing that I provide care directly to patients by doing work that is precise, technical, and personally satisfying. I hope that all of our members feel the same way. As an organization of skilled professionals working hard in our own respective labs, our group can only be a community if every member contributes. As a BOT member, I would be happy to contribute my organizational skills, communication style, and passion for our field to help keep our organization running and thriving.
What is your understanding of the mission and vision of this organization?
I see the AAPA working on a macro- and a micro- level. For the greater profession as a whole, the AAPA helps guide the big picture of our field based on the circumstances or desires of its members. Some examples: Our field has expanded beyond the US, so the AAPA created a path to membership for international Pathologists’ Assistants. Some of our members want to focus on forensics, so the AAPA created a Forensic Task Force to help guide them. There are many more examples of the AAPA carving a path for our members to accomplish their professional goals. Fellow Pathologists’ Assistants are the only ones who really know what my days entail and what the microcosm of the lab is like. I look to the AAPA to provide professional support in the form of education/conferences/CEs, inspection guidance, licensure resources, member surveys, etc. The AAPA understands that we are practitioners who serve and that we are in demand, busy, and sometimes need support.
READ MORE
Click on the photos below to meet the other candidates and stay tuned for a new spotlight each week!
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Emily Nangano (Loter),
MS, PA(ASCP)CM
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Jennifer Perez,
MS, PA(ASCP)CM
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Daniel Soderberg,
MHS, PA(ASCP)CM
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