We would like to encourage all Fellow members to participate in the 2025 AAPA Board of Trustees (BOT) election. Voting will be open throughout the month of September 2024. All Fellow members are invited to cast their vote online via SurveyMonkey. Please check your email for the ballot invite. If you did not receive – or cannot locate – the ballot invite, please contact us at [email protected] for alternate means to vote.
To learn more about a candidate, click on their name above to be taken to their feature page. For this election, you will be able to cast your vote for up to three candidates.
Results will be announced in October, and elected members will begin their terms in January 2025.
Thank you in advance for your participation!
Organization: Quinnipiac University
Location: Hamden, Connecticut
Fellow Member Since: 2008
Current AAPA Position: BOT CFO, Grossing Guidelines Art Director
Please tell the AAPA membership about yourself, and describe your past volunteer work.
I graduated from the medical illustration program at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2002 and worked in the pharmaceutical industry and medical education before discovering the Pathologists’ Assistant profession, later graduating from Quinnipiac University in 2007. I bring over 17 years of industry experience to my current position as Clinical Coordinator / Clinical Assistant Professor for the Quinnipiac training program. In my role, I seek to foster the future of the profession and I’m deeply committed to that charge. I’ve embedded volunteerism into my professional core. I started volunteering with the Grossing Guidelines, at its inception, serving as the Art Director and contributing illustrator. I’m also the creator/illustrator of the ever-elusive “Organ Man.” Additionally, I have served alongside the Student Committee participating in mock Interviews, vetted BOT members on the Nominations Committee, and previously served on the BOT Administrative Committee with oversight for our Legislative and Governing Documents Committees. I’m also very involved with the ASCP, currently serving in many roles such as: Commission on Membership Member-at-Large and the Commission on Science, Technology and Public Policy’s Laboratory Workforce Steering Committee. I also serve as a judge for various ASCP-sponsored scholarships and awards as well as a reviewer for ASCP’s Lab Medicine publication. Previously, I served as the Chair of the Council for Laboratory Professionals and have served over the years as a Career Ambassador (giving talks to high school students about medical laboratory professions) and as a mentor within their Mentorship Program.
Why are you interested in serving on the AAPA BOT?
In my previous role on the BOT and as CFO, I had the privilege of serving the organization and members in ways that I had never imagined. As a BOT member, you have your pulse on the entire profession, on every committee, on every issue that our profession faces – and I am thrilled to be able to contribute in this way again. I am excited about the prospect of working to facilitate change and provide the support our Committee Chairs and members seek when they come with new ideas and projects. It truly does take a village, and I consider myself blessed to have the opportunity to serve the efforts of the village once again. To that end, I strongly identify with the core values of the organization: quality patient care, education, advocacy, and collaboration – all of which I had the privilege of supporting as a previous BOT member.
What is your understanding of the mission and vision of this organization?
The AAPA was founded by and for Pathologists’ Assistants. We provide world-class continuing education and professional support specific to our needs within the medical laboratory. We have dedicated Committees that seek to support evolving needs/projects, such as: Legislative, Marketing and Communications, Education or the Grossing Guidelines – all of which support our members in unique ways.
What do you think should be the most important priority for AAPA?
Our voice. I would like to see our voice become stronger within the healthcare community. We have long struggled in a unique power dynamic within anatomic pathology, and I would accept the challenge to find ways to address this. I also think strengthening relationships with other stakeholders is imperative – whether it be surrounding licensure, forensic pathology, or our roles as mid-level practitioners – we are at the precipice of professional evolution in many ways and need to challenge ourselves to be a sound and reliable voice within the anatomic pathology environment.
Is there a particular area that you feel could be improved within AAPA?
Engagement. There are PAs that are engaged and involved – and there are those that are not. I believe every one of us has a desire to contribute, learn, grow and network. I think the AAPA should look for ways to engage the whole profession. Not as a means to count their payment dues – but as a means to build a stronger, better informed and unified profession.
What is the biggest challenge your lab faces today?
Fear of the unknown. At a time when AI is so front facing, no corner of pathology is left without the question of how AI will change the future of our profession. While I don’t have the answer, I am prepared to engage and empower our members to embrace what is to come and how our scope of practice can adapt to serve patients best in the landscape of the future.