Does Your PA Career Need a Boost? Think Academics!
November 6, 2021 from 3:15pm EDT to 4:15pm EDT
In this session, you will assess your career progression and consider the options for professional development (PD) in academics. Following a self-assessment of your interests and abilities, you will hear about a variety of PD opportunities to take your career to the next level. You will consider becoming a “Master of the Universe” in an academic graduate program. You will hear about the experiences of PAs and a physician who have chosen this career path and learn about the related advantages and challenges. By the end of the session, you should be closer to deciding if a graduate degree in academics is right for you.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants should be able to:
Assess your own interest in pursuing profession development in health professions education
Describe the range of graduate programs in health professions education
Select faculty development activities to help achieve your own career goals
Abbas Ghavam-Rassoul is a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. His diverse clinical practice includes the care of patients with mental illness and HIV. He is actively involved in several projects aimed at increasing collaboration between family medicine and psychiatry in service delivery and trainee education. He has held multiple educational leadership roles from organizing clerkship electives to being postgraduate education program site director at St. Michael's Family Medicine from 2007-2013. He is currently Program Director for the Academic Fellowship and Graduate Studies Program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and teaches graduate courses in teaching and education, behaviour change and Family Medicine.
Sharona Kanofsky is Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Family & Community Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She is the Scholarship and Research Lead I the Consortium of PA Education. Prior to this role, she was the inaugural Academic Coordinator of the PA Program for the first 9 years. She is a Canadian- and American-certified PA, with a MScCH - Health Practitioner Teacher Education. She practiced as a PA in the USA and Canada, most recently in geriatric care at Baycrest Hospital. Sharona received the CAPA 2013 Tom Ashman PA of the Year Award.
Britton Sprules graduated from the Physician Assistant Bachelor of Science Program at the University of Toronto in its inaugural year. Upon graduation, she began working as a PA in Primary Care in Thunder Bay, ON, where she has been an integral part of the clinic for the past 10 years. In 2012, she joined the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) as a faculty member where she sits on multiple committees including the Academic Council, Academic Council Appeals Committee, and the Admissions Committee. As an Assistant Professor at NOSM, she provides an invaluable PA perspective on all things academic. In 2017, Britton joined her alma mater, the University of Toronto PA program, as the Clinical Course Director and was the first graduate of the program to become a faculty member. At the onset of the pandemic, Britton began working as the COVID-19 National Airport Screening Director for 24/7 OEMS, an occupational and emergency medicine company, where she and her teams across Canada provide Point of Pick-Up Rapid Antigen Testing for multiple Mines in the Northwest Territories. During that time, Britton wanted to further her interests in academia and is currently finishing her Master’s in Health Professions Education at Queen’s University.