PA Medicine program appoints new medical director – University of Lynchburg - University of Lynchburg

The University of Lynchburg’s PA Medicine building, located adjacent the main campus.

The University of Lynchburg’s Master of PA Medicine programme has a caller aesculapian director, effectual Jan. 1. Following the status of Dr. Dan Johnson, who has served arsenic the program’s aesculapian manager since 2012, section cardiologist Dr. David Truitte has taken the reins.

Johnson said helium “could not beryllium much excited” astir Truitte’s assignment and was speedy to praise him. “Dr. Truitte has served the greater Lynchburg assemblage arsenic a respected noninterventional cardiologist for 30-plus years,” helium said. “His galore patients dearly emotion him and often talk of his caring bureau and bedside manner.

“His estimation arsenic an outstanding doc has earned him the respect of our assemblage colleagues, including physicians, PAs, NPs, and nurses. He volition proceed to fortify our concern with the Free Clinic of Central Virginia, wherever helium volunteers and provides attraction to galore of our medically underserved patients.

PA Medicine’s caller aesculapian director, Dr. David Truitte (left), shakes hands with Dr. Dan Johnson, the program’s outgoing aesculapian director.

“Under his enactment arsenic aesculapian director, not lone volition helium bring his expertise successful cardiology, particularly successful the areas of hypertension, precocious cardiac imaging, bosom illness prevention, and wellness. He volition besides bring a renewed level of enthusiasm and vigor to the program.

“His affirmative narration with Centra Health and different aesculapian establishments volition unfastened caller doors regarding objective and preceptor grooming for our students. He is surely nary alien to the PA assemblage and is known arsenic a PA supplier advocate.

“I tin guarantee you that helium volition beryllium a large protagonist of our PA faculty, staff, and particularly our students. The programme is fortunate to person him arsenic its adjacent aesculapian director.”

Truitte, a cardiologist astatine Centra Heart and Vascular Institute successful Lynchburg, earned his aesculapian grade from the University of Pittsburgh successful 1986. He did his residency astatine Philadelphia’s Temple University, wherever helium was main nonmigratory from 1989-90, and completed a cardiology fellowship astatine Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center successful Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Johnson, on with module members Dr. Jeremy Welsh and Dr. Ed Polloway, was instrumental successful processing Lynchburg’s PA Medicine program.

In 2012, helium was a engaged exigency section physician, overseeing doc assistants and caregiver practitioners astatine Centra’s Lynchburg General Hospital. A erstwhile PA himself, helium had precocious participated successful a survey to find whether starting a PA medicine programme astatine then-Lynchburg College was feasible.

After the radical decided it was a viable goal, Polloway, dean of postgraduate studies astatine the time, invited Johnson to beryllium the caller program’s aesculapian director. It wasn’t an casual merchantability astatine first. “I had nary thoughts of becoming the aesculapian director; I was a engaged exigency section doc,” Johnson said. “After talking with Ed, and him benignant of twisting my limb a small bit, I said I’d bash it arsenic an interim.”

Over the adjacent 3 years, PA medicine faculty, Welsh among them, were hired. Together, Johnson and Welsh scoured Central Virginia, securing sites wherever Lynchburg’s PA Medicine students could bash their objective rotations.

“It’s perfectly indispensable to having a PA program,” Johnson said. “[We had] gathering aft gathering aft gathering with determination aesculapian centers and anyone associated with medicine, specified arsenic the large aesculapian practices astir Lynchburg and Farmville and Bedford and places similar that. …

“We had to marque definite we had committed practices that could enactment our students connected objective rotations. Without that, we couldn’t person been granted a provisional support by the nationalist accreditation bureau for the satellite of PA medicine.”

All the while, Johnson kept moving successful Lynchburg General’s exigency department. Medical manager was a part-time occupation and astatine the ED helium besides could assistance facilitate objective rotations for PA medicine students.

“It’s conscionable been precise rewarding to person helped physique 1 of the champion PA programs around,” Johnson said. “It’s been a existent pleasance to enactment with specified competent radical to physique this PA programme and to ticker it grow.

“With the summation of our caller aesculapian director, it’s conscionable going to proceed to get amended and better.”

Starting with the program’s archetypal cohort successful 2015, Johnson directed Community Clinic, a PA Medicine people that introduces students to the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. In summation to helping dainty patients astatine the escaped clinic, students larn from others successful the assemblage — occurrence and constabulary officers, kid protective services workers, intelligence wellness professionals, etc.

“The astir rewarding portion of my clip astatine the University of Lynchburg’s PA Medicine programme was being progressive with teaching our students and watching them postgraduate to go competent, caring PA providers,” Johnson said.

“That’s the astir rewarding part. We graduated galore fantastic PAs that are moving present successful Lynchburg, passim Virginia, and passim the United States. It’s truly peculiar to spot the students we’ve trained practicing and precepting PA students.”

As 1 mightiness expect, implicit clip Johnson realized helium wanted to beryllium much than an “interim” director.

“I … truly liked the occupation of aesculapian director,” helium said. “I had a large squad and we had great, unconditional enactment from then-President Garren and Ed Polloway and Julius Sigler, truthful I elected to spell up and instrumentality connected the presumption connected a imperishable basis.

“I knew we had thing very, precise special, and if we had the close radical we could instrumentality this programme to a higher spot and make an exceptional PA program.”

Johnson volition proceed volunteering astatine the escaped session and teaching successful the PA Medicine program, though Dr. Jenna Rolfs ’20 DMSc, subordinate dean of the College of Medical Science, volition instrumentality implicit the Community Clinic course.

“[Dr. Johnson’s] dedication helped make a programme that volition past acold into the aboriginal and interaction countless students’ and patients’ lives,” Welsh, dean of the College of Medical Science, said. “His enactment astatine Lynchburg is of the highest caliber, and we volition ever admit his power and lasting impact.”