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Right now PA organizations and employers are putting the finishing touches on preparation for PA Week festivities, from celebratory blogs on state-themed PA pride to a nationwide series of events from the AAPA. At PANews, we hope you have a fun week ahead filled with praise from patients, coworkers, and loved ones.
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Let the PA celebrations begin!
Gif by hospitalshow on Giphy
The AAPA announced a series of events taking place around the country to commemorate PA Week 2026, which takes place from October 6-12.
What’s the plan: Well, if you live in Seattle, Phoenix, Charleston, Los Angeles, Dallas, or Denver then you’re in luck! There will be several events including everything from networking parties to community cookouts, all aimed at connecting current and future PAs within each of these communities.
“PA Week is an opportunity to celebrate the PAs who are helping patients every day while strengthening the future of the profession. By connecting PAs and students in communities across the country, introducing young people to PA careers, and investing in student scholarships, we are turning that celebration into meaningful impact.”
Celebrating future PAs: The Academy will also host events at several schools, including Dimmitt Middle School in Seattle and Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center High School in Dallas, to promote the PA profession.
As part of the AAPA’s Project Access initiative and in partnership with the CARES Mentoring Movement, PAs will visit these schools to talk about being a PA and explain how students can eventually pursue a PA career as well.
Investing in the future as well: The AAPA will also promote the Physician Associate Foundation (PAF) and it’s goal to raise scholarship funds for PA students.
The Academy noted that individuals can support this campaign at the PA Week scholarship campaign page. And organizations can also get involved by becoming PA Week Partners — all in the name of supporting the future of the profession.
The Handoff: The annual celebration marks the anniversary of the first graduating class from Duke University’s PA program in 1967. Almost 60 years — and one name change — later and PAs are one of the fastest growing professions in the country and considered one of its top occupations.
Safe to say, the future is bright, so why not kick back and celebrate the wins?
Controversy brewing in MyMichigan Health PA-physician removal
The controversy around the removal of a PA and their supervising physician from MyMichigan Health has intensified after a University of Michigan Regent Board member joined the ongoing community-led protests to reinstate them.
Demanding the facts: Despite the public protest from patients and community leaders, MyMichigan Health has not released any details about the departures of Danielle Russo, PA, or her supervising physician, Thilak Chander, MD, an internal medicine specialist, from their Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan-based MyMichigan Health offices.
Dr. Chander, who worked as a physician in the community for about 30 years, was reportedly escorted out of the primary care office by security out on Wednesday, September 9th. The following week, Russo, waived her 90-day resignation notice and left MyMichigan Health as well.
Why did a member of the board of regents join the protest?: Paul Brown, who is a University of Michigan Board of Regents member joined a protest held outside MyMichigan Medical Center Sault on September 21, where members of the community were calling for the reinstatement of Russo and Chandler.
According to Becker’s Physician Leadership, Brown said this incident called into question the partnership between the University of Michigan Health System and MyMichigan Health.
“It’s time (sic) like this where I think that’s an issue, and I think the University of Michigan has to rethink these agreements that we have to give us a little more control to make sure the hospitals that display the block ‘M’ also are consistent with our morals and our values.”
Is it really that bad?: In addition to Brown joining the protest, more than 50 medical professionals have also signed a letter calling the terminations “shocking and deeply disappointing,” according to Becker’s.
Even the Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Don Gerrie has voiced support for Chandler’s reinstatement — Becker’s did not mention whether the mayor also supported Russo’s return.
Becker’s also reported that MyMichigan Health said the organization “[takes] seriously the questions being raised about continuity of care and access to care in Sault Ste. Marie and the Eastern Upper Peninsula.”
However, the health system refused to comment on the details of either Russo’s or Chandler’s terminations.
The Handoff: We’ll keep an eye on the story as it develops…
Physician Associates in the News
The NCCPA announced the 2026-27 class of PA Ambassadors. The 21 new board certified PAs are part of the 7th group of ambassadors from the organization’s program, which is designed to connect practicing PAs with “students at various stages of their educational journey, from elementary school through graduate-level PA programs.”
A Chapman University PA student was elected to the National AAPA House of Delegates in September. Marah Kane, a first-year student in Chapman University’s Physician Assistant Studies Program, said joining the organization was “an incredible honor” and that the opportunity would allow her “to grow as a leader while advocating for students and patients on a national.”
The University of California San Diego is building the surgical team of tomorrow — and PAs are a key member. The School of Medicine Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program requires PA students to take a surgery rotation, ensuring its Department of Surgery is central to the overall educational process. Bryan Clary, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine, said PAs “are critical to expanding access to quality care and in facilitating continuity of care that leads to better patient outcomes.”
Just in time for PA Week, Presbyterian College celebrated its PA program’s Class of 2026 with a commencement ceremony focused on practicing medicine “with compassion, integrity, and a commitment to continued learning.”
And the future continues to look bright after another PA program — this time at The University of Southern Mississippi — was granted Accreditation-Provisional status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The university’s Physician Assistant (PA) Studies MSM Program will welcome its inaugural cohort in January 2027.