Physician assistant students share quests to become part of first cohort

Never giving up

Junior healed from that unforgettable episode just in time to start col­lege. With a full-ride scholarship to Texas A&M University, he was deter­mined not to lose the opportunity.

With medicine alone costing upward of $1,500 a month, he decided surgery was the most reasonable option to cure himself of the debilitating disease. While still going to A&M full-time to get his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, Junior underwent three surgeries to remove his large intestine, which cured him of ulcerative colitis. Amazingly, Junior still managed to graduate on time.

“It was difficult to continue college through all of that, but it was one of my biggest accomplishments,” he said. Another momentous milestone was getting accepted into the UMHB physician assistant program.

“It’s very stressful and very competitive to get into a PA program,” he said. “Most programs average about 1,400 applicants, and some places only interview 100 people.”

Immediately after getting his bachelor’s degree, he began applying to nu­merous PA schools. That first year, Junior didn’t get a single interview invi­tation. In the second year of applications, he landed a couple of interviews, but no offers. Giving up wasn't an option. He began working to build his medical experience by working at a hospital in Bryan in the cardiac rehab department.

“I always told my coworkers that I had plans to try to get back into school,” he said. “And during that time, I was shadowing and working and trying to figure out how to get into school someway, somehow.”

On his third round of applications, he was invited to UMHB to interview.

“Throughout the entire interview process, I could just feel the warmth radiating from the faculty, and I could see how excited they were,” he said.
When administrators told him he was accepted at UMHB, he cried.

“I’d been working for three years trying to get into a PA program, and for someone to finally see my potential and know my worth was really, really relieving.”
Even though it felt like it took an eternity to get into school, he says it all worked out the way God intended.

“I don’t think I would have been ready to handle the stress of it,” he said of the intensely rigorous program. “I had to be in the right mindset to buckle down and get to work. God knows what He’s doing. If you keep focusing on your goal, keep working toward it, I’m a true believer that He’s going to make it work.”

Defining moment

Being in healthcare comes naturally to Emily Santos, who comes from a long line of family members who are nurses, pharmacists, and paramedics. So when she decided to major in nursing when she arrived at UMHB 10 years ago, it seemed like a logical choice.

“My mom’s a nurse, my grandma was a nurse, so I guess I thought I needed to be a nurse. But I decided really quickly I didn’t want to be a nurse,” she admit­ted with a chuckle. She quickly changed her major to exercise science.

Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise sci­ence in 2015, followed by a master’s the next year in the same discipline. So, when she heard about plans for UMHB to add the physician assistant program, she was instantly excited.

As part of her graduate program, she had interned in cardiac rehabilitation, which proved to be the perfect combination of the things she loves most—patient care and exercise.

“Being around other physician assistants and prac­titioners really made me want to do more for my patients,” she said. “I love seeing the patient’s journey through various disease processes, but I wanted to be able to do more than what my scope allowed.”

She said the amount of work required in PA school is significant, but she is unconditionally committed to succeeding.

“I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time—clinical disease and prevention, diagnostics, anat­omy and physiology, and pharmaceutical,” she said. “It’s definitely made it more definitive to me that I am on the right track, and it’s what I want to do."

Taking a leap of faith

Christopher Mann was working as a paramedic in Amarillo when one day, after dropping off a patient, he struck up a conversation with a physician assistant in the emergency department.

“He became one of my mentors,” Chris said. “I was able to spend quite a bit of time outside of work just shadowing him and interning with the trauma team. It propelled me to want to do better, learn more, and go further in the medical field.”

As an EMT-paramedic, he loved caring for patients but didn’t like that he only got to help them for the short period of time it took to get them in an ambu­lance and to the hospital.

“We would drop them off at the ER, and that would be it. That was the extent of my patient care,” he said. “As a physician assistant, I will have a larger scope of practice and be able to spend more time with them and be more involved in their medical treatment and procedures.”

One of the incentives of being a PA is the flexibility to work in countless fields, from pediatrics to surgery to OB/GYN and more. Chris said he plans to pursue either emergency medicine or trauma care, and, having served in the Marine Corps from 2005 to 2013, he also has a strong interest in taking care of veterans.

When Chris began applying to PA programs, he was fortunate enough to have offers from several schools; however, what led him to choose UMHB was the facul­ty and staff.

“I instantly felt like I had a real connection,” he said. “I could tell that they actually cared about the students and the learning process, and I liked the spiritual aspect of it too. I was thrilled when we had a meeting with one of our professors and he prayed for the students. That’s not something you see and hear about in other places.”

Looking back at how God led him to UMHB, which he had never even heard of, was amazing, he said. After interviewing, Chris accepted UMHB’s offer before the program had been granted accreditation. Graduation from an accredited program is required in order for students to take the PA certifying boards and for state licensure.

“My wife and I spent time praying, and we felt UMHB was the program that I needed to go to,” Chris said. “We trusted in God and relied on Him to meet our needs.”

So, the two sold their house in Amarillo, packed up their belongings, and rented a place in Belton—all before the school had received its accreditation.

“We definitely had to rely on God and trust in Him,” he said. “We trusted and made the move and just had faith that God would come through. And, He did! Just like He does every time!"