Each year, Augsburg University awards one of our preceptors with the Clinical Instructor of the Year. This award celebrates the positive impact a professional clinical preceptor has had on our students throughout the course of the clinical rotations. This year, our clinical instructor took multiple students and allowed them to perform the first of many procedures they would need to do throughout their careers as PAs. All of our clinical instructors are valuable for the rotations because it gives students a chance to get hands-on experience with patients that will give them the tools for future practice. Our preceptors follow the same approach as medical training, including the “see one, do one” approach for clinical procedures.
Augsburg University is proud to award the 2022 Clinical Instructor of the Year award to one of our 1999 alumni: Anthony Lesch.
Anthony Lesch completed an undergraduate degree from St John’s University in Collegeville, MN where he also played football and baseball, and earned his Masters in Physician Assistant Studies from Augsburg University. While most of his employment history is with Stellis Health in Family Practice, he spent 2 years in Arizona while his wife worked in health care administration. While there, Tony worked in family practice on Luke Air Force base in the Emergency Department at Goodyear Hospital.
Currently, Tony is on the executive board at Stellis Health as a representative for the advanced practice practitioners. He also spent time in the CVOR and Cath Lab. Tony enjoys spending time with his family, including his four children, and dogs. He also enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, golfing and boating.
Jeremiah Lynch, PA-C currently practices Family Medicine at North Memorial Health Clinic.Jeremiah has been very involved with Augsburg PA Program. He has participated as a preceptor in educating the next generation of PA’s. We thank him for his continued preceptorship in educating our students.For our preceptor spotlight, we asked Jeremiah to tell us a little about himself, his work as a PA, and about his time in the Augsburg PA Program.
Journey in Medicine
I graduated from the Augsburg PA program in December 2015, and I immediately started working in family medicine for a small independent practice. It was a great way to start out, and I was given a lot of time and flexibility to develop my abilities. Our practice was purchased by a large health system, but I’ve stayed in the same position for the last 6 years. During this time I spent some time with occupational medicine, but predominantly provided primary care. Our patients tend to be older with many immigrants. I also work for the Minnesota Army National Guard as a PA and have deployed to staff a clinic in the desert.
Augsburg PA Program
Augsburg’s PA program had a very good attitude about how to treat their students. Once you were part of the program, they did everything they could to help you and enhance your abilities. Although I do not know exactly what their selection criteria were, they constructed classes with a variety of different backgrounds from different parts of medicine, different age groups, and different life experiences. This allowed us to learn from each other in a powerful way. Everyone I graduated with was an intellectually curious and thoughtful person.
Choosing to Precept
I was interested in becoming a preceptor at my job to give students the best experience they can get before graduating. I had many instructors and preceptors who were very generous in sharing their time with me to make me a better PA. I would simply like to continue that tradition. However, I learn so much from the students who come through here that the benefit to my practice is noticeable. I have improved some of my documentation and operating procedures based on my experience with students.
In my job I have been a preceptor for almost exclusively Augsburg students and I have always been impressed with how much medical knowledge they have and how ready they are to use it.
Advice for Those Considering a Career in Medicine
Any advice I could give about careers in medicine might already be out of date as things change so rapidly. All I can say is that the job I chose gave me great experience and made me love going to work in the morning. I looked for a position based mostly on my belief that it would continue to educate me, and that management was interested in developing their providers.
Alternate Paths
It’s hard to imagine working in any other career, as I’ve been a phlebotomist, morgue attendant, and clinical lab scientist before becoming a PA. However, I do fantasize about an alternate timeline where I wrote role-playing games in the 1990s.
Hobbies
Outside of work I enjoy playing board, video, and role-playing games. I like hiking, camping, and some fishing.
We hope you enjoy our preceptor articles. We are always looking for preceptors and mentors to assist our future PA’s in their education.
Precept!
Clinical instructors are a key ingredient in educating the next generation of PAs. The clinical training of PA students follows the medical student training, including the “see one, do one” approach for clinical procedures. PA clinical education includes core rotations in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, women’s health, general surgery, and emergency medicine. We are also open to specialty rotations as each student is able to complete an elective. If you would like to participate in the clinical education of PA students, please fill out the form.
Mentor!
Augsburg PA is excited to launch a mentoring program matching community PAs with second year PA students! Second-year students have transitioned from their didactic year into clinical education. There are multiple reasons why a student may be interested in having a mentor: networking with the professional community, tips on transitioning into their first job, learning more about a specific field, etc. If you are willing to share your experience and knowledge with a second year student, please complete the Become a PA Mentor form. The program will work to match you with a student. Once matched, the mentor and mentee will set their schedule. Please know that if you are not placed with a student right-away, we will keep you on our list for the following cohorts.
Dr. David Anderson, MD, D/ABSM currently practices outpatient pulmonary and sleep medicine at the Great Falls Clinic in Great Falls, Montana.
Dr. Anderson has been a huge support to our Augsburg PA Program. He has participated as a preceptor in educating the next generation of PA’s. We appreciate all he does for our program. For our first preceptor spotlight, we asked Dr. Anderson to tell us a little about himself, his practice, and how he became involved in the Augsburg PA Program.
Why Augsburg?
I chose to attend Augsburg college graduating from Braham High School in 1962 because Augsburg provided a strong science academic program that would prepare me for medical school but also because of a balanced curriculum that would enhance me for living a balanced life as a good citizen in our country. Attending Augsburg college majoring in chemistry and minoring in biology provided a good background to later study medicine. I also participated in the men’s choir and as such in an oratorio
“Christus Nuc “which emphasized the blend of science and religion with words written by Dr. John Holum. Professor of organic chemistry. This blend of science and spirituality continues to be a priority of Augsburg University. Blending science and spirituality has helped me as a physician understand treating the whole persons ‘quality of life issues and ethical issues providing appropriate support as well as end-of-life care for my patients.
Medical School, Medicine, and Love of the Outdoors
I later attended University of Minnesota Medical School and did one of the last rotating internships at Hennepin County General Hospital since I was unsure what I wanted to do. I then served 2 years at the PHS Indian Health Service in Rapid City, South Dakota which was a TB referral center for 7 state area for patients with complicated TB and a busy outpatient clinic in Rapid City. During this time, I also participated in providing emergency care for victims of the Rapid City flood. These experiences helped me decide
David Anderson, Augsburg Class of 1966
to pursue an interest in pulmonology medicine as well as a better understanding of Native American people in our country.
At the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota I continued to develop my interest in pulmonary medicine. I also continued to enjoy outdoor activities such as weeklong canoe trips in the BWCA and Quantico Provincial Park in Ontario Canada. On one such trip with another Mayo Clinic fellow I learned to make pies in a reflector oven and thereafter a reflector oven was an important equipment item to take with. Fellow canoeists traveling with me would know which canoe I was in as because of flour on the bottom of the canoe since this was an excellent place to make pie crusts. While at the Mayo Clinic I did yearly winter camping trips in Yellowstone Park with friends from Minnesota and Washington State.
Practicing Medicine in Montana
When it came time to choose a place to practice Montana and Wyoming were first choices. Having grown up on a small dairy farm in East Central Minnesota. Great Falls which is an agricultural referral center and is ideally located for recreation appeared to be an ideal location to practice. Meeting several Mayo trained physicians in Great Falls I chose Great Falls as the place to practice and I have been there since leaving the Mayo Clinic.
In Montana I have enjoyed winter and summer camping whitewater canoeing in the spring, horse camping, and raising organic grass finished beef on a ranch near the Little Belt Mountains.
Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
My practice is now outpatient pulmonary and sleep medicine. I do Illumisite navigational bronchoscopy to biopsy peripheral lung lesions, ebus bronchoscopy, to biopsy central lymph nodes and thermoplasty to treat sever persistent asthma. Due to the shortage of pulmonary and sleep physicians I hold an outreach clinic in Helena, Montana every 2 weeks, and also do Zoom conferences with sleep patients from Kalispell and Bozeman.
A large part of my practice is also sleep medicine. Pulmonology and sleep medicine like all of medicine has become more specialized and therefore protocols are set up to treat entities such as idiopathic and connective disease associated pulmonary fibrosis, severe persistent asthma, pulmonary hypertension, and complex sleep medicine issues.
The PA Profession and Preceptorship
The need for a physician assistant to help provide more comprehensive health care continues to grow and therefore I am delighted to participate in the Augsburg University PA program. I believe Augsburg’s tradition of training well rounded students will ensure that healthcare providers will provide compassionate and scientifically based care for patients. Montana is a very rural state and physician assistants significantly improve delivery of healthcare in the state. Although most physician assistants practice general medicine, I believe there is an important role for patient assistants to assist with specialized care such as I try to provide in pulmonology and sleep medicine. I believe the future of good quality health care depends upon well trained health care practitioners providing specialized and patient oriented healthcare. I am happy to share my knowledge with Augsburg PA students.
We hope you enjoy our preceptor articles. We are always looking for preceptors and mentors to assist our future PA’s in their education.
Precept!
Clinical instructors are a key ingredient in educating the next generation of PAs. The clinical training of PA students follows the medical student training, including the “see one, do one” approach for clinical procedures. PA clinical education includes core rotations in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, women’s health, general surgery, and emergency medicine. We are also open to specialty rotations as each student is able to complete an elective. If you would like to participate in the clinical education of PA students, please fill out the form.
Mentor!
Augsburg PA is excited to launch a mentoring program matching community PAs with second year PA students! Second-year students have transitioned from their didactic year into clinical education. There are multiple reasons why a student may be interested in having a mentor: networking with the professional community, tips on transitioning into their first job, learning more about a specific field, etc. If you are willing to share your experience and knowledge with a second year student, please complete the Become a PA Mentor form. The program will work to match you with a student. Once matched, the mentor and mentee will set their schedule. Please know that if you are not placed with a student right-away, we will keep you on our list for the following cohorts.
Anthony Lesch completed an undergraduate degree from St John’s University in Collegeville, MN where he also played football and baseball, and earned his Masters in Physician Assistant Studies from Augsburg University. While most of his employment history is with Stellis Health in Family Practice, he spent 2 years in Arizona while his wife worked in health care administration. While there, Tony worked in family practice on Luke Air Force base in the Emergency Department at Goodyear Hospital.
