The Augsburg PA Department is proud to continue our fellowship program for the third year as we help develop a more inclusive working and teaching environment for recent PA graduates from the larger metro graduate programs. We are proud to welcome back one of our most recent graduates for the fall, and a new face from St. Kate’s to join us in the spring. Our fellowship will allow our new faculty to continue developing professional skills while they work towards earning certification and stepping into the professional world. The fellows work alongside faculty to collaborate and learn about the principles of teaching, especially using more inclusive teaching materials that help represent a more diverse patient population. They also work with our students by lecturing, assisting in the skills lab, and facilitating discussion of case studies. Ultimately our fellows will serve as mentors to our students and a bridge between students and faculty. We hope to see them grow, become mentors, preceptors, and future faculty.

Our fall fellow, Alejandra Soto, graduated this past fall in 2023 from the Augsburg University PA program after obtaining a BA from Case Western Reserve University. She has had experience in the past with mentoring and tutoring, as well as with research. She is driven to provide care for marginalized and underserved communities. When reflecting on the diversity of the students, and the patients around her, she noted:

“I further see the importance of having these necessary conversations as there is still a mis-representation of marginalized groups in healthcare and biases towards patients. Everyone goes through different experiences in life, therefore it is important to be able to celebrate and share our differences to foster an open and welcoming environment to diversity that will ultimately help us become culturally competent, well-rounded individuals and provide better care to our patients.”

Coming to Augsburg in the Spring of 2024 is Sumaya Noor. Sumaya Noor is a first generation Somali-American, born and raised in Saint Paul, MN. She is currently a PA student at St. Catherine University, graduating in December 2023. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota in 2020, where she studied Human Physiology and Leadership. In addition to medicine, Sumaya is passionate about education, community service, public health, and DE&I. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, listen to podcasts, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She is very excited to start at Augsburg University as a fellow in January!

We are happy to welcome them both this year as we get into the swing of our cohort’s academic phase!

The Augsburg University Health Commons is proud to receive $50,000 in awards for the Health Equity Innovation Grant, funded by AARP, the AARP foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Each recipient was awarded based on the mission and goals to help eliminate structural inequities, including structural racism, in the healthcare industry while providing care and expanding access to people who are often faced with inequities and barriers to healthcare.

Learn more about the program and what director Katie Clark has to say about her gratitude and plans for expanding the Health Commons with Augsburg University’s official blog post. Check out the Health Commons website to find more information on volunteering, donating, or just to spread the word.

Augsburg University is excited to welcome some new adjunct instructors to our PA Program’s faculty. Each of these new members will provide a fresh perspective on teaching students and help further drive the Augsburg mission of serving the underserved within our strong communities.

Let’s learn a little more about each person joining the team:

Alannah Zheng, MSPA, PA-C (Adjunct Instructor)

Alannah received her BS in Biology and BA in Spanish from Northwestern College in St. Paul in 2014 and her MSPA from Bethel University in 2017.

Alannah has over 5 years of experience in sexual and reproductive health and family medicine. She is passionate about the PA profession and serves as a Director-at-Large for the Minnesota Academy of PAs. She recently finished courseworkd to become a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and is working towards becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She is very much looking forward to her first adjunct role at Augsburg!

Alannah loves teaching and learning and would tell you that she is interested in everything! Outside of work, Alannah loves to cook, bake gluten-free recipes, crochet, work with her husband in the family restaurant, and spend time with her cats, Calliope and Copernicus, and chihuahua, Ruby.

Megan Johnson, PA-C (Adjunct Instructor)

Megan received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Masters in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Iowa in 2010. She has served in many roles in the fields of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Chicago, the Mayo Clinic and her current outpatient practice in the Twin Cities. She was appointed Academic Instructor by the Mayo Clinic and published original research in the Obstetrics & Gynecology green journal.

Megan has a deep-seated passion for Women’s Health and specializes in surgical management. In her free time, she enjoys spending time at the lake alongside her husband and 3 children.

Marah Czaja, PA-C (Adjunct Instructor)

Marah is a family medicine trained and board certified Physician Assistant with an interest in addiction medicine. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Spanish from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky in 2012 and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree from Elon University in Elon, North Carolina in 2016. Marah has nearly 7 years of experience working in community health centers with a focus on primary care and addiction medicine in underserved communities. She has a deep passion for supporting folks in their journey of recovery from substance use.

Marah is committed to provide high-quality, trauma informed, patient centered care. She believes that patients are the experts of their body and mind, and her role is to provide therapeutic education, knowledge, and options for healthcare. She is very excited to be a part of the Augsburg team and help train future leaders in healthcare.

In her free time, Marah enjoys spending time with her dog, cats, and chickens, hiking and exploring new state and national parks, kayaking, spending time with family and chosen family, and reading a good book!

Brittany Strelow, PA-C, DMSc (Adjunct Instructor)

Brittany received her BS in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in 2008, her MS in Physician Assistant Studies from Pace University in New York, NY in 2011, and her DMSc from University of Lynchburg, VA in 2021.

Brittany has been a PA since 2011 with clinical practice in hematology, family medicine, and internal medicine. She has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts, posters, and presented locally, nationally, and internationally. She has received POCN Top PA: Internal Medicine as well as Minnesota Academy of Physician Assistants (MAPA) Preceptor/Mentor of the Year.

She is active with leadership in both state and national PA chapters, but in her free time, she is a mom to two kiddos and has a loveable chocolate lab. Her hobbies include scrapbooking and cake decorating, and she also has been an avid volunteer for the American Cancer Society.

Kelsey Reif, PA-C (Adjunct Instructor)

Kelsey Reif is originally from Minnesota. She attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH and received her undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry. She then went on to Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI and graduated in 2016 with her master’s in Physician Assistant Studies, returning home to MN to practice.

Kelsey started working September of 2016 as a surgical PA, focusing on general and colorectal surgery. She has a particular interest in robotic surgery and assists in these cases frequently. She also spends her time managing patients in the hospital as well as seeing patients in the outpatient clinic setting.

Kelsey has been a leader for PA students since working at HealthPartners. She overseees the PA students during their rotation with general surgery and has very much enjoyed giving back as an educator. This has now evolved into joining the Advance Practice Clinician Advisory Board as champion for advanced practice provider students at Regions. She has further advanced her education career as an adjunct faculty member with Augsburg’s PA Program.

In her spare time, Kelsey enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids. She also enjoys being active with biking and running, spending time outdoors, traveling, cooking, experiencing new restaurants, and attending live music events.

A huge thank you to all those who donated to support the PA Program’s Give to the Max fundraiser!

We are continuing to raise funds to help support our graduate students as they become fellows and help the program with creating a more diverse learning environment.

As a program, we recognize the disparities of the learning environment and the lack of PAs of color and those from more underserved backgrounds serving as instructors within the field. The Augsburg PA Program’s fellowship aims to close the gap of PAs of color as higher education faculty, and encourage new graduates to pursue the path of educators.

We hope that more support from institutions like Augsburg University can bolster a new network of diversity-minded and diverse professionals who will better reflect the changing landscape of healthcare. More and more patients are people of color, people from rural and historically underserved communities, and we need an education system that reflects this changing population. We are preparing our students to gain experience in a more diverse professional setting with the help of our graduate fellows, who have already experienced these different work settings through their Clinical Phase rotations and Preceptorships.

Take a glimpse at how the fellowship has made an impact on our department, and learn more about Augsburg’s ongoing initiative with the video from our campaign.

To help fund this new part of our program, donate here and select the PA Program in the drop-down menu of options.

Augsburg University’s PA Program Proudly Adds 2 New Fellows to Our 2022-2023 Year

As a part of our Equity and Inclusion initiatives here at Augsburg University, we are proud to welcome two of our graduating students back as Fellows for the 2022-2023 year. Ashley Schleh and Katie Schmitz are awarded the opportunity to grow their skills as mentors and PAs in the time between graduation and clinical practice. This fellowship aims to address some of the inequities in the medical field and PA education by supporting diversity focused PA graduates to become mentors, preceptors and hopefully future faculty. It is an opportunity to help foster a culture that inspires diversity and inclusion of new and current students and to help them navigate their journey to become a PA.

Our graduate fellow program allows recent grads the opportunity to learn about the principles of health professions education from the PA program’s faculty and staff directly. They will also assist the current cohorts through mentorship, lecturing, assisting in the skills lab, and facilitating discussion of case studies. They will also provide important feedback on how to make our program and curriculum more inclusive and supportive of all students and the diverse populations they will serve.

When expressing interest in the program and its goals, Ashley Schleh mentions:

” I recognize the importance of creating and maintaining a culture of inclusiveness collectively within our program. I truly believe that education and overall understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion is vital to the creation of empathetic and culturally competent clinicians.”

Katie Schmitz states in her application that she would like to continue fostering diverse environments as she looks into her future of clinical practice, preceptorship, or even as a possible faculty member. She notes:

“…a genuine passion for medicine and learning coupled with sincere empathy is what transforms a strong student into an outstanding clinician. It has been a gift to receive the title of ‘lifelong learner’ and would be a privilege to leave behind a mark of gratitude through serving as an Augsburg PA Graduate Fellow while continuing my education.”

Augsburg University’s PA Program looks forward to having Ashley and Katie join our faculty and staff as they grow and work alongside the academic cohort.

Augsburg can count it’s lucky stars to have an in-house epidemiologist in Dr. Alicia Quella (right), the Director of the PA Program. Along with Dr. Katie Clark (left), Executive Director of Health Commons and Nursing Associate Professor, Dr. Alicia Quella has been working to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Augsburg students, faculty and staff through the People’s Center. Recently, Dr. Quella was interviewed for Augsburg Now, our university’s semi-annual publication and blog. Find out how Dr. Quella has sought to keep Augsburg safe in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic at Augsburg Now.