Pride Month is starting of strong in 2026! This year, the LBGT PA Caucus was awarded the AAPA’s Constituent Organization Outreach and Advocacy Award! For a history of the AAPA LBGT Caucus, please visit the timeline on their webpage.
The PA History Society celebrates Pride Month every year by gathering our biographies and oral history interviews that showcase PAs in the LGBTQ+ community who made history by making a difference. If you know someone not listed below that you think should be recognized with a biography or oral history interview, please let us know!
Biographies:
Jonathan Baker is known for his memorable social media handle, his work to reduce the stigma associated with anorectal healthcare, and advocacy in improving compassionate healthcare, especially for LGBTQ+ patients. [Photograph right]
Josef Burwell was the first transgender man to openly transition while contracted by the CIA. Burwell has been lauded for his humanitarian work, both nationally and overseas. He is the founder of Peacework Medical and is passionate about teaching gender care to PA students.
Blaine Paxton Hall has researched gender medicine for decades. He is the founder of American Academy of Nephrology PAs. He also has worked with the WHO’s (World Health Organization) Global Clinical Practice Network (GCPN) to study gender identity and sexuality labels for the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (2015).
Patrick Killeen is the first PA to have served as president of the Student Academy and of the AAPA. He was the first AAPA Liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics
Grace Landel was the first female provider at the rural clinic she worked in after she graduated PA school. From there, she focused on projects that brought healthcare to the underserved, such as those were unsheltered or had substance abuse disorders.
Paul Lombardo graduated in the first class of the Stony Brook PA program. He is a past president/chair of AAPA, the New York State Society of Physician Assistants (NYSSPA), the Physician Assistant Foundation (PAF), the PAEA, and the NCCPA.
Jeff Myers is passionate about hospice and palliative medicine. He has helped grow the organization PAs in Hospice and Palliative medicine since it was formed, even serving as its president. Recognizing that PAs were the only multidisciplinary members without a way to acknowledge their experience in palliative medicine and hospice care, he became involved with the creation of the NCCPA’s Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) for Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care CAQ. He was also one of the exam writers for CAQ’s exam.
Todd Pickard found his passion in practicing oncology. He has served as the AAPA HOD Speaker of the House, president of the Association of PAs in Oncology, and president of the Texas Academy of PAs.
Elijah Salzer in the late 90s to early 2000s served as senior PA for The Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), the largest and most enduring natural history study of HIV in women that was sponsored by the NIH.
Eric Schuman practiced in HIV medicine for a decade before becoming a headache specialist. He trained hundreds of PAs and NPs in headache treatment and was the first non-physician to win Northwest [Kaiser] Permanente’s “Excellence in Teaching Award”. He was also the first non-physician hired as faculty for the American Headache Society.Julie Theriault has been president of both the AAPA and the California Academy of PAs. She during her CAPA presidency, the state passed prescribing privileges to PAs, along with legislation that expanded the scope of medical care a PA could provide during a local or state crisis. During her time on the American Academy board and as president, she facilitated health literacy projects and initiatives.
Greg Thomas was one of the first PAs to be hired full-time by the AAPA. He worked as a contractor with the NCCPA until his retirement, and was instrumental in the formation and implementation of the PA Compact.
Oral History Interviews:
Mark Behar is one of the founders of the LBGT Caucus. In this oral history interview, he talks on his career as a PA and how the Caucus came about.
Diane Bruessow shares how she learned about the PA profession and her first experience serving as a PA to help underserved populations: Interview.
James McGraw talks about his involvement and accomplishments with the SAAAPA, AAPA, NCCPA and the LBGT Caucus: Interview.
Jude Patton shares what drew him to practice psychology, how he has advocated for the transgender community throughout the years, and his work on the Transgender Standards of Care: Audio only interview.
In this audio only interview, Tonia Poteat talks on how she has spent the majority of her PA career helping to fight HIV through information campaigns and setting up HIV clinics, both nationally and abroad.
Travis Sherer is a past president of the AAPA LBGT Caucus. He was the first PA member of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). To hear about these experiences, please listen to this audio only interview.
Daytheon Sturges relates how his mother’s childhood injury spurred him to join the medical field as a PA, his passion for helping underserved populations and how he strives to recruit more minority students to enter into the PA profession: Interview.
Julie Theriault shares the how she became a PA and president of AAPA and also offers advice to those considering the PA profession as a career: Interview.
Series:
PAs and the HIV/AIDS Crisis – in this series of video recorded oral history interviews, PAs talk about their experiences, either clinically or in research, during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the ’80s and ’90.
PA Involvement with the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, 1980s-1990s – a historical essay by Reginald Carter, PhD, PA.