Lori Konopka-Sauer has been contributing to the PA profession as the managing director for the PA History Society (PAHx), a supporting organization of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) for over a decade. As the managing director, Konopka-Sauer oversees the day-to-day operations of the only national organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and sharing the history of the PA profession. She manages the Society’s operations, staff, financials, board of trustees, and the development of educational resources and special programs.
Konopka-Sauer was born in Detroit and raised in Dearborn, Michigan. The youngest of three children, she lived in a close-knit community and enjoyed roller skating at the local youth center, singing along to her Motown records and spending time with her best friend Lisa. Her father was an Optometrist, and she worked in his office on Saturdays during her 9th grade year. Unfortunately, her father died when she was 15 years old, and with her older siblings already out of the house, it was just Konopka-Sauer and her mother. They watched the news together every night and that cemented her interest in working in a television newsroom by the time she went to college.
After high school graduation, Konopka-Sauer attended Eastern Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Communications. She began her career in a local television (WKBD-TV) newsroom and then worked in the marketing and promotions department. When her husband Dean was transferred to Atlanta, she began working as a director of public relations at Cable News Network (CNN). Although Konopka-Sauer enjoyed working at CNN, with a small child and her aging mother living with her family, she decided to become a full-time caretaker for her mother and stay home. She re-entered the workforce several years later in 2009 when she met a parent from her son’s ice hockey team who connected her with the former executive director of the Accreditation Review Commission for the Education of the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The ARC-PA and NCCPA were in the same building at that time and shared some common office space. In 2010, Konopka-Sauer moved to the NCCPA governance department and later when the PA History Society (PAHx) became a supporting organization of the NCCPA in 2011, she began working part-time with the PAHx and part-time in NCCPA governance. In 2013, Konopka-Sauer moved to the full-time position as managing Director of the PAHx.
Ms. Konopka-Sauer has enjoyed her “second career” working with PAs and says, “I’m proud of all the work that our organization produces each year, but certainly the 2017 Veterans Garden renovation was a huge undertaking for our team and something that I am very honored to have been a part of. For the PAHx to have established a special garden to honor our military and uniformed services PAs is a lasting tribute not only to our first three founding PAs, but to all the PAs who have, or are currently serving our country today. Our 2026 online educational curriculum for PA faculty teaching the history of the profession to their students, and our PAs As Social Innovators in Healthcare textbook are other PAHx projects that I’m very proud of. Although I am not a certified PA, I am honored to serve in my role as PAHx Managing Director to preserve and promote the history of the profession”.
When not managing the PAHx or speaking to PAs and PA students about how PAs make history every day, Konopka-Sauer enjoys spending time with her family. She also enjoys reading mysteries and suspense novels, watching movies, listening to music, and cheering on the Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
Acknowledgments:
This biography was written by Bruna Varalli-Claypool with the assistance of Lori Konopka-Sauer. It was submitted to the Society in May 2026. All photographs are courtesy of Ms. Konopka-Sauer.
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