Class of 2027 physician assistant students pose after the ceremony with their new white coats. Credit: Ashley Jones.
Jordyn Green always knew she wanted to work in health care, but an emergency room experience with her father two years ago cemented an enthusiasm for the physician assistant profession. A gardening accident with hedge clippers had landed them in the emergency room, and as her father received care, the PA stitching his fingers turned to her and said she should consider pursuing the medical field — and would be a great candidate.
“That was the deciding moment for me,” said Green, 23, a Westchester County, New York native and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
On Jan. 17, Green achieved that goal and officially joined 33 of her classmates in Uris Auditorium to earn their short white coats as the newest class in Weill Cornell Medicine’s Master of Science in Health Sciences for Physician Assistants Program. The 27-month-long program offers 15 clinical rotations, allowing students to experience different health care specialties before graduating.
“I like that there is the opportunity for PAs to explore different fields,” said Green, noting that she’s particularly interested in obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology and participating in surgery rotations. “I have a lot of interests and I like the freedom to be able to get a general knowledge of everything.”
Dr. Kelly R. Porta, newly appointed as director of the physician assistant program, encouraged the Class of 2027 to reflect on what the white coat means to each of them—that that feeling would help the students find the focus and strength to continue with the challenging work ahead.
“Perhaps the coat represents your commitment to humanism, to helping underserved communities and to patient advocacy,” said Dr. Porta, who is also the inaugural associate dean of physician assistant studies at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Maybe a PA treated you or your family with such respect and care you wanted to be like them. You each have a purpose, a reason for working so hard for this privilege to wear this coat.”
In her alumni address, Jordan Dragon ’23 told the incoming students that their time in this program “will push you out of your comfort zone,” but they will grow stronger for their experience.
Dragon, who remained at Weill Cornell Medicine to complete the emergency medicine residency for physician assistants before joining as a staff associate, joked with the incoming class about her feelings for the program. “Safe to say, I liked it,” she said.
Dragon noted that there were times she would call her mom after a tough test, and encouraged students to lean on their support network as they embarked on this new journey.
“This profession is truly worth the path it takes to get here, and I hope you value the mentorship and lessons that you’re going to gain along the way,” she said.
After the ceremony, incoming student Jeremy Wilson, 28, received a text from his 73-year-old grandmother, herself a former nursing assistant. He had shown her how to download the Zoom app earlier so she could watch the live stream, and she immediately reached out to tell him how happy she was to watch him don his coat.
“I’m really thankful I got here,” said Wilson, a native of Detroit, Mich and first-generation college graduate.
Wilson earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from Oakland University and a master’s degree in medical science from Wayne State University, but as he contemplated his future, he kept coming back to his grandmother—his biggest inspiration. She worked primarily with elderly patients, and hearing her stories of helping people had sparked his interest early on in pursuing something in the medical field, ideally providing hands on patient care, he said.
With that objective in mind, he took his time deciding between medical school and PA programs, accruing his clinical hours along the way at hospitals in a surgical progressive care unit and an emergency room as both a nurse and research associate. Ultimately he felt that the PA path was for him, and applied to Weill Cornell Medicine’s program.
“It wasn’t the traditional route, but I think this experience was worth it,” Wilson said. “My grandmother encouraged me to forge my own path, always believing I would be a good provider for the community.”