Perspectives Winter/Spring-2017

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 49 August 2015 Induction Ceremony” Pop tab collection box PA Department Welcomes New Faculty Member Watfa Krayssa, M.M.S., PA-C, who joined the PA department in May 2016 as an assistant professor, spent the previous nine years working in the clinical practice fields of gen- eral and vascular surgery and wound care in Fort Lauderdale. Krayssa graduated from Barry University with a Bachelor of Science degree and is a proud 2007 alumna of the NSU Mas- ter of Medical Science in Physi- cian Assistant Program. She is an active member of the Amer- ican Academy of Physician Assistants, the Florida Acad- emy of Physician Assistants, and the American Academy of Surgical Physician Assistants. During her previous clinical employment, Krayssa enjoyed serving as a preceptor to a large number of NSU physician assistant students during their surgical rotations. In fact, the experience of educating and positively impacting future phy- sician assistants served as the impetus for her to return to her alma mater in a faculty position. college’s Center for Academic and Professional Excellence program. Her efforts have clearly paid off, resulting in her recent promotion to academic director and associate program director in the PA department. Bolden, who attained her Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree at the University of Florida in 2005, has also been successful in scholarly pursuits. As an active team member on a federal grant titled “Interdisci- plinary and Interprofessional Joint Graduate Degree Project Designed for PA-M.P.H.,” she played a crucial role in establishing the concurrent PA-M.P.H. program in NSU’s PA department. She also actively recruits students into the program and serves as a faculty mentor for the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) Program based in NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. She was instrumental in making neces- sary curriculum changes to allow the students to meet the educational goals of both the PA and M.P.H. programs as well. Bolden’s primary passions are inclusion and diversity. She has expressed this passion through multiple projects, such as serving as a coinvestigator on a grant sponsored by the CHCS titled “Awareness Among Underrepre- sented Minority Youths.” Her role entailed educating minority students at the T. Leroy Jefferson Medical Society fourth annual Healthcare and Science Stars of Tomorrow Career Symposium about the PA profession and collecting data on the perceptions the students had about the role of health care professionals. She also serves as a member of the Inclusion and Diversity Council of Project Access, which is an outreach recruitment program whose primary goal is to increase the number of minority physician assistants in an effort to eliminate health care disparities. Additionally, Bolden is involved in many ongoing projects, both locally and nationally, that encourage middle school, high school, and undergraduate students from underrepresented minority groups to consider the PA profession as a career. Over the past several years, Bolden has established a wonderful rapport with the students and faculty and staff members. The students find her to be a charismatic leader and have joined her on various community service endeavors. In August 2016, she supervised 20 PA students from both the Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville, Florida, PA departments on a very successful medical outreach trip to Panama—an experience Bolden described as “humbling and rewarding.” When she was asked to reflect on her many accomplishments, Bolden said, “I am who I am today because others believed in me. I am now trying to pay it forward.” n