WAPA Conference HUB

Dr. Bender has been in healthcare for over 33 years. She is currently the chair of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) Professional Development Committee, which is responsible for all online workshops and conference educational content for the AANA. Dr. Bender also serves on the NBCRNA item-writing committee, its subcommittees, and the NBCRNA practice panel committee. Additionally, she is a reviewer/editor for the Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing (JoPAN). Dr. Bender was recently elected as a Snohomish County Public Hospital Commissioner.

Jonathan practices occupational and family medicine at ErgoCare Clinic in Olympia, WA, specializing in care for long-term injured workers. His other experience includes treating eating disorders, sleep issues, and pain management. He has been helping injured workers since 2015 and uses his background in business management and as an emergency services chaplain to compassionately advocate for patient recovery. Before opening ErgoCare in 2021, Jonathan worked at various practices in Thurston County after becoming a physician assistant (PA) in 2012. He holds a Doctorate of Medical Science from A.T. Still University. When not at work, he serves as the Chief EMS Officer at South Bay Fire Department and teaches EMT classes for Thurston County Medic One.

Britta is a clinical health care investigator with the Washington Medical Commission. Prior to joining the Medical Commission, she worked as a physician assistant, primarily in oncology, and also as a hospitalist in underserved areas. After nearly 30 years of clinical work, she decided to embark on a new challenge as an investigator, providing her with the opportunity to piece together cases and uncover the truth behind the concerns raised. This role has allowed her to continue impacting healthcare in various ways.

Brianna has been a PA since 2012 and started her career in primary care for three years. She began working in urology in 2016 and currently works at Kaiser Bellevue. She has precepted many PA students in urology over the years and is proud to say that several of these students ultimately ended up in urology! She has experience participating in urology clinical trials, first assisting in robotic and open urology cases, and performing various urology procedures, including diagnostic cystoscopy, stent removal, and intracavernosal injections. Additionally, she has been serving as the interim associate medical director at her clinic.

Originally from a small town in Oklahoma, I attended the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine PA program in 2006. After graduating from PA school, I went directly into the emergency room and worked at Metropolitan Emergency Room for three years before deciding to venture out and open an urgent care company, which occupied my time for the following five years. In 2019, I decided to sell that urgent care company and partner with Docs Who Care (a critical access staffing company) and move to the Pacific Northwest. Since moving, I’ve become the associate medical director for Docs Who Care Northwest and work in critical access emergency medicine, serving smaller communities throughout the state of Washington as well as Idaho. I have an amazing wife and two beautiful daughters, and I spend my free time doing anything outdoors.

I have been practicing primary care and internal medicine since 2009. I graduated with my Master’s in Medical Sciences as a physician assistant in 2008 from Midwestern University in Arizona. After spending a year in orthopedic surgery, I had the privilege of joining a provider-owned primary care practice with two other physicians in Federal Way. In this setting, my passion for helping people optimize their health grew. After the arrival of my first child, I joined Swedish Medical Group Primary Care in 2016.

I soon realized that after years of subscribing to the old-school methods of telling people to eat less and exercise more, I was seeing the frustration that many experienced when they saw very little results or regained the weight they had worked so hard to lose. This led me to join the Obesity Medicine Association and earn my certification in Obesity Medicine. In 2021, this created an opportunity for me to join Swedish Weight Loss and Metabolic Health.

It has been very rewarding to help people not only lose weight but also improve their overall health and reverse other associated medical conditions. I am thrilled to be part of this ever-evolving and growing specialty in healthcare. I am excited to take the knowledge and experience I have gained and dive deeper into this complex disease. By allowing more one-on-one time with my patients in a smaller setting and offering more frequent follow-up visits, I can help them achieve their goals and support them through all the changes to come.

Ed is a proud graduate of the UW Seattle MEDEX program, which he completed 41 years ago. He practiced for a couple of years in family medicine before traveling to New York City for a postgraduate program in surgery, spending the next decade in cardiac surgery as a business owner in the Seattle/Tacoma area. After returning to graduate school in Boston, he came back to the Northwest and co-founded the first formal hospitalist program in the region at Franciscan Health. As the first non-MD medical director of a regional hospitalist program, Ed was instrumental in integrating PAs into a growing regional hospitalist specialty and profession while developing the first week-on/week-off hospitalist work schedule, which is so prevalent today.

After formally retiring from Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, Ed was contacted by the Washington Medical Commission and asked if he would be interested in becoming a candidate for medical commissioner. After completing paperwork, background checks, and interviews, Governor Inslee appointed Ed to a four-year term. Today, Ed divides his time as a senior partner in an occupational and men’s clinic in Eastern Washington, does some clinical per diem work around the state, and carries out his duties as a Washington Medical Commissioner, a role he has held for the last two years.

After working in lab medicine, corporate tech support, and academic support at UW, I returned to school for a PA degree at UW MEDEX in the mid-1990s (yes, I am THAT old!). I then worked for seven years in primary care, treating patients from babies to seniors, before transitioning to the field of GI/hepatology over 20 years ago. I am currently working very part-time in hospital GI/hepatology as I approach well-deserved retirement. All that experience deserves to be shared..

In my 40 years of practice, my 20 years as a rural family medicine PA have been the most rewarding. The lifelong friendships and unlimited opportunities to make a significant difference are unparalleled. It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.

A lifelong Spokane resident, Theresa Schimmels, PA-C, is a former respiratory therapist. She graduated in 1999 from the UW-MEDEX Northwest PA Training Program, Spokane Class 1. Initially, she worked in Family Practice for four years and part-time for MEDEX Spokane. For the past 21 years, she has practiced dermatology, currently working at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center. She continues to teach residents, medical students, and PA students, precepting for clinical-year MEDEX students and recently completing the VA’s Rural Interprofessional Faculty Development Initiative through the Office of Rural Health. Her leadership roles include WAPA Region 1, HOD, and president, and she was a commissioner for the Washington Medical Commission for ten years.

In her personal life, she retired from the Washington Air National Guard Band in 2002. She is a mother and grandmother (the best jobs ever!). She loves to travel and has worked with a non-profit team providing women’s health, hygiene, and self-defense classes in Costa Rica, Haiti, and Nepal. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching WSU football, Gonzaga basketball, and Seattle Mariners games, reading, gardening, crocheting, kayaking, and playing the piano. She is currently trying to learn to play the ukulele. She is a coffee, beer, and chocolate snob. She is also currently “mom” to a blue heeler and two Cairn terriers.

I am originally from Oregon and attended Gonzaga University for my undergraduate studies, where I majored in Biology with a minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership. I then worked in Bozeman, Montana, as an Anesthesia Tech before attending PA school at Oregon Health & Science University, from which I graduated in 2022. Since then, I have been in Spokane with Pulse Heart Institute, working in Vascular Surgery. It has been an amazing team to work with. When I’m not at work, I enjoy spending time outside with my dog, skiing, mountain biking, and ultra trail running.

Kacey – I graduated from Wichita State University in 2018 and began my career in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery in Kansas. After three years, we moved to Spokane, and I started working with the vascular surgery team at Pulse Heart Institute, where I have been for the past three years. I have been a preceptor for PA students for four years. I love working in surgery for the autonomy, complexity of cases, and continuity of care I have with my patients. In my free time, I enjoy reading. I am married and have two little boys who keep my home life full of chaos and lots of love.

Stephen Willis worked as a paramedic ranger in Glacier, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks prior to attending the MEDEX Physician Assistant Program. Upon completion of MEDEX, Stephen began working at Rockwood Clinic Adult Endocrinology in 2008. As an Endocrine PA, he was very involved in research on clinical trials for treatments in diabetes care and endocrine disorders. Stephen currently works in Medical Affairs with Abbott Diabetes. Aside from work, Stephen lives with his partner on a small farm south of Spokane, and in his free time, he prefers to be in the mountains skiing, mountain biking, and hiking.

Dr. Coday graduated magna cum laude with College Honors from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He graduated from Harvard Medical School, where he co-authored a textbook chapter on heart failure and spent a month on the Boston Children’s Hospital Cardiac Surgery Service. Dr. Coday’s surgical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Virginia Mason Hospital included substantial time on the cardiac surgery service, where he cared for many patients with heart failure secondary to coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease. He participated in heart research, including work at the University of Washington in lipid biochemistry and heart transplantation, as well as a two-year NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University, where he studied cardiogenic shock in a rabbit model. Dr. Coday’s general medical practice has included the care of many patients with heart failure.

I am a proud USMC veteran and a longstanding African American resident of Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, where I’ve lived for 41 years after residing in Central Florida for 23 years. My journey in medicine began as an EMT in 1980, continued as a Registered Respiratory Therapist from 1989 to 2012, and has continued as a Physician Assistant since 2014. Specializing in Sleep Medicine, Allergies, and Ear, Nose, and Throat, I have witnessed countless cases of healing as well as the unfortunate waste of medical knowledge and energy. My various roles have allowed me to discover the connection between physical, mental, and emotional health for individuals, couples, and families. I firmly believe that a nuanced approach is essential for effective and progressive medical collaboration. Diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1987, my perspective as a Sleep Medicine provider is profoundly shaped by personal experience. Understanding the impacts of poor sleep on personal, familial, and community levels deeply influences my care approach. I evaluate my patients’ rest habits with the same importance an optometrist places on assessing vision: good rest is crucial for clear perception and essential for the success of any care plan. As a husband and father of six for 42 years, I have continually served as a communicator and collaborator, striving to make meaningful connections in every role and moment.

I was born and raised in a suburb of Seattle. Before attending physician assistant school, I graduated with a BS degree in Environmental Science and went on to work in clinical research at the VA, where my passion for medicine began. I attended the University of Washington MEDEX program and graduated in 2002. My first job was in rheumatology, and I have never left the field. I currently work at Seattle Rheumatology Associates, a private practice rheumatology group associated with Swedish Research. I am a sub-investigator on multiple clinical studies. I have had the honor of serving on the board of RhAPP since its inception.

Jono Lippman is an Emergency Medicine and Critical Access PA in Washington. He has a passion for teaching and developing PAs and other clinicians. He is the founder of “PA Guide,” a comprehensive resource for students going through PA school. When he is not working or teaching, he is at home with his wife and five (almost six) children, ideally enjoying the outdoors.