WAPA & OSPA Joint Spring Conference 2024

Joshua Lumsden completed his physician assistant training at The University of Washington in 2016. He works as a primary care PA at Virginia Mason, where he has led work in suicide prevention, LGBT Health, quality improvement and Advanced Practice development. In his spare time, he is an avid cook, has done amateur bodybuilding competitions, and has a geriatric chihuahua named Rocco.

Nick has been an Air Force Pararescueman for a decade, tasked with responding to national disasters, training with NASA for space launch missions, and deploying multiple times throughout the Middle East. He has been trained in wilderness survival and tested in prolonged austere medicine with minimal supplies. Prior to joining the military, he worked as a white-water rafting guide on the Yellowstone River for three seasons, which included over 600 raft trips and multiple swift water rescues in remote areas of Montana. With an emergency order, he worked in the capacity of a nurse between the ICU and ED at NY Presbyterian Hospital in lower Manhattan during the peak of COVID in 2021, as well as multiple other contracting tours in the Philippines as a flight paramedic. Currently, Nick attends the MEDEX program in Seattle to become a PA.

Dr. Troy Bender is currently serving as Dean of Northwest University’s PA Program that is located in Kirkland, WA. He has been in higher education for the past 7 years both at Northwest University and a previous PA program in Northeastern Oklahoma. Dr Bender has a passion for education and has served as the chair of the CME committee for WAPA for the past 2 years. He has over 30 years of experience in healthcare both as a paramedic, flight paramedic and as a physician assistant. His clinical background is in emergency medicine where he currently maintains a PRN practice to maintain his clinical skills.

Mandy James, PA-C spent three years practicing in a rural Wisconsin pediatrics office prior to moving to Portland where she has spent the last decade in family practice and urgent care settings. During her time in Portland, Mandy has also been involved with two Oregon non-profits, The Living Room and GLSEN Oregon, supporting LGBTQIA+ youth. She is currently the Chair for GLSEN Oregon. Speaking engagements have included lectures for PA students at Marquette University and OHSU, professional development for companies and non-profits throughout Oregon and Washington.

Jeff has a background that started out initially in rural primary care, making his start in southern Oregon after graduating from the PA Program at Emory University in 2007. After several years in southern Oregon, Jeff made his way up to Portland and in 2013 joined the inpatient Palliative Care team at OHSU. He currently is Assistant Professor of Palliative Care and the Inpatient Clinical Director of the Palliative Care Service. He is a regular lecturer and speaker for both the hospital and university. In addition to his activities at OHSU, he is a speaker nationally, and is a past-president and current board member of Physician Associates in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (PAHPM), the national group for all PAs practicing or with interest in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Jeff is passionate about helping patients and families navigate serious illness, and believes all clinicians have a role in shaping a family’s narrative of the end-of-life experience.

Dr. Kiwalkar earned her medical degree at Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College in Pune, India. She completed her residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, New York. She completed her rheumatology fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. She is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology. Apart practicing rheumatology at the Vancouver Clinic, she is pursuing a Masters in Education for Health Professionals at the Johns Hopkins University. In her spare time, Dr. Kiwalkar loves cooking Indian food and hiking around the Pacific Northwest with her husband. She is a trained Indian classical dancer.

The birth of her second child brought about the need to rebalance her work and professional lives. Her son, whom has special needs, necessitated that she expand her knowledge of neurobehavioral conditions and treatments. For the next two years she focused her work on advocacy and was the President for the Autism Society of WA, raising awareness and grant funding. This work included co-authoring a research paper with researchers at the University of WA. She was driven by an interest in neurology to later work at Rockwood neuroscience Institute with a diverse interdisciplinary team. This role allowed her to focus in epileptology and lead the development of both inpatient and outpatient policies and protocols to improve delivery of care and patient outcomes. The diversity of conditions include epilepsy, functional-neurologic conditions, and other neurological disorders.

Kristy continues to be dedicated to the field of neurology and splits her time between research as a sub-investigator at Inland Northwest Research and clinical work at Selkirk Neurology, PLLC, both focused on working with people with neurodegenerative movement disorders. She is now the only PA-C in Eastern WA that specializes in DBS neuromodulation treatment for these conditions.