CAPT Christian Rathke DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA was commissioned in December of 2011 in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) after seven years in the US Navy. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, VA, a Master of Medical Science with a concentration in Physician Assistant Studies from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, and a Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg focused on administrative medicine.

He began his medical career as a National Health Service Corps scholar and medical provider, where he served as the Site Director of a newly established Community Health Center in Fredonia, AZ. His leadership extended to his election as President of the local Chamber of Commerce. As the town's only full-time “Doc,” he treated all aspects of health for his patients and served as the primary consultant to the Mayor for Public Health concerns in the town. He then specialized in cardiology for five years at Pensacola Naval Hospital in Florida and chaired the hospital's CHF practice guidelines committee. CAPT Rathke is also an Aerospace Physiologist, Dive Medical Officer, and educator training over 3,000 pilots and aircrew, the Blue Angels, and NASA Astronauts in all aspects of human performance in high-risk operational environments. As a subject matter expert in flight physiology and hypoxia, he served two years as an instructor for the US Navy Flight Surgeon program and a collaborative published researcher and instructor for the Army Air Warrior Program. Trained in public health crisis management, he has been deployed with the USPHS to respond to public health emergencies. As a USPHS Officer, his four assignments thus far have all been with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His prior NOAA position was with the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), serving NOAA's 12,000 employees as the Director of Office of Health Services with a portfolio of five medical programs, including Aviation Medicine, Behavioral Health, Dive Medicine, Marine Medicine, and NOAA Corps Medical Affairs. CAPT Rathke was also the COVID-19 response medical lead for the Department of Commerce and NOAA for two and a half years. Starting May 2022 as the Director of Total Worker Health, he now leads a unique comprehensive organizational approach to federal workforce support, healthy work design, and a health-in-all policies framework for the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) within NOAA and across multiple federal sectors.

Award highlights include the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, NOAA Corps Meritorious Service Medal, NOAA Administrator's Award (2), PHS Outstanding Service Medal, PHS Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

Fred Wu, MHS, PA-C has been an emergency medicine PA for 20 years. He is the founding program director of the Emergency Medicine PA Residency at the University of California San Francisco - Fresno and the Lead APP in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In addition to his clinical duties, Mr. Wu is also an educator and researcher with professional interests in medical education, EMS, wilderness medicine and emergency department operations.

Olushola Ilogho, DMSc, MPA, PA-C is a nationally recognized healthcare leader, hospitalist physician associate, educator, and PA advocate with nearly a decade of experience across Emergency Medicine, Urgent Care, Primary Care, and Hospital Medicine. She currently practices at Sentara Health, where she is committed to advancing high-quality patient care, improving health system processes, and strengthening patient safety.

A graduate of the Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) PA program, Dr. Ilogho remains deeply engaged in medical education and professional leadership. She serves as an Assistant Professor/Community Faculty member at EVMS, Vice President of the EVMS Alumni Board, member of the Sentara Medical Group Quality and Safety Board Advisory Committee, and the APP Council. She also sits on the Executive Board of the Society of Hospital Medicine, covering regions in Virginia and North Carolina, and serves as Chair of the Advocacy and Outreach Committee for the Virginia Academy of PAs.

Dr. Ilogho is a published author, expert CME reviewer for the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA), and a national speaker who delivers CME and leadership-focused lectures at healthcare organizations and at state and national conferences. She holds a Doctor of Medical Science degree with a concentration in Administrative Medicine from the University of Lynchburg and an Advanced Practice Provider Leadership Certificate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Her leadership and service have been recognized with numerous honors, including PA of the Year by the Virginia Academy of Physician Assistants (2022), the Woman of Distinction in Health and Sciences Award from YWCA South Hampton Roads (2025), and the Incredible Award from Sentara Medical Group. Outside of her professional roles, Olushola enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, connecting with nature, and unwinding to the sounds of jazz music.

Alicia Quella is the Director of Communications and PA Relations at the NCCPA. She has served as a PA educator and has practiced in emergency medicine and primary care. She has served as an epidemiologist during the pandemic and has published research on the PA workforce, global health and issues affecting diversity in PA program admissions. Alicia earned her Masters of PA Studies degree and her doctoral degree in epidemiology from the University of Iowa.

Physician Assistant with over 26 years' experience in Urgent Care medicine. I am also a Certified Professional Coder and Certified Evaluation and Management Coder for the past 11 years. Founder of Coding Excellence, LLC which is a medical coding consulting business and Laymon Medical Expert Consulting which is an expert witness consulting business. I contribute medical coding and documentation articles/coding challenges to Evidence Based Urgent Care Medicine, College of Urgent Care Medicine, and the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine.
Author of “Mastering the Elements of Medical Decision Making”
Author of “Mastering Medical Decision Making Documentation”

Jacqi Kernaghan is a certified Physician Assistant working at the Main Line Health Osteoporosis Center in southeast Pennsylvania. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (summa cum laude) and her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Philadelphia University (now Jefferson University). Jacqi is a passionate "bone head" and absolutely ready to talk about osteoporosis and rare metabolic bone disease anytime, anywhere. She is active as a speaker at national and regional conferences on topics concerning osteoporosis and other metabolic bone disease. She is a member of the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation, of which she is on the Ambassadors Leadership Council, as well as the Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants and the American Academy of Physician Assistants, where she has been actively volunteering for the profession for nearly 20 years. She is a distinguished fellow of the AAPA.

Michelle Kerr has been a Physician Assistant for nearly 30 years, practicing initially in primary care and then expanding to urgent care. She has been at Atrium Health in NC for 13 years, practicing clinically in urgent care, and holding a leadership position within the organization. Michelle serves as an Assistant Specialty Medical Director responsible for 10 of the 30 Atrium Health Urgent Care locations, and as Chief APP (Advanced Practice Provider) for the entire Urgent Care division, advocating and representing over 120 APPs. She actively teaches, updates, and reviews the standard of care practiceses within the Atrium Healthcare system. She serves on several system-wide and interdisciplinary committees and strategy groups.
Michelle continues to serve as adjunct faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology's PA program for over 25 years, still returning yearly to lecture even after moving to NC.

Anna began pursuing anti-trafficking work when she discovered that this injustice occurs locally. After college, she interned with International Justice Mission and Freedom 4/24. From 2019-2024, Anna worked through a non-profit branch she started to raise awareness and prevention of human trafficking in Central VA. During that time she sponsored + taught youth programs, and trained and presented to youth workers, healthcare professionals, and community members. Through these efforts, Anna was named Freekind's Ambassador of the Year in 2023, "for excellence in advocating to help prevent human trafficking" through their middle and high school Prevention Project program. This work expanded into the Shenandoah Valley, leading to collaborations with New Creation VA. This collaborative work resulted in Waynesboro and Staunton school districts implementing the K-12 programs New Creation sponsors. And in 2025, Anna joined New Creation's team as the Prevention + Awareness Coordinator. She is honored by the opportunity to bring together the work of prevention New Creation has already been doing in Shenandoah Valley school districts with the work she started in Central VA. Anna is from Charlottesville, VA where she and her husband make their home.

Ryan Strauss, MPH, MSHS, PA-C is an Emergency Medicine PA and Lead Advanced Practitioner at the George Washington University MFA Department of Emergency Medicine. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the GW Department of Physician Associate Studies involved in multiple aspects of the PA program. He has been in medical education for nearly two decades including workshop instruction and presenting at countless national and regional conferences.

Kim Ford is currently the Orthopedic Technician Team Lead for Carilion Clinic Orthopedics. He has been with the Carilion Health System for 30 years and has been working with the Orthopedic Department for the past 20 years doing casting, splinting, and bracing.

He is currently over all of Carilion's Orthopedic Clinics and works with Jefferson College of Health Sciences and their Physician Assistant program providing a casting/splinting beginner course, and as as clinical instructor during the students' Orthopedic rotation. He is also very active in teaching casting and splinting classes for any interested Orthopedic practices.

Blake Rogers is an early career hospitalist and critical care PA practicing in southside Virginia. He is a 2018 graduate of the James Madison University PA Program. Blake earned his DMSc in 2023 from the University of Lynchburg. Additionally, Blake is on the PA Medicine Advisory Board for the University of Lynchburg PA Program and teaches as an Adjunct Faculty for their DMSc program.

Barbara practices internal medicine and has an undergraduate degree in psychology . After 3 decades of working in inner city settings, emergency medicine, and primary care, the cost of caring for patients found her questioning the sustainability of such demanding work. The demands of practice will take a toll on us all, but yoga taught her a way to juggle family, work and multiple moves away from home like nothing else did. Training as a yoga teacher has been a valuable tool for self care, has taught her to ways to process trauma while holding space for others. Using yoga to stay limber and grounded, Barbara is better able to navigate the pressures of people needing more and more from us everyday: She appreciates the chance to share these practices with others in the hope that we can learn to move through life's challenges with more grace and kindness.

Laura Tice is an assistant professor at the James Madison University PA Program. She works clinically as a PA in general cardiology and has been practicing at Sentara RMH Medical Center for the past 12 years. Before joining the faculty at JMU, she served as a clinical preceptor for PA students and mentored new advanced practice providers and stress lab nurses. She resides in Bridgewater, Virginia with her husband and two children and enjoys playing volleyball.

Ally Singer Wright is the Assistant Vice President for the Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP) at the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation. VMAP is a statewide initiative that improves access to mental and behavioral health care by supporting medical providers with education, psychiatric consultation, and care navigation to help their pediatric and perinatal patients, including children, youth, and pregnant and postpartum individuals. Previously, Ally worked at the Virginia Health Care Foundation expanding access to care for uninsured and underserved populations, and at Comfort Zone Camp, where she developed specialized grief programs for children and families. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.