Vicki Chan-Padgett received her Bachelor of Science as a physician associate from the University of Oklahoma/US Air Force and her Master of Science from the University of Nebraska. A 21-year veteran, she has worked in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and family practice. Prior to retirement from the military, she was the director of the U.S. Air Force Physician Assistant (PA) program. During that time, she served on the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination test development committee and chaired the committee to develop the Inter-service Physician Assistant Program.

After several years working in a Veterans Administration clinic, she went back to academia and helped open the Touro University California Physician Assistant Program and in 2004, was called upon to open the Touro program in Nevada.

Her community involvement is extensive and one of her most notable achievements is the opening of a free clinic in a women’s shelter. She is professionally involved as well, having served as the president of both the Nevada Academy of Physician Assistants and the Veterans Caucus of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. She currently is a commissioner on the AAPA Advocacy and government Affairs Commission and sits on the PA Advisory Committee of the Osteopathic Board of Medical Examiners. She is also the recipient of the AAPA 2012 PA Service to the Underserved Award.

Pearl Forman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (1969). She received an Master of Arts in Printmaking in 1970 from Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of Fine Arts, Florence, Italy; degree conferred by Dominican University, (formerly Rosary College) River Forest, Illinois (1970).She received her Bachelor of Science of Health Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Long Island University – Brooklyn Center, New York in 1983. She practiced clinical medicine for over 20 years in areas including neurosurgery, neurology, intensive care, physical medicine and rehabilitation, spinal cord injury, primary care, and in hospital settings in New York and Dallas/ Fort Worth, Texas.

Her past teaching experience included instruction to and supervision of rotating PA students, medical students, interns, residents, and nurses. Since May 2005, she has been teaching neurology, gastroenterology and geriatrics as well as a variety of other clinical topics in the School of Physician Assistant Studies at Touro University Nevada. She was recently selected to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants Committee as an item writer for the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination.

Graceann Freeman received her Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) in 1983 from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines with internship at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center. After internship, she served in different rural areas in the country extending medical and surgical services to the underprivileged community under the auspices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. She had her residency training in Anesthesia at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center with subspecialty fellowship training in Pediatric Anesthesia at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center with rotations at the Philippine Heart Center of Asia for Cardio-thoracic surgery, Lung Center and Kidney Center of the Philippines, after which she went on to private practice.

She also served as a Medical Officer with the Philippine Navy and became the Executive Officer at the Philippine Military Academy Station Hospital providing medical, surgical and anesthesia services to cadets, military and civilian employees, and their dependents. Graceann migrated to the United States as a nurse in 2001 and received her Master’s degree in Nursing and Advanced Practice in Nursing from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and became a certified Family Nurse Practitioner.

Her years of experience as a nurse includes urgent care, family practice, intensive care unit, cardiac care unit and post anesthesia care. She also worked as Nursing Asst. Professor at Apollo College, Las Vegas, Nevada for about 2 years and joined Touro University Physician Assistant Program in 2010. Her medical and nursing background truly help her treat, give comfort and care to her patients and become comfortable working with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.

Originally from Annapolis, Maryland, Taylor Hough earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Psychology at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Following his undergraduate career, Taylor spent three years in the health insurance industry outside Washington, D.C. before relocating to southern Nevada.

Taylor joined Touro University Nevada in 2009 as a member of the Student Services department, holding roles in the Bursar and Admissions offices while completing work on his Masters in Health Care Administration at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Taylor joined the PA program in early 2012 as the Associate Clinical Coordinator providing support and guidance for our students as they progress through the clinical phase of the program.

Mary Anne Kidwell began her medical career while serving in the US Army during Operation Desert Storm as a combat medic/EMT. After serving four years on active duty she continued to pursue her medical career, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisville in 1998 and a Master of Science degree from Central Michigan University in 2000. Since graduating from PA school in 2000, she has worked in multiple fields to include Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Community Medicine and Urgent Care. She also continued her military career as well, serving in the National Guard for an additional 7 years before resigning her commission in 2007.

Ms. Kidwell is a fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and an active member of the Nevada Academy of Physician Assistants. She continues to be involved in the community, volunteering her medical services for various sporting events including the Silverman Triathlon, as well as actively practicing in Urgent Care and Family Practice settings. This is her first foray into teaching, joining the Physician Assistant Studies program at Touro University Nevada in February 2010.

Nancy Lee received her Master of Medical Science from the Emory University’s Physician Assistant Program in 1990. In 1979 she received her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of Colorado and went on to receive her Master of Arts in Physical anthropology in 1982. Prior to her attending PA school, she developed a great interest in rural health care during her Peace Corps years in Micronesia and Mauritania.

After becoming a PA, her first years of clinical work were in rural Idaho followed by two years in Egypt working with the U.S. Army on a very rural training site. She then worked in rural Florida before transitioning into academia in 1997. She became the academic coordinator for the University of Florida’s Physician Assistant Program. During her time at the University of Florida, she was awarded an exemplary teacher award from the College of Medicine three times as well as winning the Didactic Teacher of the Year twice.

She joined Touro University Nevada as the academic coordinator for the Physician Assistant Studies program in 2006. While she coordinates the didactic year for the PA students, her greatest love is teaching which is reflected in her receipt of five teaching awards while at the University of Florida and multiple PA Teacher of the Year Awards from Touro University Nevada. Her other love is community work and has spent time volunteering at a low income clinic in Florida and participating on numerous medical mission trips to Guatemala, including the first international rotation involving Touro University Nevada PA students in 2012 . She has helped organize several health fairs for Touro University Nevada.

John Padgett, a Special Forces medic during the Vietnam War, graduated from the fourth class of the University of Washington Medex (Physician Assistant) program in 1973. After practicing in Washington State, he joined the University of Hawaii Medex Micronesia program to train health care providers for the U.S. Trust Territories in the Pacific. His 25 years of clinical experience include family practice, urgent care and industrial medicine. He completed his Master’s of Medical Science degree from St. Francis University in 1994 and received his doctorate in Health Science and International Health Studies from St. George University in 2001. He was a clinical coordinator and educator at Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, California for several years before being activated in 2003 to serve as a public health officer for Baghdad, Iraq for a year.

Upon his return from Iraq in 2004, he helped open the School of Physician Assistant Studies at Touro University Nevada and served as the clinical coordinator. He has spent many years in international health and institutional development, having served over 35 years in US Army Special Operations, active and reserve, receiving numerous awards for valor and service. In 1983, he, along with other Special Forces veterans, created the non-profit organization, Refugee Relief International, Inc., which is dedicated to medically serving victims of armed conflict. He has served on the board of that organization since its founding. He was selected as the AAPA Humanitarian of the Year for 1994 and the California Academy Humanitarian Physician Assistant of the year for 1999.

Along with his extensive experience in international humanitarian work, his dedication to the PA profession is reflected by his committee work in the AAPA, as President of the Veterans Caucus of the AAPA, and serving as a delegate for the AAPA House of Delegates for the past four years. He has been a speaker for the AAPA national conference, the AAPA Veterans Caucus, the Army Society of PAs and the Nevada State Osteopathic Medical Association. He was an invited participant at the White House round table discussion on PTSD in January, 2012, and continues his work on this issue.

Brian Sady began his medical career at the age of 18 years old at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Massachusetts. He worked in several departments including dietary, medical/ surgical, and radiology for over 7 years. In 1995 he was accepted to the Springfield College/ Baystate Medical Center Physician Assistant program. He graduated, received his bachelor of science, and became NCCPA board certified in 1998. He was then accepted in 1998 to the Alderson-Broaddus College Emergency Medicine PA residency master degree program associated with West Virginia University’s level one trauma center in Morgantown. He completed the program in 2000, and received a master of medical science degree.

He began practicing in Las Vegas Nevada in 1998 in emergency medicine for the Valley Health System. In 2002 he transitioned to practice in primary care. In 2004 he began to operate his own medical center. In less than 5 years, he built his practice from 2000 patients to almost 12,000 patients before leaving the center in 2008. Since 2008 he has been working with Southwest Medical Associates in the Urgent Care where he continues to practice.

He joined Touro University as full time faculty in 2011. His experience as a clinician in both emergency medicine and primary care with well over 110,000 patient visits will be a valuable asset to the Physician Assistant program.