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Jesse Edwards receives the Presidential Award from the Physician Assistant Education Association at the group’s recent education forum in Tucson, Ariz. |
Edwards, an associate professor in the UNMC physician assistant program, has made historic contributions to physician assistant education and to PAEA. The organization bestowed this award on Edwards for significant achievements over his lifetime.
Edwards is considered a pivotal figure in the annals of the PA profession. For nearly 40 years — almost as long as the profession has been in existence — he has devoted his career to PA education and to enhancing the roles of PAs locally and nationally. This is especially remarkable considering that Edwards himself is not a PA.
Edwards is credited with the development of the profession in the military and in the state of Nebraska. He was a founding father of the Nebraska PA program in 1971 and was instrumental in establishing the affiliation between the joint Air Force/Navy PA program and the university, which awarded a degree to the military’s students.
He served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years, retiring in 1967 as a major. In 2000, the Air Force named its annual award for junior PA officers after him. He is an early advocate of the international development of the profession. In 1985 he helped the Chinese National Medical Education Committee develop a PA curriculum, and he also was a consultant to the
Canadian Military PA Program.
He has served as both president and vice president of the organization and established PAEA’s liaison relationship with the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions.