My Journey to PA

By Beth Buyea, DHSc, PA-C, program director, PA program

Sometimes people are inspired to pursue a path in life by a mentor, hero, or someone they admire. That is not my story. After just one semester in college, my pre-medicine advisor told me, “As a woman with a GPA of 3.5, you are never getting into medical school.” I was devastated. I went through a minor crisis. Everything I was striving for seemed to have just slipped away. As a first-generation college student trying to navigate a large institution, I was relying on the adults around me for guidance. They were the ones who were supposed to show me the way, right? So, I chose to believe my advisor. I changed my major to education and told myself I would be a great teacher. I liked my new classes, but I couldn’t get away from my love of science, so I continued to take a science course or two each semester. Genetics and immunology were my favorites.

While navigating this change, I also worked—20 hours a week as a phlebotomist in the local hospital to help pay for my college education. It was there that my confidence was restored, and I was introduced to the Physician Assistant (PA) profession. Interested in learning more, I went back to my pre-medicine advisor and said, “I want to learn more about the PA role in medicine.” The response was again disheartening. They had never heard of a PA and could not provide guidance.

At this point, I felt the need to dig deep. To ask myself, “Why was medicine so important to me? What was propelling me toward it?” The answer came easily. When I was 11-years old, my father succumbed to an illness that was directly linked to alcohol misuse. That pivotal moment in my life created a desire to help others avoid the pain of loss and the suffering associated with illness. I knew in my heart that my goal was to enter the medical field in a position where I could make an impact on health and advocate for my patients. The drive to make this dream happen eventually became fueled by my desire to prove my pre-medicine advisor wrong. I focused on learning everything I could about the role of a PA and what it took to get there.

How does my story end? Through resilience and determination, I earned my bachelor’s degree in biology in 1999 and graduated from PA school in 2002. For the past 22 years, I have had the privilege of working as a PA in a variety of settings including Family Medicine, Adolescent Medicine, Urgent Care, and Emergency Medicine. Ten years ago, I transitioned into PA education with the goal of mentoring future students, which has been a very fulfilling journey. I am currently the program director of and an educator in the Tufts PA program. However, what I am most proud of is completing my Doctor of Health Science degree in 2018.

As a woman in medicine, I hope I can inspire others to follow their heart, their passion, and their dreams. With daughters of my own, I work to show them that the future is wide open, that they can achieve anything they want. I will be their loudest cheerleader in the hope of drowning out people who might be telling them that they can’t do or achieve something.