Verdoni honored with national award in physician assistant education
Assistant Professor Megan Verdoni, MPAS, PA-C, was honored with the 2024 Clinical Education Award by the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) at its annual Education Forum & Fall Workshops in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
“I genuinely appreciate that the FSU College of Medicine and the PA program made this possible,” Verdoni said. “Clinical education is a team effort, and our College of Medicine is unique in how it offers opportunities for students and faculty across the state of Florida. This award was a chance to share our story, so thank you to everyone at the college. We’ll keep working and building opportunities for these successes!”
Verdoni also serves as clinical education director for the College of Medicine’s School of Physician Assistant Practice, overseeing the rotations, or clerkships, that students take for their year of clinical training. Based at the Sarasota Regional Campus, she also facilitates training and adjunct assistance for the associate clinical education directors at each of the six regional campuses: Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Pensacola, Sarasota and Tallahassee.
Sarasota Regional Campus Dean Nicole Bentze, D.O., nominated Verdoni for the award. School of Physician Assistant Practice Director and Associate Dean Benjamin Smith, DMSc, PA-C, and FSU College of Medicine Dean Alma Littles, M.D., endorsed the nomination in separate letters.
Littles described Verdoni’s work ethic as “unparalleled.”
“I have known Megan on a personal and professional level for over six years,” Bentze wrote. “In that time, I have personally witnessed the positive impact she has made on the education of physician assistant (PA) students at all our regional campuses.
“Megan is an exemplary PA, medical educator, role model, and colleague. The PAEA Clinical Educator award is a very competitive, national level award. Megan is most deserving of this honor.”
The award requires outstanding contributions in four areas: exemplary student support, recruitment and maintenance of clinical sites, development and training of clinical preceptors, and fostering interdepartmental, institutional and community relationships.
“Many of the recent program updates during the clinical year to support student success have been spearheaded by Megan’s strong work of data collection, data analysis, and creating and monitoring a plan for change,” Smith wrote.
Verdoni, who has been a practicing PA in emergency medicine for more than 20 years, earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at Indiana University and a master’s degree in physician assistant studies at the University of Florida. She joined the faculty at the College of Medicine’s School of Physician Assistant Practice as the founding associate clinical education director for the Sarasota Regional Campus in January 2018, rising to senior associate clinical education director there in September 2021 and now is clinical education director for the entire program. She is currently working toward an educational doctorate at FSU.
-- Contact Audrey Post at audrey.post@med.fsu.edu
PHOTO CAPTIONS AND CREDITS:
Spotlight Photo on Home page:
Director of PA Clinical Education at the FSU College of Medicine Megan Verdoni, right, listens as students in the PA Class of 2024 present their research posters July 15, 2024. (Photo by Audrey Post, FSU College of Medicine)
Photo at top right:
Megan Verdoni, MPAS, PA-C (left), poses with Dipu Patel, DMSc, MPAS, PA-C, who presented the award. Patel, associate director of the University of Pittsburgh's Doctor of PA Studies Program, is president-elect of the Physician Assistant Education Association. (Photo courtesy of PAEA)