Kari Bernard MS, PA-C, DFM-MEDEX faculty and site director of Anchorage campus is one of the three faculty nationally that have been selected for the prestigious AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship 2019-2020 Cohort.

“The AAPA-PAEA Fellowship provides 20 percent of the recipient’s base salary up to $25,000 to each fellow’s institution to secure protected time for research, to permit a 20 percent time release from teaching and other activities to allow them to focus on scholarly activity of interest to the PA profession and PA education, as well as a travel stipend of up to $7,500”

Kari’s proposed study is titled Physician Assistant Burnout and the Role of Career Development and Physician Relationship. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine if experience level, level of autonomy and leadership responsibility, which could both represent aspects of role expansion, and collaborative physician (CP) relationship will predict either professional fulfillment or burnout.

Kari Bernard completed her PA studies in 2004 at A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona. She practiced clinically in cardiac electrophysiology, emergency medicine, urgent care, and occupational medicine. In 2014, she changed her focus from clinical practice to education and research and joined the faculty of the University of Washington MEDEX Northwest PA program as lecturer at the Anchorage campus. After four years on faculty, she was promoted to Anchorage campus director. She began her formal research training in 2016 through Walden University. Kari is pursuing a doctor of philosophy in Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology and is currently in the dissertation phase of her studies.