{"id":8560,"date":"2016-05-11T08:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/?post_type=post&p=8560"},"modified":"2022-04-04T20:23:26","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T20:23:26","slug":"affecting-change-just-right-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/magazine\/2016\/05\/11\/affecting-change-just-right-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Affecting Change In Just The Right Places"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 29 years as program director of MEDEX Northwest, Ruth Ballweg stepped down from that role in 2015 and retired from the University of Washington in March of 2016. She is now Professor Emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine. Over the course of three decades, Ruth has had an indelible impact on the physician assistant profession. Here she talks about some of the challenges of that career, and what she sees ahead for herself and the profession.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Early Years: Struggling To Stay Alive<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

MEDEX<\/strong><\/span>: You’ve recently retired from MEDEX and from the University of Washington. You\u2019re now a professor emeritus. This comes after how many years of being a PA? And how many years of being the section head\/program director for MEDEX Northwest?<\/p>\n

Ruth Ballweg<\/strong><\/span>: Well, I graduated in ’77, so that tells you how long that is\u2014a long time ago. I joined the faculty in ’81, and became the director in ’85. So 29 years as a director, 33 years as a faculty person.<\/p>\n

MEDEX<\/strong><\/span>: Longer than anyone really.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n