Building Bridges Podcast

From Green Beret Medic to Stanford PA: Dr. Zach West on Storytelling, Writing, and Burnout

Dr. Zach West, a Butler DMS Bridge graduate and hospital medicine PA at Stanford Medicine, shares his path from philosophy and history major to Fulbright English teacher, rare book seller, Green Beret combat medic, and paramedic during the 2020 pandemic before PA school at Stanford. He discusses the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Tillman Scholar community’s focus on service, education, and impact. West explains how creative writing electives at Stanford—especially courses with Dr. Laurel Braitman—helped him process stress, build empathy, and strengthen communication, emphasizing that clinical documentation is fundamentally storytelling. He describes short writing prompts and trusted writing groups as practical tools for reflection, vulnerability, and fighting burnout, and offers advice to new grads to expect a brutal early learning curve and push through it.

In this episode, host Cody Sasek connects with Dr. Ryan White (Rutgers School of Health Professions Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs) and Dr. Matthew Wright (Rutgers PA program faculty). White describes a nearly 20-year PA career, a PhD in health systems and policy, and research in healthcare workforce, health policy, and patient-provider communication via patient portals with health equity concerns. Wright, a PA and registered dietitian, outlines clinical practice experience and a PhD in health and human performance focused on PA student wellbeing and educational innovation. They discuss motivations, financial and institutional support and mandates for doctoral training, rank and promotion in academia, and that impactful scholarship can be done without a PhD. They advise learners to ask questions, seek mentors and teams, join committees, peer review, and pursue feasible projects. They also highlight research opportunities in AI (ambient scribes), wearables-driven data overload, and technology’s medical-legal and equity implications.

On the Building Bridges podcast from Butler University’s Doctor of Medical Science (DMS) Bridge Program, Adrian Banning interviews alumnus Dr. Alison Streeter, now a night-shift inpatient hospitalist PA, about the steep learning curve, higher stakes, self-doubt, and balancing autonomy with team support while doing cross-cover and admissions. Streeter describes prior careers in adolescent behavioral health (school counseling/therapy and administration at a boarding school) and nonprofit performing arts leadership, then a COVID-era pivot into PA training after retaking prerequisites and discovering online learning. She explains how the DMS Bridge program fit her credentialing timeline and expanded her systems and safety perspective beyond patient-level care. Streeter reflects on self-care, comfort with uncertainty, using repetition to learn (including AI-generated mock admissions), and interests in peer support, arts-in-medicine initiatives, precepting, and future PA education.

Sometimes you meet someone, and you just know you're going to be friends. Mix in PA school and that friendship becomes something even more lasting. Host Adrian Banning interviews Butler University DMS Bridge Program alumnae Kennedy Lewis and Natalia Rangel about their close friendship formed during their Case Western PA school interview (anniversary = Nov. 11), daily support through a 15-month didactic year and clinical rotations, and navigating stressful life events like Kennedy’s car being stolen. They describe complementary study habits, shared resilience as first-generation professionals, and why they pursued the DMS Bridge Program after an info session, finding research more approachable and useful to practice. Natalia works in neurosurgery in Arizona, focusing on patient education and lifestyle factors; Kennedy practices adult primary care in the DC/DMV area, emphasizing listening, postpartum care, depression screening, and doula conversations. Both discuss financial security goals, mentorship, and adjusting after graduation.

Breaking Barriers in PA Education: The Inspiring Road of Natalia Rangel

Hosts Cody Sasek and Adrian Banning (Butler University’s Doctor of Medical Science Bridge Program) interview Natalia Rangel, a first-generation PA originally from Cúcuta, Colombia, who moved to Florida, attended PA school at Case Western Reserve University, received her DMS degree from the Butler University Bridge Program and now lives and works as a neurosurgery PA-C in Arizona. Natalia describes applying to PA school late with little guidance, advises applicants to use mentorship organizations (including PAs for Latino Health, The PAC, NSBPA) and fee assistance, and emphasizes casting a wide net while avoiding costly admissions “coaching.” She shares her study approach in PA school, her decision to hire a lawyer to review her first job contract, and how a delayed start date led to a temporary flu-trial research job while beginning the Butler DMS Bridge Program. Natalia discusses her leadership work with PAs for Latino Health, scholarship awareness, precepting and mentoring students, and plans to support Arizona’s emerging PA program.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions
01:38 Natalia Origin Story
04:19 Finding Case Western
04:55 Applying Without Guidance
06:53 Mentorship Over Paywalls
11:34 PA School Study Routines
13:52 Why Pursue a Doctorate
14:55 Contracts and Career Timing
17:35 PAs for Latino Health
20:23 Research Mindset and Planning
22:20 Building PA Community in Arizona
26:53 Mentors and Saying No
28:48 Closing Thanks and Wrap Up

What does it truly mean to build bridges in healthcare—and who is willing to step forward and do the work when those bridges don’t yet exist?

In this episode of Building Bridges, Bre Garbas sits down with Dr. Melissa Rodriguez, an OB/GYN physician associate, educator, and national leader in women’s health, for a conversation that moves far beyond the clinical space. Together, they explore what it looks like to practice at the top of one’s license, advocate for meaningful change, and redefine what is possible for physician associates in one of the most dynamic and underserved areas of medicine.

From the very beginning, Melissa’s passion is evident—not just for women’s health, but for the profession itself. As a clinician working in one of the busiest OB/GYN emergency departments in the country, delivering care in high-acuity, fast-paced environments, she embodies the intersection of expertise, adaptability, and resilience. But her story doesn’t stop at the bedside. She is also shaping the next generation of clinicians as an educator and influencing the national conversation through her leadership and advocacy work. 

This episode is not simply about what Melissa does—it’s about why it matters, and what it reveals about the future of healthcare.

In this episode of Building Bridges from Butler University’s Doctor of Medical Science Bridge Program, hosts Adrian Banning and Cody Sasek speak with PA educator Pam Vayda, interim program director at Mississippi State University. Pam shares her path from prior work in education (including teaching secondary school and college labs) to joining MSU’s inaugural PA cohort (graduating 2023), practicing in urgent care, earning her doctorate through Butler, and quickly transitioning into PA faculty roles. She discusses seeing PA programs from both student and faculty perspectives, the complexity of running a program, and the major work involved in achieving 10-year accreditation. Pam highlights how doctoral training and mentorship support curriculum alignment, evidence-based medicine, and faculty development, and she describes outreach efforts to introduce Mississippi students to the PA profession.

From the OR to the C-Suite: Dr. Brooke Schweitzer on Advanced Practice Leadership in Healthcare

On this episode of the Building Bridges podcast, host Cody Sasek interviews Dr. Brooke Schweitzer, a plastic and reconstructive surgery physician assistant and Executive Director of Advanced Practice Providers at University of Chicago Medicine. She was appointed to this inaugural role amid rapid APP growth from about 200 pre-COVID to over 600 current. Schweitzer describes overseeing PAs, NPs, CNSs, CRNAs, and nurse midwives across multiple sites, and shares how she discovered the PA profession after shadowing in surgery. 

She recounts unexpectedly stepping into interim hospital leadership at a critical access hospital, prompting her to pursue a doctorate and business residency to bridge clinical and administrative “languages.” She emphasizes saying yes to opportunities, listening, transparency, servant leadership, stakeholder alignment in matrixed organizations, and measuring value through key metrics like length of stay and readmissions as healthcare shifts toward value-based care, while advocating for stronger APP representation and leadership pathways.

What happens when you stop waiting for the “right path” and start building your own? In this episode of Building Bridges, Dr. Olatunde Oshikoya, PA-C, shares how an uncertain start as a new graduate evolved into a purpose-driven career spanning urgent care, mobile medicine, and telehealth in addiction and behavioral health. From launching a mobile clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic to embracing remote care as the future of medicine, his journey highlights the power of adaptability, innovation, and saying yes to opportunity—even when the outcome isn’t clear. 

This conversation explores how telehealth is reshaping access to care, allowing providers to meet patients where they are—literally and figuratively—while maintaining the core principles of medicine. Dr. Oshikoya also shares his passion for mentorship and community impact, emphasizing the importance of looking inward, leveraging your network, and stepping up to meet needs in your own community. 

Whether you’re a clinician, student, or educator, this episode is a reminder that meaningful careers aren’t linear—they’re built through openness, discomfort, and a willingness to act.