Mission

EuroPA-C is passionately committed to transcending professional boundaries and addressing any existing apprehensions in the field of healthcare.

Through spirited interdisciplinary conversations, we endeavor to highlight the crucial role that the Physician Assistant / Associate (PA) profession can serve during times marked by an ever-increasing scarcity in both workforce and fiscal resources. EuroPA-C takes pride in its dedication to facilitating the European harmonization of the PA profession. Advancing and firmly rooting the role of PAs within European healthcare systems stands as a core objective of EuroPA-C. This is achieved through fostering international dialogue and cooperation among experts, academic institutions, and the key figures within healthcare services and policy-making. Such collaborative initiatives pave the way for the establishment of unified quality benchmarks. These benchmarks are imperative in influencing patient safety and guaranteeing the delivery of top-tier healthcare services. Ambitious yet achievable, our further objectives encompass the formulation and continuous enhancement of cohesive training and continuing education standards for PAs across Europe. This includes forging a common certification examination framework. Reflecting on a legacy of over sixty years, the PA profession in the United States epitomizes the successful outcome of such standardization: Graduates from accredited PA programs who have also passed a certification exam are awarded the prestigious title of PA-C (C for certified).

Interdisciplinary Dialogue

PA play an important role, especially at times when personnel and financial resources are becoming increasingly scarce!

European Harmonization

Promoting and establishing the professional profile of PA in healthcare across Europe is a statutory objective of EuroPA-C

Common Standards

Uniform training and continuing education standards for PA across Europe, including certification exams.

VENUE

Radisson Blue Hotel - Q7 27, 68161 Mannheim, Germany

FACULTY

COL BILL A. SOLIZ 

Commander, Medical Readiness Command, Pacific and Director, Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific
COL Soliz enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1987 as a Combat Medic. His first 
assignment was with the 2nd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne 
Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he deployed in support of OPERATION DESERT 
STORM. In 1992 he became a Practical Nurse and was assigned to William Beaumont 
Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas, as an Intensive Care Unit Nurse, and later as a 
Hospital Education Nurse Instructor. He completed his enlisted career as a Sergeant First 
Class. 

In 1996, he attended the Army’s Physician Assistant Training Program at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in February, 1998. His first assignment was as the Battalion Surgeon for the 1st, and later the 3rd, Parachute Infantry Regiments, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. From July 2001 to July 2002, he returned to Fort Sam Houston as an Executive Fellow, Allied Health Staff Officer for the Surgeon General, Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Command. Upon completing his fellowship, he served as Officer-in-Charge of the Combat Casualty Care Course at Camp Bullis, Texas. He later served as the Flight Surgeon for 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. In July 2006, COL Soliz served as the Physician Assistant to the President of the United States, and later as J-3, Operations Director, as a member of the White House Medical Unit, Washington, D.C. In 2011, he served as the Deputy Surgeon for Special Operations Command South (Airborne), Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida. He was reassigned to the Pentagon as Aide-de-Camp to the Army Inspector General, Office of the Secretary of the Army, and later became the Chief, Orthopedic Surgery, at Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center, Fort Meade, Maryland. COL Soliz then deployed as the Chief, Strategic Engagements Branch, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) in Kabul, and then as Director, Prehospital Care, for CENTCOM’s Joint Theater Trauma System (JTTS) in Bagram, Afghanistan. From June 2015 to June 2017, COL Soliz commanded the California Medical Detachment and the Presidio of Monterey Army Health Clinic in Monterey, California. From July 2017 to June 2018, he was a War College Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services. From July 2018 to July 2019, he served at the Pentagon as the Executive Assistant to the Army Surgeon General and Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command. From June 2019 to June 2021, he commanded the Joint Medical Augmentation Unit, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C. COL Soliz served Chief of Staff, Regional Health Command-Pacific, from July 2021 to May 2022. Most recently, he commanded Tripler Army Medical Center from May 9, 2022 to 19 May 2023. He assumed command of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific on May 22, 2023 and serves as the Director of Defense Health Network Indo- Pacific. His combat operations include OPERATION DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, OPERATION PROVIDE COMFORT, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, and various worldwide joint special operations contingencies. COL Soliz’s awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (2 OLC), the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (1 OLC), the Meritorious Service Medal (3 OLC), the Air Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal (2 OLC), the Army Commendation Medal (6 OLC), the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (1 OLC), the Combat Medical Badge (2nd award), Expert Field Medical Badge, Senior Aviation Badge, Flight Surgeon Badge, Senior Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, the Presidential Service Badge, the Army Staff Identification Badge, the Health and Human Services Identification Badge, and foreign parachutist badges from multiple countries. COL Soliz received a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Texas Health Science Center, a Master of Science in Family Medicine from the University of Nebraska, and a Master of Business Administration from the Jack Welch Management Institute. He also holds a Doctorate of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg, VA. His military education includes the AMEDD Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Army Command and General Staff College, Joint Combined Warfighting School, and the U.S. Army War College. COL Soliz is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).

Sharon Luke, EdD, PA-C

Sharon Luke, EdD, PA-C, is the Executive Director of the Accreditation Review Commission on the Education of the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), the sole accrediting body for PA education in the United States.  She has a near 30-year history in the PA profession, serving as clinical PA provider, a PA educator and preceptor, an accreditation site visitor, and commissioner. 
 
Inspired by learning first-hand the role that accreditation can play on the quality of education delivered in PA programs, she served two terms as a commissioner of ARC-PA. In 2015, Dr. Luke joined the staff of the ARC-PA as an Assistant Director. In 2016, she became the Executive Director of the ARC-PA.  Her continuous goal is to work with the commissioners and satisfy the mission of ARC-PA to protect the interests of students and the public via the accreditation process and the subsequent assurance of quality education in PA programs.

Dr. DeShana Collett

Dr. Collett is a Tenured Professor at the University of Kentucky and has made extensive contributions to research scholarship and professional engagement, focusing on student performance metrics, clinical adherence to preventative practice guidelines, healthcare and health disparities, and introducing precision medicine in medical education. Her achievements include presenting at numerous national and international conferences and holding intellectual property, including a patent and commercialization for MediSkin, a silicone-based human-like artificial skin.
Currently serving as the Chair of the University Senate Council at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Collett's second term reflects her leadership and commitment to university governance. Her Senate leadership journey began in 2016 and progressed through various pivotal roles, including Senate Rules and Election Committee Chair and two terms as Senate Council Vice Chair. Since 2018, her accreditation involvement has spanned various roles, including accreditation specialist, site visitor, and National Board of Commissioner. Noteworthy among her professional roles, Dr. Collett serves as the Chairwoman of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).  

Dr. Trenton Honda

Dr. Trenton Honda, Editor in Chief of the Journal of PA Education,  is an environmental epidemiologist and physician associate education researcher. As an epidemiologist, he focuses on computational methods to identify and quantify the health effects of air pollution, infectious diseases, and the built environment. Within physician associate education, he focuses on program evaluation, application of quantitative methods in biomedical education research, and disparities in physician associate education. 

His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Physician Associate Education Association. He currently serves as Associate Dean and Clinical Professor at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, USA. 
 

Mr. Lizotte

Mr. Lizotte graduated from Stevens High School, Claremont, NH. He obtained a BA in History from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. He was accepted into the St. Louis University PA Program and completed those studies in 1994, passing the PANCE exam in October 1994. Mr. Lizotte remains certified to this day. He obtained his Masters in PA Studies MPAS from the University of Nebraska in 2002.
Mr. Lizotte practiced as cardiothoracic surgery PA for 25 years, holding positions in clinical and administrative leadership.

In 2004, Mr. Lizotte joined the Board of Directors of the Association of Physician Assistants in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (APACVS) as a Member at Large. In 2009, he was elected Vice President of APACVS and served in that role for 2 years. In 2011, he was elected President of APACVS and served as the association’s President for 5 years. In 2017, Mr. Lizotte was selected as the first employed Executive Director of APACVS, a role that he continues to hold today. Since taking on this role, Mr. Lizotte has directed a high level of innovation in the organization.

In 2015, Mr. Lizotte partnered with the European founders of the CALS protocol to bring this training to the Americas. He formed a multidisciplinary Advisory Board that developed international standards for training, as well as certification and center affiliation models. Mr. Lizotte collaborated on and was an author of the landmark The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Expert Consensus for the Resuscitation of Patients Who Arrest After Cardiac Surgery, published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery March 2017. He continues to be President of the company that is the sole provider of this education in the Americas.

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