Taylor Dawson, Louisiana Tech Kinesiology and Health Sciences 2015
PAC Mississippi College 2020
My name is Taylor Dawson and I am originally from West Monroe, Louisiana. I started my college career in Baton Rouge at LSU. After two quick years and (too much fun), I transferred to Louisiana Tech University, where I graduated with my bachelors in Kinesiology in spring 2015. I have been a practicing Physician Assistant in the field of orthopedic surgery for five years now, and I am loving every second of it.
The medical field had always intrigued me growing up. As a high school athlete, I thought I would find a career as an athletic trainer for a D1 college or a professional team. While at LSU, I pursued a degree that would take me down that path of athletic training. However, transferring back to Louisiana Tech was a true blessing in disguise, as it introduced me to all of the wonderful careers that kinesiology could provide. As a kinesiology student, I set my degree path toward Physical Therapy, where I could learn about biomechanics and exercise physiology (shout out to Dr. Szymanski).
For one of my classes, I was given the opportunity to shadow a Physical Therapist at the Green Clinic. During this time, I was introduced to a Physician Assistant, a profession in medicine I had never heard of before. I immediately became interested in the profession and started doing research on the Physician Assistant career; I quickly found my new career path. Physician Assistants are a vital member to the healthcare team and operate as a midlevel provider, much like a Nurse Practitioner. Physician Assistants also have a great deal of “lateral mobility” where we can change specialties rather quickly if desired. Typically, you can apply straight to PA school after graduating with a Bachelors degree in kinesiology. However, I decided to take a less traditional approach to becoming a Physician Assistant.
Unfortunately, after graduating from Louisiana Tech, I did not get into any of the PA schools where I applied, so I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in the field of medical sciences at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS. The program lasts about a year and half and includes courses that physician assistant students, as well as medical students, take the first year of coursework such as cell biology, biochemistry, histology, medical physiology, pharmacology, and gross anatomy. These courses gave me a robust foundation for the field of medicine.
During my time at Mississippi College, I met some absolutely amazing individuals, many of which had a background much like mine and hopes of getting into PA school or medical school. Upon completion of the medical science program in winter 2016, I started applying to PA schools again. Unfortunately, once again, I was deniedand had to take a dreaded gap year to figure out my next step. During this gap, I went back home to Louisiana.
Gross anatomy group in grad school
Once back in Louisiana, I was able to find a job at the North East Louisiana Orthopedic Clinic as a PT technician. In this role, I was able to get many patient contact hours and apply the education gained with my kinesiology degree and masters degree. In the latter half of 2017, I was offered a position back at Mississippi College as a teaching assistant for both medial physiology and gross anatomy. So I went back to Mississippi.
PA school graduation and white coat ceremony.
This opportunity was a blessing from God. While working for the school, I decided to apply to the Mississippi College PA program. I was accepted into the program and started classes in the summer of 2018. My time as a PA student at Mississippi College was truly the best. I made lifelong friends, who are now colleagues of mine. My last year of PA school was unique, as it was the infamous year of 2020. When COVID started, I was in my general surgery clinical rotation. The school made the decision to halt all clinical rotations, so I decided to go back home for the duration of the pandemic. Fortunately, things began reopening in the latter half of 2020, and I was able to finish my clinical rotations with a three month clerkship at an orthopedic clinic in Frisco, TX, where I was offered my first job as a Physician Assistant, PA-C.
Currently, I work at a practice in McKinney, TX with a focus on joint replacement and repair. Our practice serves the greater north Dallas population and parts of southern Oklahoma. The past five years have been amazing working as a PA in orthopedic surgery. I see my own patients, interpret imaging, and do my own procedures, such as joint injections/aspirations, reduction of fractures, and application of casts/splints. I also help manage patients non-operatively by working closely with Physical Therapists and creating rehab protocols for patients who choose the non-surgical route. In the surgical setting, I function as a first assist to my supervising physician, help coordinate pre-operative and intra-operative workflows, and managing post- operative complications. I genuinely love interacting with all of my patients and helping themget back to their full daily activity, pain free. In my opinion, a Physician Assistant is the best career within the healthcare field.
Closing a total knee replacement
Special gown used in joint surgery
My advice to anyone who aspires to join the medical field as a Physician Assistant is to never give up on your dreams. Don’t let a small detour in your path discourage you. Enjoy the journey. I found out the hard way that placing too much stress on having the perfect path for myself didn’t get me anywhere. Once I decided to slow down and enjoy the path life was taking me, everything fell into place. School became fun, and I realized I was working toward my ultimate goal of becoming a PA.
If anyone has any questions on my path to becoming a PA or has any questions about the PA field in general, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Boyd for my email. I would love to hear from you guys and help however I can!
Forever Loyal Be!
Taylor
The Exponential Factor 