Portland's Dana Gray and Jonathan Hill honored with AAPA's Physician-PA Partnership Award

American Academy of Physician Assistants Honors Dana Gray, PA-C, and Jonathan G. Hill, MD, with Physician-PA Partnership Award

Dana Gray, PA-C, of Portland, Ore., along with his physician partner, Jonathan Hill, MD, received the American Academy of Physician Assistants' 2010 Physician-PA Partnership Award at the organization's 38th Annual Physician Assistant Conference in Atlanta yesterday. The team has provided quality, broad-based trauma and cardiothoracic care to medically underserved populations in the Portland area for more than 15 years.

"It's a great honor to win this award in collaboration with my esteemed colleague Dr. Hill," said Gray. "Our working relationship is a true partnership in every sense of the word; from consultations, post-op visits, and even during cardiothoracic surgery, there is always a mutual respect and a complete sharing of responsibilities and duties that improve the quality of care for our patients."

Throughout their partnership, Gray and Hill have split their workload at Emanuel Hospital and Health Center in order to maintain contact with every patient; Hill generally sees consultations, while Gray handles the majority of the postoperative patients. Together, the pair has forged a rewarding practice in aortic surgery, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and the use of cardiopulmonary bypass technologies for acute trauma resuscitation.

"Without Dana's years of experience and expertise, we would not be able to accomplish much of what we do on a relatively routine basis," said Hill. "He and I can react and function as a single entity in the most stressful and demanding of situations."

In recognition of their partnership, Gray received the Physician-PA Partnership Award, which honors a physician-PA team that exemplifies the unique relationship of trust, collegiality and mutual respect that is essential to the PA profession and allows for greater medical service to patients. The award is one of five PAragon Awards, made possible with support from Pfizer Inc., that are presented annually by AAPA to recognize members who have demonstrated distinguished service to patients, the community and the profession. Other awards include: Federal Service PA of the Year, Outstanding PA of the Year, PA Service to the Underserved Award and Humanitarian PA of the Year.