2020 AAPA Award Recipients

The AAPA Awards Committee has announced the recipients of the 2020 Individual Excellence Awards. These prestigious awards honor PAs who have served their patients, their communities, and the PA profession with great distinction. The awards are the highest recognition bestowed on members by the Academy.

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PA Winners Student Winners

Ted J. Ruback
Paul Lombardo, MPS-HSA, PA-C Emeritus, DFAAPA

Eugene A. Stead Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award

This award is AAPA’s most prestigious, and honors a lifetime of achievement that has had a broad and significant impact on the PA profession.

Paul Lombardo, MPS-HSA, PA-C Emeritus, DFAAPA, is the 2020 recipient of the Eugene A. Stead Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. Lombardo has held leadership roles in the New York State Society of PAs and in every national PA organization, including AAPA, NCCPA, PAEA, and ARC-PA. Read More

Nicole Dettmann
Nicole Dettmann, DSc, MPH, PA-C

PA of the Year Award

This award honors a PA who, within the course of a one-year period, demonstrates exemplary service to the community; exemplifies the PA profession’s philosophy of providing accessible, quality healthcare to all; and furthers the image of the profession in a positive, meaningful way.

Nicole Dettmann, DSc, MPH, PA-C, is the 2020 recipient of the PA of the Year Award. Dettmann works in the Emergency Department at Newton Wellesley in Massachusetts and has volunteered with the Foundación de Salud del Rio Beni in Bolivia for more than 20 years. Read More

Delilah Dylan Dominguez
Delilah Dylan Dominguez

PA Student of the Year Award

This award honors a PA student who has demonstrated exemplary service and leadership as a PA student.

Delilah Dylan Dominguez is the 2020 recipient of the PA Student of the Year Award. A first-generation college student, Dominguez is in her second year of the Quinnipiac University PA Program and is on the Leadership Committee of the Student Academy of AAPA. Read More

Richard A. Villarreal
Col. Richard A. Villarreal, PhD, PA-C

Military Service Award

This award honors a veteran or active duty PA who has demonstrated exemplary healthcare service to their community, to current members of the military or veterans, or to the medically underserved.

Col. Richard A. Villarreal, PhD, PA-C, is the 2020 recipient of the Military Service Award. Villarreal is the Dean of Academics for the Medical Education and Training Campus in San Antonio, Texas, where he oversees 49 enlisted medical training programs. Read More

Kurtis A. Manley
Kurtis A. Manley, PA-C, DFAAPA

AAPA/PAEA Preceptor of the Year Award

This award honors a preceptor who has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in the clinical education of PA students as a mentor and instructor.

Kurtis A. Manley, PA-C, DFAAPA, is the 2020 recipient of the AAPA/PAEA Preceptor of the Year Award. Manley is a Navy veteran and a primary care PA in Kingman, Arizona, and has precepted more than 100 PA students over the last 18 years. Read More

The Case Western Reserve University Charles L. Hudson Society
The Case Western Reserve University Charles L. Hudson Society

Outstanding Student Society

This award recognizes one student society for outstanding service to the profession in the areas of public education and advocacy; public service and outreach; promotion of diversity; and professional involvement.

The Case Western Reserve University Charles L. Hudson Society is AAPA’s 2020 Outstanding Student Society. In 2019 CWRU PA students focused on events and activities that promote diversity and expand access to care, especially for underserved groups in their community. Read More