Physician Associate Christi Froiland spent a decade as an athletic trainer in the lower 48 before she went to PA school. She then returned to her hometown of Anchorage where she has practiced at both a dermatology clinic and an urgent care for over 18 years. She has also served for the last decade as the PA representative to the Alaska State Medical Association (ASMA).
Outside of the legislature I, too, am a PA, and I know Christi through our professional organization the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants. Our American professional organization (AAPA) has officially changed the name of our profession to Physician Associates. Alaska PAs have voted to officially change our name to physician associates as well, but the name change has not happened at the regulatory or statutory level yet. The PA profession in Alaska needs modernizing beyond a name change, and although we do not speak about it directly, we will reference Senate Bill 89 sponsored by Sen. Löki Tobin, which would modernize Alaska laws governing PAs.
