I t was a pair of diseased lungs that sent PA Julia Karnoski on a path to becoming a health care provider. She was a senior in high school, and her anatomy teacher took her class on a field trip to a cadaver lab. Seeing a set of lungs in the cadaver of a lifelong smoker awakened her to the importance and the potential of a career in health and medicine.
A Meaningful Career
She went on to get a degree in natural science from Loyola Marymount University, and as she explored her career options, she discovered the profession of PA and something about it just made sense. “It was everything I wanted in a career,” she says. “It would be intellectually challenging, and would push me to learn and grow every day. It was meaningful work and would provide me with an avenue to make a positive impact on my community. I also appreciated the fact that teamwork was integrated into the profession, as PAs work so closely with their collaborating physician and others in the health care team.”
After completing her PA Studies degree, Julia began working in an urgent care clinic before moving to emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s of Orange and Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). She also began tutoring at MBKU, assisting students in Ketchum’s first PA class with challenging material. Eventually, the program director of the PA Studies program at the time asked Julia not only to begin teaching for Ketchum, but also to assist in revising core parts of the PA Studies curriculum. She was tasked with teaching pharmacology from a clinician’s perspective, while continuing to work full time in the ER. It’s a perfect mix. “Working in the ER helps me be a better educator, and working at MBKU helps me be a better provider,” she says.
Many Roles at MBKU
PA Karnoski does far more than teach a class at MBKU and then leave. She's become a key faculty member in the PA Studies program, lecturing on clinical medicine topics, assisting with skills workshops, proctoring patient assessment exams and simulations, and tutoring students when needed. She also serves as a member of several program committees, including the didactic, student progress, and admissions committees. It is safe to say that she has met with her challenging and fulfilling career.
And at MBKU, she has found a place where collaboration is a core part of the mission. “The over-specialization of medicine and lack of communication between providers can often have a detrimental effect on patient care, so we are working hard to ingrain a culture of respect and collaboration among the next generation of health care providers. The PA faculty consists of PAs, NPs, MDs, and PhDs, with each member contributing a unique perspective on clinical medicine. In addition, we have an invaluable resource in the expertise of our OD and PharmD colleagues, which makes for a very strong and well-balanced curriculum. We have the students work together in small groups throughout their training, and they also learn to work with the optometry and pharmacy students during their interprofessional courses. At MBKU, we educate students from the beginning that every patient deserves to have a team behind them that's working together to achieve optimal health outcomes.”
A High Standard
Julia works to instill in her students the same desire she had to be challenged always by what they're learning, and to honor the privilege and responsibility of providing quality health care. “I want students to be eager to learn, to push themselves to be better and better. We hold students to a very high standard because they're going out to take care of people. I can't think of a more important job.”