Houston VA Physician Assistant Named Outstanding Clinical Physician Assistant
HOUSTON – Physician Assistant Rubina Dasilva, PA-C, at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, (MEDVAMC) has been named 2012 Outstanding Clinical Physician Assistant of the Year by the VA Physician Assistant Association (VAPAA). Dasilva received her award in August 2012 at the annual VAPAA conference.
Dasilva, a Navy Veteran, has worked at the MEDVAMC since March 2007 and is a physician assistant in the Occupational Health Clinic providing care to medical center staff.
“PA Dasilva came to the medical center highly recommended and has surpassed our expectations. It comes as no surprise that her peers have recognized her as Physician Assistant of the Year. We are proud to have her on our team, said J. Kalavar, M.D., chief of staff, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.”
She is a current member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Veterans Caucus and the Veterans Affairs Physician Assistants Association. Dasilva graduated from the Drexel Hahnemann University Physician Assistant program in Philadelphia, PA.
The Department of Veteran Affairs is the largest single employer of Physician Assistants (PA) in the U.S and currently employs approximately 1900 PAs. PAs are highly-trained healthcare professionals who are recognized in all 50 States and the Department of Defense (DoD) as being qualified to practice medicine under the general supervision of a physician. Approximately thirty-five percent of Veterans Health Administration PAs are Veterans providing them with a heightened awareness of situations, stresses, and experiences unique to Veteran patients.
Awarded re-designation for Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services in 2008, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center serves as the primary health care provider for more than 130,000 veterans in southeast Texas. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently ranked the MEDVAMC as the most complex of its 141 medical facilities in terms of patient population, clinical services complexity, intensive care unit and operative complexity, and education and research. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases. The MEDVAMC is home to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic; Network Polytrauma Center; an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program; Liver Transplant Center; VA Epilepsy and Cancer Centers of Excellence; VA Substance Abuse Disorder Quality Enhancement Research Initiative; Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence; VA Rehabilitation Research of Excellence focusing on mild to moderate traumatic brain injury; Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center; and one of the VA’s six Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Lufkin, Richmond, and Texas City, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics logged almost 1.3 million outpatient visits in fiscal year 2011. For the latest news releases and information about the MEDVAMC, visit www.houston.va.gov.