Cynthia Lord, director of the physician assistant program, has been appointed president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.
The national organization represents the nearly 70,000 physician assistants practicing in all medical and surgical specialties and all practice settings.
Lord has been a physician assistant for more than 15 years and has been working in health care for more than 20 years. During this time, she has served in several leadership positions with AAPA and the Connecticut Academy of Physician Assistants. She has served as a director at large and as president-elect on the AAPA Board of Directors, as chair of the Academy's Constituent Relations Committee and as a peer-to-peer facilitator assisting constituent organizations.
A past president of ConnAPA and the Connecticut Physician Assistant Foundation, Lord has been active in leadership roles at the University, participating on numerous academic committees. She has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to the PA profession, including the ConnAPA President's Award, the Connecticut Lung Association Special Recognition Award and the Connecticut Kidney Foundation Special Recognition Award.
Lord received a physician associate certificate from the Yale University School of Medicine and a master of health science degree from Quinnipiac.