President Elect: Tracey Piparo, PA-C, DFAAPA

Bio: A seasoned Physician Associate with 23 years of healthcare experience, Tracey is dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals facing serious illness. Her expertise in palliative care focuses on empowering patients to actively participate in their healthcare decisions, including advance care planning.

She is passionate about normalizing conversations around death and dying, and works tirelessly to improve access to compassionate end-of-life care. Through national speaking engagements and collaborative initiatives, Tracey strives to create a healthcare system where every patient and family receives the support they deserve.

Tracey’s commitment to evidence-based practice, patient-centered care, and professional advocacy drive her work as she supports patients and families in navigating complex healthcare journeys. In 2024, PA Piparo joined the National Emergency and Palliative Medicine Initiative of Compassion and Choices to expand access to palliative care within emergency departments.

She lives in Allentown, NJ with her firefighter husband and two growing boys and enjoys family workouts in their garage gym, occasional hikes throughout NJ, visits to the shore, good food and even better wine, as well as a good evening of mindless television.

Favorite Quote: "So what is the magic formula, I hear you ask. It's H ≥ e – E. Or in other words: happiness is greater than or equal to the events of life, minus the expectations of life."  -Mo Gawdat

Immediate Past President: Jeanine Smith, MS, PA-C

Bio: Jeanine Smith is a Physician Assistant with 28 years of experience in Oklahoma. During her PA career, some highlights include that she first started in 1996 at a level one trauma center in Tulsa, OK, eventually transitioning into the leader of the code blue team starting in 2001. She then transitioned to hospital medicine in 2009, where she first developed an interest in palliative care. In 2015, she worked in long-term acute care and inpatient palliative care. To enhance her education, she completed a Master's of Science in Palliative Care in 2022. She currently works in inpatient palliative care at the only HPM physician fellowship training program in OKC. Outside of the clinical role, she is the Past President of PAHPM. Jeanine credits PAHPM connections since 2015 for guiding her career in hospice and palliative medicine."

Favorite Quote: "To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." -William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Bio: Betsy Fricklas is a dedicated physician assistant specializing in palliative care at Duke Health. Renowned for her compassionate approach, Betsy focuses on enhancing the quality of life for patients with serious illnesses. As the Director of Palliative Care for the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis (DCBSM), she leverages her skills to guide patients and their families through complex medical journeys. Her leadership and commitment to holistic care are instrumental in fostering a supportive and empathetic environment within the Center.

Embracing her expertise in palliative care, Betsy has led panels and served as a speaker at various local and national events and has worked with colleagues from the DCBSM on palliative care research, contributing to two manuscripts currently in press.

Beyond her roles at Duke, Betsy has gained national recognition as a Physician Assistant in the Palliative Care field. She serves as the Vice President of the Physician Associates in Hospice and Palliative Medicine organization and has represented PAs on the Quality and Advocacy Committees of the National Coalition of Hospice and Palliative Care. Her professional passions include serious illness communication education and interdisciplinary team collaboration.

Betsy holds a Master of Medical Science from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science from Duke University.

Bio: I graduated from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science with a Masters in Physician Assistant Practice in 2006. I then completed a surgical residency at Norwalk Hospital/Yale University in 2007. I received my CAQ in Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care in 2023.

I started my career off in General and Vascular Surgery, followed by Hematology/Oncology and then found my calling with Palliative Care. I have seen all sides of Palliative Care over my many years in the field, working in Inpatient Palliative Care, an outpatient clinic in Palliative Oncology and most recently, in-home Palliative Care. The inpatient experience was my absolute favorite! 

Most recently I made a career move from clinical work to academia. Palliative medicine remains my passion and I want to work to expand Palliative Medicine education for those new PAs in the classroom early on.

Favorite Quote: "Books, minds and umbrellas only work when they are open."     -unknown

Treasurer: Jennifer Wang, MS, DMSc, PA-C

Bio: Jennifer Wang is a clinically practicing PA in palliative and critical care medicine in the suburbs of New York, and current PAHPM treasurer. She recently received her doctoral degree from the University of Lynchburg, published a scholarly project on Evolving Inpatient Strategies for the Management of Severe Alcohol Withdrawal, and is a graduate of California State University’s certificate program in palliative care. After completing Montefiore’s surgical residency program, she began her career as a first assistant in plastic surgery, and spent the majority of her career in cardiac critical care.

In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies and studying Japanese ( ideally Japanese movies), as well as spending time with her husband and two children.

Favorite Quote: From the movie The Princess Bride: in which Vizzini admonishes Fezzik to “Stop rhyming, I mean it!! ” and Fezzik (played by Andre the Giant) counters, “Anybody got a peanut?”.

Director at Large, Pediatrics: Rebekah Halpern, MPAS, PA-C, DFAAPA

Bio: Rebekah has been a Physician Associate for 31 years. She currently works in the Neonatal and Infant Critical Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Mission Viejo. She is a proponent of primary palliative care in the critical care setting, as well as thoughtful communication with patients and their families. Outside of her clinical duties she is active at the national level in advocating for children’s health care issues through American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) and with in the House of Delegates (AAPA). She sits on 3 committees at the national level representing PA practice in Hospice/Palliative care and ethics (National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care: Pediatric Division. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Ethics Advisory Council.) Her personal philosophy embraces the family as an integral part of the health care team. She remains a proponent of family centered care delivered in a culturally appropriate manner. Her spare time is spent traveling and exploring the underwater world and outdoors with my family, gardening and reading.

It is not about death but how you live between now and then: make each moment of the journey count, really listen, be a catalyst, pave the way for the future, be the candle that lights 1000 others…

Director at Large, Adult: Jack Kimball, PA-C

Bio: I serve as the Director-at-Large for PAHPM. I work as an outpatient palliative care Physician Associate at Duke University Health System where I focus on improving quality of life for patients and their families. I am also an Associate Editor for PC-FACS at the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. I have published scholarly works in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Before palliative care, I was a PA in a rural family medicine clinic. Prior to that, I worked as an EMT-I in Durham County for five years. I started my career as a foreign correspondent for Reuters news agency where I covered politics, economics, and conflict mainly in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Favorite Quote: "Wherever you go, there you are."

Student Board Member:  Rachael Broder, PA-S2

Bio: Rachael is a PA student beginning her clinical year at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, PA. She started her medical career as an EMT in 2018 and continues to pick up shifts on the ambulance today. Rachael first became interested in palliative medicine while working in the emergency department of a children’s hospital in Philadelphia. She is passionate about improving the visibility of, and access to, palliative and hospice medicine, particularly in medically marginalized communities. Additionally, Rachael aims to promote the field at the student level and advocate for greater inclusion of palliative and hospice medicine in PA school curricula.

This year, Rachael is excited to be completing an elective rotation in palliative and hospice medicine. She lives in a suburb of Philadelphia with her fiancé, dog, and two cats. In her free time, Rachael enjoys going to the gym. She is also working on cooking every country's national dish in alphabetical order with her fiancé, documenting their journey on Instagram (@mike.rachael.cooktheworld). 

Favorite Quote: “Sometimes we can offer a cure, sometimes only a salve, sometimes not even that. But whatever we can offer, our interventions, and the risks and sacrifices they entail, are justified only if they serve the larger aims of a person’s life. When we forget that, the suffering we inflict can be barbaric. When we remember it the good we do can be breathtaking.” - Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End