Preceptor Spotlights | Emory School of Medicine

The dedicated clinicians featured here have averaged 11 years of service, consistently mentoring and shaping future PAs. Their commitment and expertise have profoundly impacted both our students and the patients they serve.

The Emory PA Program extends its deepest gratitude to each of these remarkable individuals. Your generosity of time, mentorship, and passion for teaching define what it means to give back to the profession. We are endlessly proud to call you partners in PA education, and we are honored to recognize your lasting contributions here.

Bill Bryson, MMSc., PA-C General Internal Medicine / Family Medicine - The Emory Clinic at Decatur

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 10+ years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “What I enjoy most about precepting is trying to make it feel less like a learning experience (even though it certainly is one) and more like an authentic patient-care experience. Students do not shadow me after the first morning. Rather, I encourage them early-on to act independently in clinic, seeing “their” patients, doing all the things – history, physical, decision-making, treatment plans, and patient education - but always in consultation with me for every patient. I want them to come as close as they can to taking care of “their” patients independently - they do not need me in the room with them. I believe that giving students a little independence and freedom to make decisions goes a long way toward their learning and empowerment.”

Neena Desai Ghose, MD, MHS Family Medicine, Emory Old 4th Ward Clinic and Emory Dunwoody Clinic

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 8 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “I enjoy this work immensely as Emory PA students are highly motivated, clinically strong, display initiative in clinical settings and have a great deal of empathy for our patients. I have also enjoyed precepting PA students in our Emory Farm Workers program.”

Melanie L. Johnson, PA-C, MPH Outpatient OBGYN at Greater Atlanta Women’s Healthcare

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 9 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “I am passionate about shaping the next generation of healthcare professionals by emphasizing the vital role of PA’s and allied health professionals in bridging the gap and meeting the growing demands of modern healthcare. I serve as an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Medicine's Physician Assistant programs and teaching future PA’s has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. As an alumna of Emory University’s Physician Assistant Program (c/o 2015!), I am passionate about pouring back into the institution that poured into me. The education, mentorship, and support I received continue to inspire my commitment to serving and guiding the next generation of PA’s!

I enjoy sharing my knowledge and clinical experience in the specialty of OBGYN, through lecturing, assisting with their clinical skills/lab training, and serving as a preceptor for OBGYN clinical rotations. The opportunity to guide students in their professional growth and help shape their clinical decision-making is deeply gratifying. Watching them grow in confidence and competence, while making connections between theory and practice is one of the most rewarding aspects of my role as an educator."

Todd R. Kelley, MD, MBA Harbin Clinic Pediatrics, Rome, GA

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 22 years precepting Emory PA Students

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “I find the students to be engaging and interesting”

Mohammad Moussa, MD SFHM Internal Medicine Inpatient at Emory Johns Creek Hospital

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 12 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “For me working with Emory Physician Assistant students is a deeply rewarding experience. Personally, I enjoy working with Emory PA students as I can see rising stars in training who continue to evolve and improve thru rigorous exposure to different clinical inpatient cases and I feel very honored to contribute to their success so they can continue to shine after graduation and help shape clinical care in real-life.”

Susan Ortiz, PA-C Hospital Medicine at Emory University Hospital

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 11 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “Precepting allows me to share my passion for medicine while helping to guide the next generation of PAs as they grow in a real-world clinical setting. It is a highly rewarding experience that naturally keeps my own knowledge current. Emory PA students constantly amaze me with their extensive knowledge gained during the didactic year. Students bring an abundance of enthusiasm, energy, and inquisitive minds that continually challenge and inspire me to evaluate and elevate my own clinical practice. Emory University Hospital (EUH) is a tertiary care academic facility that offers unique educational and clinical experiences, which I absolutely love sharing with the students.”

Seth Rosen, MD, FASCRS Emory Johns Creek Hospital - Colorectal Surgery

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 6 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “Emory PA students are bright, hard-working, team-oriented and caring individuals – it is my honor and pleasure to participate in their training. I particularly enjoy when someone comes on service who is unsure of their career trajectory and, after spending time on our service, they have a new interest in the surgical specialties.”

William E. Roundtree, MD, FAAFP Family Practice and Sports Medicine – Private Practice, Columbus, GA

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 30+ years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “During my Family Medicine residency, I rotated with a retired Army officer who was a physician assistant student at Emory. That officer later became an area coordinator for the Emory Physician Assistant Program and asked me to serve as a preceptor in 1992. I have continued to precept Emory PA students since that time.

While I have other clinical faculty appointments and precept medical students, residents, and other PA students, I have particularly enjoyed precepting Emory PA students. They are consistently mature, experienced, well prepared, and eager to learn. Over the past 30 years, they have been a part of my practice, learning how to provide family medical care and participating in medical coverage for college, high school, and community sporting events.”

Dawn Russell, M.D., MCMP (menopause certified provider) General OB/Gyn at Johns Creek

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 7 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “I enjoy working with fresh eyes on a specialty I’ve worked in for over 25 years. The students challenge me to look at how I teach my patients and them with new ideas and new ways of looking at problems.”

Shonda Middleton Waddell, MMSc, PA-C Family Medicine at Emory at Snellville Primary Care

Years as a preceptor for Emory PA Students: 10 years

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students? “I truly enjoy watching Emory PA students apply their medical knowledge and develop within the clinical environment! I love that I have an opportunity to learn from them!”

Emory Decatur and Hillendale Hospital Emergency Medicine

Preceptors: Amanda S , Aurore O, Ava Z, Camille W, Dave H, Dennis J, Glenn M, Jackie S, Jennifer T, Jessica S, Jim G, Jordan S, Julian A, Lauren H, Melanie L, Michael M, Rachel R, Rhiana P, Robin B, Ryan C, Seth B

What do you enjoy most about precepting Emory PA Students?

“I enjoy seeing students have a lightbulb moment, where they are able to apply learned knowledge, which ultimately helps solidify those concepts”

“I enjoy being with students because they are typically eager to learn and grow. It’s fun watching students connect what they learn in school to their rotation experience”

“They are always bright students who ask insightful, thought-provoking questions”

“I enjoy the intellectual stimulation from all of the great questions!”