Our Students. Their Stories.
Some find themselves in rural communities, serving as the only medical practitioners in the region. Others are called to big cities, lending their expertise to the masses.
Wherever they land, graduates of George Fox’s PA program are extending compassion to high-need areas across the country.
‘We’re all we’ve got out here’
In the heart of Burns, Oregon – a quaint, rural town of about 2,750 residents – physician assistant Sarah Jane Lance is making a difference by providing primary care and orthopedic care at Harney District Hospital, the only hospital around for more than 70 miles.
Lance became fascinated with science and medicine at a young age. She first experienced the world of medicine when she went on international mission trips with her grandmother, Phyllis, as a child.
Phyllis served on hundreds of trips as a tropical medicine nurse practitioner and helped treat infectious diseases in various countries with Lance in tow.
Today, Lance is following in her grandmother’s footsteps – serving where there is a great need. “Being with patients and serving them in some of their most vulnerable times is the most rewarding part about being a PA,” she says.
‘You feel you’re doing something meaningful when you help them’
It seems Carlos Barajas was destined to find his calling in the medical profession. He himself was in and out of hospitals as a child, instilling in him an appreciation for the care he received, and his mother inspired him as a nurse.
So it comes as little surprise that Carlos is excited about the work he’s doing after completing the university’s PA program. A December 2024 graduate, he returned to his native Covina, California, to serve his community – including those displaced by the region’s wildfires in January of 2025.
“It’s all about the connections I make with people, honestly,” says Carlos of his career choice. “You see how grateful they are after you’ve helped them, and you get a feeling of satisfaction. In that sense, you can really see how medicine can bring people together.”
‘God put us here and gave us gifts to care for our patients’
The son of Moldovan doctors who immigrated to Oregon, Stan Cernev grew up watching his parents use their language skills and cultural understanding to serve Russian-speaking patients. Their example taught him the power of empathy and inspired him to enroll in George Fox’s PA program with the intent to serve underserved communities.
“People often underestimate how hard it can be to move to America – how hard it is not to know the language, while trying to navigate something like the healthcare system, which is a vital part of everyone’s life,” he says. “To have someone who can understand what you’re going through and what it takes to come here is powerful.”
Before enrolling at George Fox, Stan volunteered at the Salem Free Clinic and worked as an emergency room scribe, where he saw firsthand how language barriers can affect patient care. Those experiences broadened his understanding of what it means to be underserved and helped him recognize how his own background could become a gift to others.