If the number of people you’ve made happy, so they say, is greater than the number of people you’ve made unhappy, you’ve done well as a person. As a massage therapist specializing in pain management, Jill Wenger did her best to bring joy to her patients by helping to alleviate their suffering. Some patients, however, had neurodegenerative diseases, for which a massage was able to do very little. What if she could surpass her own limits and take patient care to the next level? How many people could she make happy then? 

In Jill Wenger’s winning entry for PracticeLink’s Spring 2025 First Practice Fund scholarship, the wife and mother of two described the concern she felt for patients with complex diagnoses and her path toward becoming a Physician Associate. First Practice Fund is a competitive $2,500 scholarship open to aspiring medical professionals training in the U.S.

The motivation behind Jill’s goal is emotionally rich, highly personal and supported by real patient interactions. Her entry uniquely portrays a journey driven by hands-on experience, empathy and professional growth.

PracticeLink: Why did you enter medicine? 

Jill Wenger: As a massage therapist, one of the first questions I always asked was, ‘What brings you in today?’ One gentleman, who went on to become a regular patient, answered: “I have numbness on one side of my body. It starts at my midback. I can’t feel anything. I’m hoping massage will help. What do you think?” He stared at me, his green eyes full of hope.

“Have you been to a doctor?” I asked with concern.

“Just my chiropractor, and he recommended massage,” he responded.

My patient, we’ll call him Brian for privacy reasons, and I discussed the plan of care established with his chiropractor, a provider I had worked closely with on several occasions. As Brian described his symptoms, I realized I had heard similar descriptions from another patient, we’ll call Sally. Brian’s one-sided numbness was the exact symptom Sally had with her first Multiple Sclerosis exacerbation. Unfortunately, I could not tell Brian that since my scope of practice as a massage therapist did not allow for medical treatment or advice.

As our weekly sessions continued with little improvement, I urged Brian to seek medical care. He wanted to know why I was so insistent, and I told him honestly: “I think something is going on that I can’t fix. I think you need to have some tests run.”

Brian eventually found a health care provider and was diagnosed with a rare disease called sarcoidosis, but it presented as transverse myelitis, mimicking Multiple Sclerosis.

I had been working as a massage therapist for ten years by the time I had my first Multiple Sclerosis client, Sally, and within a few weeks I had been referred four more with the same condition. I was fascinated by each of their treatments; they were all on different medications. I wanted to study the disease to verify I was treating them all correctly, so I spent my free time researching their medications, side effects and prognoses. I learned so much about MS that I became fascinated with the progression of this neurodegenerative disease. I contemplated going back to school but was torn with the idea of missing my patients and giving up everything I had worked so hard to build. Unbeknownst to me, my journey to PA school had already started in 2008 when I was 18 and decided to forego traditional college for Massage Therapy school. By age 20, I had opened my own business and worked almost exclusively with pain management cases. Unfortunately, the type of care I was able to provide as a massage therapist was limited. I knew becoming a Physician Associate would allow me to help patients even more, granting me a larger scope of practice and more tools at my disposal.

Working with patients like Sally and Brian was pivotal in giving me the push I needed to further my education. I thought massage would be my lifelong career, but my constant curiosity and desire to learn more took over, and I was, once again, pursuing higher education. I knew I wanted to help more effectively, to have more knowledge, and to increase my scope of practice. I researched area schools, talked to my husband and two small children and began my journey to Physician Associate school by completing the remainder of my prerequisites in January 2019. Even with a busy family life and a full-time job, I was dedicated to my education. I was eventually accepted to The University of Tampa, and we moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Tampa, Florida.

Now in PA school, I am determined to do well, never missing class. I am helpful to my peers, and always in the front row, ready to learn. I tutored chemistry professionally for a semester before the pandemic, and I take the lessons I learned there to hold study sessions for my colleagues in every class, even over Zoom.

Helping patients I take care of is more than about just feeling good in the moment. I want my patients to live their best lives and to thrive physically. I want to be a Physician Associate to expand my scope of practice, work with other healthcare professionals to provide patient-centered care, develop and implement care plans, educate patients and their families, perform medical and surgical procedures, and provide disease prevention and health maintenance to patients. The twelve years of patient care experience I already had as a massage therapist provided the tools I need to maintain professionalism, compassion and integrity, treat every patient without prejudice, show sensitivity to gender, culture, age and disabilities, and maintain confidentiality related to patient information. My journey to becoming a Physician Associate has been challenging but rewarding, and I cannot wait to start my career in this amazing profession.

PL: How have you demonstrated professionalism in your medical training?

JW: Part of being in the medical field is ensuring you are a polished professional. I maintain my professionalism every day, because I think that even during school, it is important to practice professionalism. I always arrive on time and ready to learn, ensuring I have the tools and supplies needed for the day. I keep a calendar of important events and I send reminders to classmates helping us all be prepared for big projects, tests, and important due dates. I have a positive attitude even when things are stressful outside of school because everyone works better when the environment is kind and friendly. I dress professionally every single day, with the philosophy of “dress for the job you want.” I encourage others frequently. I listen when people have grievances, and work to find solutions that make both parties happy. I am kind and professional to people even when we aren’t friends, because everyone deserves a safe and friendly work and school environment. If someone gives me negative feedback, I sit with it, take time to be introspective about what they said, and meet back with them about changes I can make to be a better professional. I am very passionate about the Physician Associate profession, and want to be someone others can look to for inspiration on professionalism.

PL: How have you built and utilized strong interpersonal and communication skills in your training?

JW: The entire medical profession is about having good communication skills. We must communicate with other medical professionals, hospital staff, patients and families. A Physician Associate who cannot communicate effectively to any one of those groups is not going to be the best PA they can be. I work on my communication skills in a myriad of ways. Most prominently by starting Group Chats and Teams folders for class, having my family ask questions at home and volunteering to present cases for consults. First, I worked extensively on creating Class Group Chats to keep different groups informed. For instance, during my Internal Medicine clinical rotation, I added everyone on IM rotation to a group chat, where we sent articles, study guides, and due date reminders for projects. When I finished the IM rotation, I put all the information I had amassed into a Teams folder so the next group of IM students had access to the same information. People then began to make their own Teams folders, which now includes a huge amount of great information for my classmates and I to utilize.

Secondly, I extensively practiced explaining things to patients and their families in layman’s terms, often asking my family to give me pop-quizzes. For example, my kids asked me to explain strep throat, my husband asked me to explain cerumen impaction and my parents asked me to explain the Shingles Vaccine. If they think I am getting too medical with terminology, they stop me, and we try again. This practice has helped me so much when patients have questions.

Finally, I asked every preceptor I’ve had so far if I can have a chance to give the oral case presentation to the doctors we are consulting. This gives me a perfect opportunity to practice pertinent positive and negatives to a medical professional much more specialized than I am. It’s also very intimidating as a student, so I have pushed myself to practice this. I think communication skills are one of the most important skills we have as medical providers. It helps us explain things to patients and their families, keeps us informed inter-professionally, and allows us to consult with other medical professionals, allowing for the best care for our patients.

PL: What are your career goals and how will the First Practice Fund help you achieve them?

JW: I would love to work in a rural emergency room as a Physician Associate. There are so many under-served people in our nation that have a difficult time getting good healthcare. When I was in high school, the closest hospital was over an hour away, and the closest trauma center was even farther. I knew people who “stitched themselves up at home” because they didn’t have access to quality care. I want to be someone those small communities trust to see when their son’s leg is broken under the Friday Night Lights, when their dad cuts his hand and can’t get it to stop bleeding, or when their young teenage friend is in a car accident and needs to be evaluated. I want to be the face that people can trust, and I want them to be cared for in a way that doesn’t give prejudice to their circumstances. Getting this scholarship will help me achieve these goals because it will help me pay for classes, books, and applications that will help me in Emergency Medicine field. It will allow me to study more and have more free time to research new techniques. It will also allow me to pay to join different groups like SEMPA – the Society of Emergency Medicine PAs, AAPA (American Association of Physician Associates), and FAPA (Florida Association of Physician Associates) which are essential for networking. I appreciate your consideration for this scholarship. If you choose me, it will help me and my family be able to afford the last two semesters of PA school, and allow me to join these important networking associations, eventually allowing me to follow my dreams of helping those in rural communities.