{"id":112909,"date":"2024-07-15T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=112909"},"modified":"2024-07-12T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T15:29:26","slug":"physician-assistant-alumnus-promoted-to-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/07\/15\/physician-assistant-alumnus-promoted-to-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Physician assistant alumnus promoted to general"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A UNMC College of Allied Health Professions alumnus has achieved a historic milestone as the first active-duty physician assistant to become a general in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brig. Gen. Bill Soliz, now the commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific, and the director of Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific, was awarded his Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degree in 1999 from UNMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a proud moment for the College of Allied Health Professions, noted dean Kyle Meyer, PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe college and all of UNMC extend our congratulations to Brig. Gen. Soliz,\u201d Dr. Meyer said. \u201cWe are honored and proud to recognize him as an alum and grateful for his tremendous service to the military and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brig. Gen. Soliz made history with his promotion May 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He completed his master\u2019s degree and training through UNMC\u2019s distance education degree advancement program after receiving his bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, through the Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IPAP is a unique partnership between the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions and the U.S. military to provide the uniformed services with competent, compassionate physician assistants. UNMC now is the degree granting institution for both bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees for military physician assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership will soon mark 30 years, representing UNMC\u2019s longest-running continual federal contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the inception of the IPAP, graduates were awarded a bachelor\u2019s entry-level degree upon graduation. Some went on to earn their master\u2019s degrees, as Brig. Gen. Soliz did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, participants receive both a bachelor\u2019s degree after 16 months of didactic training and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies after 13 additional months of clinical rotations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNMC provides faculty and student support, administrative support and operational support to the program, which is a separately accredited program. Because the military is not a degree-granting institution, UNMC awards degrees three times a year to physician assistant program graduates from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article announcing the promotion, the Department of Defense noted that Brig. Gen. Soliz is a trailblazer in multiple ways: He also is the first Hispanic American non-physician general officer and commanding general in the Army Medical Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Gen. Mary Izaguirre, U.S. Army Surgeon General, praised the UNMC alumnus: \u201cHe has excelled in clinical and leadership roles as an officer, and along the way he has stood out as a gifted officer,\u201d Lt. Gen. Izaguirre said. \u201cBill has been an educator, and he has also sculpted our education system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brig. Gen. Soliz served as a combat medic early in his Army career, before deciding to become a physician assistant, to grow as a soldier and as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Defense article said his motto has always been, \u201cPut people first, people are our most valuable resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his role as commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific, Brig. Gen. Soliz serves as the director of Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific and oversees a joint, integrated health network with Army, Navy and Air Force personnel that provides quality care in medical facilities in Washington, California, Hawaii, Japan and the Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As director, Brig. Gen. Soliz leads more than 15,000 service members, civilians and contractors that support the United States Indo-Pacific, Northern, Special Operations, Transportation, Cyber and Space Commands.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brig. Gen. Bill Soliz, commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific, received his MPAS degree from UNMC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":113214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"69028,34404,35125,47012,55216,30327","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-community","topic-outreach","department-college-of-public-health","department-physician-assistant","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-kalani-simpson-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"\nPhysician assistant alumnus promoted to general<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brig. 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