{"id":35957,"date":"2010-01-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/"},"modified":"2010-01-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T06:00:00","slug":"knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\"><p>Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist.<\/p>\n<p>But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier&#8217;s interest in a career in health care.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec. 18, Zephier graduated from the physician assistant program at the UNMC.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I really became interested in this field after shadowing Rob Baum, a physician assistant who works with Dr. Jennifer Larsen,&#8221; Zephier said.<\/p>\n<p>She liked the program she said, because it allowed her flexibility and variety.<\/p>\n<p><TABLE border=\"0\" width=\"250\" cellspacing=\"10\" align=\"right\"><br \/>\n<TR><br \/>\n<TD><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\" alt=\"picture disc.\"><br \/>\n<\/TD><br \/>\n<\/TR><br \/>\n<TR><br \/>\n<TD><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size:7pt; line-height:150%;\">Ramona Zephier<\/span><br \/>\n<\/TD><br \/>\n<\/TR><br \/>\n<\/TABLE>&#8220;You don&#8217;t have to do a residency in one particular area. You can go right into family practice or try something else. You aren&#8217;t isolated into one field,&#8221; Zephier said.<\/p>\n<p>Zephier spent two years working as a research assistant for Dr. Larsen, associate dean for clinical research in the UNMC College of Medicine, before enrolling in the PA program. During that time she worked on a research project involving the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota that focused on insulin resistance in American Indian youth. <\/p>\n<p>Zephier &#8212; a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota &#8212; offered valuable insight into the project.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I really appreciated Ramona&#8217;s input on this particular research,&#8221; Dr. Larsen said. &#8220;She had a perspective that the average person might not because she is familiar with the community. She was very easy to work with, learned quickly, is very responsible, and cared about what she was doing.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Now that she has graduated Zephier said she is pursuing opportunities in orthopedics. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I shadowed the same orthopedic surgeon who worked on my Achilles tendon when I injured it during my senior year of college,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I really enjoyed being in the operating room, following up with the patients and seeing them recover.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After taking her board exams, Zephier plans to apply for jobs in Chicago, Denver and Phoenix, where she has friends and family.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What I really would like to do is to be in sports medicine ultimately,&#8221; Zephier said.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier&#8217;s interest in a career in health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier&#039;s interest in a career in health care.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier&#039;s interest in a career in health care.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lisa Spellman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Spellman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Spellman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8d31cc4e88f7c63f8d4aecafb5b5c39\"},\"headline\":\"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":341,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/monapic110.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/\",\"name\":\"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/monapic110.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier's interest in a career in health care.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/monapic110.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/monapic110.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":206},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/22\\\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/unmcedu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/unmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/iamunmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8d31cc4e88f7c63f8d4aecafb5b5c39\",\"name\":\"Lisa Spellman\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/author\\\/c51ce410c124a10e0db5e4b97fc2af39\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care","description":"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier's interest in a career in health care.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care","og_description":"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier's interest in a career in health care.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Lisa Spellman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lisa Spellman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/"},"author":{"name":"Lisa Spellman","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a8d31cc4e88f7c63f8d4aecafb5b5c39"},"headline":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care","datePublished":"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/"},"wordCount":341,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/","name":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-22T06:00:00+00:00","description":"Her brother is a doctor, her sister a physical therapist. But it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in high school that spurred Ramona Zephier's interest in a career in health care.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/monapic110.jpg","width":250,"height":206},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2010\/01\/22\/knee-injury-leads-pa-grad-to-career-in-the-health-care\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Knee injury leads PA grad to career in the health care"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a8d31cc4e88f7c63f8d4aecafb5b5c39","name":"Lisa Spellman","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/c51ce410c124a10e0db5e4b97fc2af39\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}