20001 BOB SCULLY PA OF THE YEAR
MARY ETTARI, MPH, PA-C

The Florida Academy of Physician Assistants Board of Directors presented Mary Ettari with the Bob Scully PA of the Year Award for 2001. The presentation was made at the Annual Membership Luncheon on August 10th, 2001 at the Annual Summer Conference in Palm Beach. The award is sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals and the presentation was made by Mr. Leonard Thomas from Novartis.

Mary has been involved in FAPA for many years and is a Past President of our Academy. She has worked tirelessly for the membership in many roles. She has served as Conference Committee Chair for the past three years and as such was the key person in the success of our CME conferences. She is Co-Chair of the Legislative and Governmental Affairs Committee and has played an instrumental role in many of the legislative successes we have had in the past. She is a member of the FAPA Foundation Board of Trustees. And she has served on multiple other committees over the years. These positions have required countless hours of work on her part in our behalf. Because of her well known capabilities and professional stature she was appointed by Governor Bush to the Florida Commission on Excellence in Health Care where she did an outstanding job of representing the PA profession and the Florida Academy.

On a national level Mary has been just as active with the AAPA since 1981. She has been chair of the AAPA Membership Committee. Mary has been a delegate to the AAPA House of Delegates for multiple sessions. Mary was elected Secretary of the House of Delegates in 1984, and First Vice Speaker in 1985 and had a very proactive role in development of AAPA policy on a number of issues including organ transplantation, hazards of tobacco use, use of seat belts and motorcycle helmets, impaired practitioners, and many other professional issue policies. She was on the AAPA Board of Directors as a Director At Large for two years and as Secretary for six years. In 2000, she was appointed to the AAPA Leadership Advisory Commission, and in February 2001 was appointed to the PA Foundation Board of Trustees. In 2001 at the AAPA House of Delegates opening ceremony, Mary received the prestigious House of Delegates Outstanding Service Award for 2001 by Speaker Tom Lemley. It was presented "with great admiration...for all you have contributed to the progress and accomplishments of the AAPA's policy making body, the House of Delegates." Lemley described Mary as "an individual with limitless enthusiasm, cheer, energy, perseverance, focus, and outstanding work values that serve her community and her beloved PA profession."

Mary is in family practice in Stuart, Florida at present. She is a 1981 magna cum laude graduate from the Duke University PA program, and later received a Master's Degree in Public Health in Health Care Administration form George Washington University.

It goes without saying the Mary Ettari is one of the most deserving individuals to ever receive this award and it is a most fitting honor due her for her many years of devoted service to the PA profession, and most of all to the PAs in Florida and the Florida Academy of Physician Assistants. Congratulations Mary, and "Thank You" on behalf of the membership of the Florida Academy.

By Ron Pace, PA-C