Williamsport, Pa. — Bryan Bilbao, a student of Pennsylvania College of Technology in the Physician Assistant program, has capped off his career with a number of accolades, but his success starts from within.
Bilbao is an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the health field. Throughout his college career, he has made it his goal to shed light on the challenges of medical treatment faced by people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and other diverse populations.
"My work is motivated from taking care of patients and treating them as if they were my late Nonna, and making sure I make every patient comfortable and heard. I promise to make sure I treat every patient as a “somebody’s somebody” and not just my '12th patient of the day,'" Bilbao said.
Bilbao first created a project to highlight such experiences in 2021. The video project, created for a medical decision making class, gained attention from staff and students, reaching over 12,000 likes on Youtube.
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Bilbao recently became a National Director for the PA-S LEAD group, a student-run group for physician assistant students that promotes leadership, equity, anti-racism and diversity.
Bilbao will be the class speaker at his program's white coat ceremony and present as the student speaker at the Summer Commencement at Penn College.
Penn College awarded Bilbao the Lewis Bardo award for dutifulness to help others.
Bilbao's video capstone project, the culmination of his work as a PA student, involved over one year of interviews and over 100 hours of editing.
Interview accounts range from Physician General and Acting Secretary of Health, Dr. Denise Johnson, Pennsylvania Department of Health, to researchers at MainLine Health in Philadelphia, to professors/educators, to PA students from Penn College and King's College.
The youtube video for the project currently has 7,000 views. Find the video here.
"I hope my capstone leaves those wondering what they themselves can do to combat implicit biases and overcome healthcare disparities. I hope this video motivates people to think of their 'why' and be better—not only in healthcare, but as human beings," Bilbao said.
As Bilbao continues his journey toward inclusive medicine, he will begin work within the Emergency Department at Wilkes Barre General Hospital in Scranton.
