It’s that time of year again to recognize your colleagues, mentors and friends and nominate them for a SAFPA award!
SAFPA Awards
The Society of Air Force Physician Assistants annually recognizes individuals within our community who go above and beyond to provide excellent patient care, mentorship, or PA advocacy. Please consider nominating one of your exceptional colleagues.
All submissions are due on 15 February 2026, and winners will be announced during AFPARC (individuals do not need to be present to win)
Instructions:
• For each award nomination, submit a narrative not to exceed 300 words.
• For the Paul W. Myers, Douglas Webb, and Jerrold L. Wheaton Awards, the narrative will describe how the nominee advances the Physician Assistant profession through superior mission execution, including deployments if applicable and patient care; demonstrates sustained leadership and mentorship; effectively manages personnel and resources; and improves overall unit readiness and effectiveness. Narratives emphasize measurable impact, initiative, and results.
• For the Tony DiTommaso Publishing Award, submit the published article along with a separately provided abstract.
• All additional requirements specific to each award category are as below.
• Email submissions to SAFPABOD@gmail.com
Douglas Webb Excellence Award
Named in honor of Lt Col (Ret) Douglas Webb. This award honors a recipient with up to 4 years of experience as an Air Force Physician Assistant, who has demonstrated exemplary service to the Air Force PA profession. This service may be exhibited through leadership, quality patient care, community service and commitment to advancement of the PA profession.
Paul W. Myers Award
Named after former Surgeon General, Lieutenant General (Dr.) Paul W. Myers, this award honors an outstanding Physician who distinguished themselves over the last year by directly supporting and enhancing the PA Profession. This support can be outlined in the professional, clinical, or academic arenas.
Jerrold L. Wheaton Award
This award honors a recipient with greater than 4 years of experience as an Air Force Physician Assistant, who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Air Force PA profession. This service may include accomplishments in mentorship, leadership, quality patient care, community and volunteer service, education and commitment to the advancement of the PA profession.
Tony Ditommaso Publishing Award
Named after Tony DiTommaso, a steadfast advocate for the Society of Air Force PAs, this award honors the PA author who has published an exceptional clinical or research article within the previous calendar year, contributing to the educational advancement of the PA profession. Authors who have contributed to the Towner-Schafer Report with clinical or research articles that are related to their Fellowship program may compete in this category and are included as automatic nominees for this award.
Towner-Schafer Report (TSR) Publishing Award
This award honors the PA author who has published an exceptional article within the previous calendar year to the TSR, contributing to the advancement of PA education, officership, leadership, mentorship and professionalism. Examples include: leadership article, Job Highlight article, Personnel Spotlight article, Deployment article, etc. Authors who have contributed to the TSR are automatically included as nominees for this award.
Clinical or research articles are NOT eligible for this award.
**All nominees (except for the Paul W. Myers Award), must be current SAFPA members, in good standing.**
Please email submissions to SAFPABOD@gmail.com