Stead Silver Ford Honorary Lecture

Honoring the Founders of the PA & NP Professions

In 1964, Eugene Stead, a physician at Duke University, sought to address a national shortage of MD’s by recruiting highly trained Vietnam combat medics to enter an intense medical training program that would produce what he called “Physician Assistants.” Three individuals completed the full-time, two-year flagship program and on October 6, 1967 became the first PAs.

Simultaneously, but on the other side of the country, Dr. Henry Silver (a pediatrician) and his nurse Loretta Ford developed the first Nurse Practitioner program in 1965 at the University of Colorado Medical Center.

These healthcare vanguards created professions that now (as of 2022) include more than 158,000 PAs and 355,000 NPs who diagnose, treat, and perform procedures in nearly every field of medicine.

The Stead, Silver, Ford lecture and award perpetuates the legacy of these pioneering medical individuals by honoring a current healthcare professional who embodies the attributes of selfless commitment to medical education, infectious enthusiasm for improving the lives of patients, and a tireless, yet humble pursuit of excellence in the field of dermatology.