UNE student is awarded the Maine Academy of Physician Associates’ Scholarship

The Maine Academy of Physician Associates recently awarded Coral Robinson (M.S.P.A., ’25) its Susan Vincent Memorial Scholarship for her advocacy work volunteering for several organizations and her dedication to serving rural communities.

Robinson, who is in her second and final year in the University of New England’s Physician Assistant program, said the annual $1,500 memorial scholarship was meaningful because she related to Vincent’s story of determination and public service.

“Against all odds, she became a physician assistant. And I felt like that was my journey, too,” said Robinson, who is currently conducting her clinical rotation at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta.

The Vincent scholarship is awarded annually to students who show a desire to work in Maine after graduating and who are Maine residents at the time they are accepted into a physician assistant program.

The scholarship, awarded since 1994, has gone to students at some of the top PA programs in the country, including the Rochester Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Yale University School of Medicine, and UNE. In the memorial scholarship’s 28-year history, it has been awarded to a student in UNE’s PA program in the Westbrook College of Health Professions 19 times.

“Reading about her care for service, I thought, ‘That's me,’ ” said Robinson, who volunteered at several non-profits while at UNE, such as Meals for Maine, Operation Delta Dog, which trains rescue dogs to assist veterans, and Homeland Heroes, a New England foundation that offers support to veterans, service members, and their families.

The namesake for the award, Susan Vincent, earned a degree in physician assistant from Rutgers University with the hope of serving as a PA in her home state, but at the time, New Jersey didn’t allow PAs to practice there.

Then, after embracing a vibrant outdoor life working as a PA in Maine and serving on the MEAPA board, Vincent was later diagnosed with melanoma. But even after her diagnosis, she pursued a medical degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine before she died.

Her story of resilience resonated with Robinson.

After she graduated from Merrimack College in 2017, Robinson applied to PA programs five times.

“Many people told me, ‘Maybe you should do something else. Why don’t you just get on with your life?’ And I never listened to them,” Robinson said. “I want to be a good physician assistant. I never gave up.”

Then when Robinson was accepted at UNE in late May, she had just two weeks to find housing and couldn’t. So, she commuted four hours round trip from northern Massachusetts five days a week for three months until housing became available closer.

As she prepares to graduate this spring, Robinson said her UNE education was worth waiting for because of how the hands-on teaching and real-life simulations taught her to interact with patients compassionately, which was always her goal.

“I felt the didactic curriculum really gave me all the tools in my toolkit that I needed to go into a clinical year feeling confident,” Robinson said about transitioning from the classroom to the clinical setting “I felt the clinical assessment courses helped tremendously into molding us into the PAs we will eventually become.”