We are delighted to announce the appointment of Alexandria (Xandi) Garino, MS, PA-C, as director of the Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate Program, effective December 1, 2017. Xandi joined the PA Program faculty in 2006 and is currently assistant professor in the Physician Associate Program, Department of Medicine. She has been serving with distinction as interim director of the program since July 2016.
Xandi received a BA from St. John's University. After working in higher education administration for over a decade, her strong interest in health care led to a career change. She returned to school, graduating from Catholic Medical Center’s PA Program in 1999, and earning an MS in biostatistics and clinical research design from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 2004. For the past several years, Xandi has been pursuing her PhD in education at Fordham University, in the Contemporary Learning and Interdisciplinary Research program. Her research explores the non-cognitive factors that explain how students in the health professions react to, interpret, and use feedback.
Xandi practiced as a PA from 1999 to 2006 at Comprehensive Cancer Center, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx, while also serving as assistant clinical professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Pace University-Lenox Hill Hospital, starting in 2004. Since joining the YSM faculty, Xandi has spent 10 years as a PA at the Yale Cancer Center.
Xandi’s academic interests and scholarship focus on faculty development, learning, and assessment. She has published in these areas in peer-reviewed journals, and has given presentations at national and international symposia and meetings. She participates in the Physician Assistant Education Association’s faculty development initiatives.
Xandi is strongly committed to the education of highly skilled and compassionate PA clinicians, and she places a high value on the program’s research focus. As the program enters its 47th year, Xandi’s expertise, strategic capabilities, and collaborative leadership style will enable her to uphold the program’s tradition of excellence, while strategically adapting the program to address society’s changing health care landscape.
Please join us in congratulating Xandi both on her new role and on the imminent awarding of her PhD.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Alpern, MD Dean and Ensign Professor of Medicine
Richard Belitsky, MD Deputy Dean for Education