by Joshua Smith, PA-C, NCAPA Continuing Education Committee Chair
This year, after over 40 years of service to NCAPA, Paul Hendrix has announced his decision to retire from his role as the Chair of the Continuing Education Committee and the Conference Management Panel, a position he has held for the last 44 years. His retirement marks the conclusion of a lifetime of initiatives and achievements in which he has left his mark on the PA profession.
Paul was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. He attended the College of Charleston, in Charleston, SC, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Paul then proceeded to join the Navy where he served stateside, as a Navy Corpsman, in the Emergency Room at the Naval Hospital in San Diego from 1970-1972. Seeking to continue his education, he moved to Durham, NC in 1972 and went on to receive his Master of Health Sciences from Duke University in 1975, becoming a PA during the early years of the profession.
In 1976, Paul was one of 38 charter members who worked together to establish the North Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants. He served as the NCAPA President in 1992 and as Treasurer for ten years, from 2007-2017. Since 1976, the NCAPA has held 44 Summer CME Conferences and 34 Winter CME Conferences, and Paul has been the chair of each and every one of them. In the early years and for many years after, Paul organized and managed the NCAPA conferences out of his home, on his free time, while also practicing as a PA.
Currently, the NCAPA has a full-time staff to manage all of the logistics and details of organizing the conferences, but thanks to the foundation built by Paul in those early years, NCAPA conferences have evolved to some of the most well-attended and meaningful CME opportunities in the country. NCAPA annual conference revenues have provided the resources for the lion’s share of NCAPA’s accomplishments, past, present, and future. It is safe to say, that without PA Hendrix’s contributions, our great Academy would look much different today than it does.
Paul currently lives at Lake Gaston with his wife April and two Springer-doodle dogs, Duke and Sampson. His son Brian, who will complete his MBA degree at NC State University in 2021, lives in Durham with his wife Morgan and two children, Harry (9) and Mary Eleanor (5). Paul also has a daughter, Mary, who lives in New York City with her husband Paul and two children, Lucy (3) and Clara (1).
Now that Paul is focusing on the next chapter of his life (and all his grandchildren!), we at NCAPA and the Continuing Education Committee would like to acknowledge his outstanding contributions to our Academy and the PA profession. We wish you well on your future endeavors, Paul, and THANK YOU for your ongoing commitment to PAs and the PA profession. Thank you for helping lead the way.
