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The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth’s physician assistant studies program has launched SteadFAST, an academic journal dedicated to exclusively publishing articles written by students. It is the first such journal in Texas and one of the few in the nation.

The inaugural edition features 10 case studies written by third-year students based on their clinical experiences, providing a platform for emerging physician assistant professionals to contribute to medical literature. Each student in the program completes a master’s capstone project, which includes a professional-level case study. However, only a select few are chosen for publication in SteadFAST.

Vic Holmes, an associate professor in the physician assistant program, oversees the master’s

project course. He said much of the logistical heavy lifting of creating the publication was done by the staff in UNTHSC’s Gibson D. Lewis Library.

“I’ve been running the master’s project course for the last six years, and I’ve noticed that the quality of the writing has been steadily increasing,” he said. “One of the things that both the faculty and the library staff here talked about was the fact that we had so many great entries but nowhere to really put them. The library group as a whole got together and talked about what could happen if we were to publish these ourselves.”

Grace Buchen’s article was one of the 10 selected for the inaugural edition.

“This is a really great opportunity,” said the third-year physician assistant student and Dallas native. “I was excited to potentially see my name in a paper journal one day, so I hopped on the opportunity and was accepted.”

Buchen’s case study explores the use of low-dose aspirin to prevent preeclampsia in pregnant patients. While on her women’s health rotation, she noticed a pattern of patients taking baby aspirin and investigated further.

“I asked a patient why she was taking it, and she explained that she had preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy,” Buchen said. “That led me down a rabbit hole of research into the guidelines, how it’s initiated in practice and which patients benefit the most from it.”

Sydney Clayton, another third-year physician assistant student, contributed a case study focusing on an alternative treatment for

PTSD-related nightmares. While working in psychiatry, she encountered a patient suffering from severe nighttime disturbances.

“The standard treatment, prazosin, lowers blood pressure, but this patient already had very low blood pressure,” Clayton said. “The provider I worked with suggested mirtazapine, an atypical antidepressant, instead. My study examined the efficacy of that treatment.”

Clayton added that she felt the support of the entire faculty throughout the publication process.

“I think it just shows the amount of respect that they have for their students and the opportunities for growth they allow the students to pursue,” she said. “I’m very appreciative of the school and its trust and willingness to help us grow and become better versions of ourselves.”

According to Holmes, the program traditionally encourages students to seek publication in national medical journals, but that process is costly and highly competitive.

“We try to get them published in national journals, but it’s an expensive proposition,” Holmes said. “You can only do five a year, and with 75 students, that just doesn’t work.”

Lauren Camarillo, a UNTHSC librarian, collaborated with faculty to develop the in-house journal as a solution.

“We wanted to create a publication that highlights the hard work and research of our students,” Camarillo said. “SteadFAST gives them the opportunity to contribute to academic discourse in a way that wouldn’t be feasible through traditional publishing avenues.”

The physician assistant studies program, housed in UNTHSC’s College of Health Professions, hopes the journal will provide lasting recognition for students’ research and serve as a valuable learning tool for future cohorts.

“It’s really comforting to graduate from a program that took the initiative to create a journal just so that our work could be published,” Buchen said. “It means a lot as a student to be backed like that by a big institution.”

Holmes sees SteadFAST as a reflection of the program’s commitment to academic excellence.

“It speaks to the respect we have for our students and the opportunities for growth that we provide,” Holmes said. “Our faculty is invested in helping students refine and publish their work, and that’s something truly special.”

As the first physician assistant program in Texas to establish such a journal, UNTHSC is setting a precedent for other institutions to follow. Faculty and students alike hope SteadFAST will continue to grow and highlight the contributions of future physician assistant students to the medical field.

“It shows how the program and the school are embracing the way medicine is evolving,” Buchen said. “They saw the value in our work and made a way for it to be shared. That’s an incredible thing to be a part of.”

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