PCC’s Medical Assisting Leader Wins Educator of the Year

Friday, January 08, 2016

GoLocalPDX Health Team

Virginia Chambers; courtesy of PCC

Virginia Chambers, full-time instructor and program chair for Portland Community College's Medical Assisting Program, was named the educator of the year for 2015 by the American Association of Medical Assistants.

Chambers was given the Association’s 2015 Golden Apple Award at an award ceremony last month.

"It was unexpected because it's a national award," said Chambers, a Southeast Portland resident, who also won the Oregon Society of Medical Assistants 2015 educator of the year award last spring. "It was shocking. You spend so much time doing your job, doing what you can; you just don't expect to be honored like this. It was tear-jerking for me because of the support I've received."

Chambers has worked at the college for six years, starting as a full-time faculty member and now as program chair for the Medical Assisting Program.

The College’s Allied Health, Emergency & Legal Services Division Dean, John Saito, praised Chambers and said she worked hard to earn the award.

"The award is well deserved," Saito said. "We look forward to furthering the cutting-edge goals and outcomes for the Medical Assisting Program and its students. The consistent demand for our graduates from the health industry employers, both large and small, bears testament to Virginia's efforts and those of her colleagues in furthering the excellence of PCC medical assistants throughout the Portland metro area."

As president of the River Cities Chapter of the AAMA, which includes 800 members, Chambers organizes monthly workshops, seminars and activities that are specialized to their field. Through the state medical assisting agency, OSMA, she helped plan a student activities day and is developing immunization training for students.

She recently created an educator's forum where all of the local proprietary schools that teach medical assisting in the area, like OHSU, Kaiser, Legacy, Providence, The Oregon Clinic and Multnomah County, come together and meet regularly to share resources and develop training.