Advice: ‘You can be a hyphenate’

By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director

Call her the quadruple threat: Actor. Singer. Dancer.

And aspiring Physician Assistant.

Cassidy Mullins, a 25-year-old PA student in the College of Health Sciences, is more than just a student, as she currently has one of the lead roles in The Music Man, performing now at The Woodford Theatre in Versailles (fun note: her fiancé performs alongside her in the other lead role).

“I’ve always been a performer — dance classes since I was 5, my first theater show was in the fifth grade,” said the Lexington native. “And I've always wanted an active, hands-on job that serves our community, so I thought I'd go into healthcare.”

Yet she was determined not to give up the one part of herself that loved acting. So, she does both.

How does she do it? What are the similarities between being an actress and a PA? What advice would she give to those who want to follow her down the PA path?

We talk about all of this and more as we ask 5 questions of … PA’s Cassidy Mullins, Class of 2024:
 

Have you always been interested in PA? And have you always been a performer?

I’ve always been interested in the Health Sciences and I chose PA because they’re notoriously good listeners and sometimes have more time to spend with patients. They learn their patient population really well, so that really appealed to me. I always wanted to play a role in society where I knew I could do that regularly.

I also always loved the arts — I love to read and I loved my history classes, but I also found the arts in science later in life. Medicine and the performing arts are alike in that the work is extremely detailed and nuanced. Every decision is motivated and purposeful. It all has to work together harmoniously.

But I never went all-in on the art stuff — I think I knew that it wasn't something that I was willing to sacrifice everything for. I have some friends who have successfully gone that route and they are on tour with groups and had to totally give up their whole lives in order to do it. It was never worth all of that to me, but it was something I loved so much, and I knew that I could do at a community level. I think sometimes doing it professionally takes some of the joys out of it and you have to be stressed about where your next job comes from.
 

Why UKPA?

I love Lexington and they gave me really good opportunities as an undergraduate with academic scholarships. For Graduate School — they have such a strong history in the PA profession. UK PA is one of the oldest programs in the entire country and they have helped start the profession in the United Kingdom.

I just think their history is really neat — it is a deep-rooted program and I know several alum that come from it who sing its praises, so I felt confident that if I went to UK I was going to be prepared for my board exam, and I was going to be able to go out there and do my job and be a dependable provider. I also really loved that it was in my backyard.
 

How do you balance a rigorous class load with the demands of acting in a community musical?

It's hard but it's worth it. I mean, if you love something enough you make time for it and you find the balance.

I think it's tempting when you're in a program like this — so rigorous and demanding — to put your whole self into it and there's something to be said for that. I am putting a large part of myself into it wholeheartedly — it is the No. 1 priority in my life — but at the same time, if you quit everything else that you love you start to lose your identity.

So, I think you have to prioritize, keeping sight of who you are because PA school can be so all-encompassing. I've been in the program for a little while now, so I felt confident knowing my schedule and how I study. I know that the theater shows rehearse from 6 to 9 o'clock at night because all of us have day jobs, so I just gave up a lot of my evenings and it was very worth it.
 

What similarities have you found between acting and serving as a PA?

There's good tools that you can use for both school and the theater — apps like Quizlet are digital flash cards, and they work. My brain naturally attaches everything to stories. If you put everything in context of the story, I feel the same way about learning about disease pathways in PA school. If you look at the patient as a whole person and a story, then you can put the pieces together and you can come to that diagnosis.

You're put on the spot a lot and have to think on your feet, and I think that's an invaluable skill to be able to improvise. In live theater things go wrong very easily. It's not a movie where you can have multiple takes — it’s a unique performance every time.

I think that's how patient encounters are, too. In PA school you never know what you're walking into. You can come in really prepared but you never know what a patient's going to come to you with, so you have to be able to think on your feet, and to be good with people and be able to empathize.

I think that's a big one that connects the two for me, too: In theater, we sit down for two hours and you are listening to another person's story and putting yourself in their shoes for those two hours, undistracted. To me that is the art of empathy and I feel the same way when I walk into patient rooms.

I'm putting myself in that patient’s shoes and listening to their story and making decisions based on the empathy that I can form.

The difference is, there's no script for PA. It’s a lot more personal and I have control over what I say and what I do and the decisions that I make. I have to do all of that with the patient’s best interests in mind, whereas when I am playing a role on stage, I feel like I am responsible for telling this other person's story the way they would.
 

What advice would you give someone who wants to follow you down the PA path?

It's gonna be tough and a lot of work, but you have to be able to keep a part of yourself as well.

You hear other students talk about how hard and consuming PA is and that's very intimidating to someone who loves to do a lot of different things. Well, I don't know anyone in my program who is only a PA student. They have families and lives and hobbies and large passions and you know, no one should be expected to give all of that up.

You can still be the best student and the best future provider when you are giving to those other parts of yourself. I had a very wise mentor in theater — one of my professors and life mentors gave me good advice when she said, ‘You don't have to just be one thing … you can be a hyphenate. You can be a PA- actor if you want.’

I loved that. If you care about people and you need a launchpad that is going to invest in you and prepare you and mold you in all the right ways, come to UK PA. I feel so supported and uplifted by the staff and my classmates, it never feels competitive. It never feels like a like a scary thing.

We all recognize the gravity of the role we're going to play in the healthcare system and we are trying to get to the ability to do that as a licensed provider together.

I come back to this Mother Teresa quote that I kind of guide my life by: ‘Give your hands to serve and your hearts to love.’
 

BONUS: So, are you a quadruple threat?

(laughs) I will say, actors get hurt on the job all the time. I was checking out a twisted ankle at a performance last weekend.

You know, you’ve got to be careful when you tell people to break a leg.

 

The Music Man

Tickets: https://www.woodfordtheatre.com/

Adults: $25, Students, Child: $18

June 2-4

June 8-11 (all shows 7:30 p.m., except Sundays at 2 p.m.)