Liam always knew he had a calling for medicine.

“In high school, I had injuries playing baseball,” he said. “I met an orthopedic PA, who taught me a lot about the profession.”

Then the Covid-19 pandemic sealed his fate. In May 2020, he had just graduated from Syracuse University as the terrible virus began to spread, so he applied to Albany Medical Center in his hometown of Albany, New York, to become a certified nursing assistant while he waited to hear back from physician assistant graduate programs. “I was definitely scared,” he said.

“There were awful images of the refrigerated trucks in New York City and the nurses with lines on their faces from N95 masks. But I was young and healthy. I had this biosciences degree and background, with an interest in medicine. It felt like the right thing to do.”

That's where his passion for bedside patient care grew.

“I got to sit and talk to patients and helped them get cleaned up,” he said. “I gave them the little things that some people are without during their hospital stays, especially during the pandemic. I was their family.”

Now a graduate of Marist’s PA program, he landed at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, working in the ICU for neurology patients recovering from brain surgery, strokes, or traumatic brain injuries. It was a role that he was prepared for thanks, in part, to being selected for the University of Alabama-Birmingham Advanced Surgical Physician Assistant Training Program in December 2023. The program provides top PA students hands-on training to prepare them for a career in surgery.

“Of course, I want to be at the cutting edge of medicine and help my patients, but I hope to never lose sight of the little things I learned as a CNA,” he said.