CHS Names Hall of Fame Inductee, Alumni Award Winners
By Ryan Clark
CHS Communication Director
A legendary professor. A director at the Lexington Clinic. A UK clinical audiologist.
They are all immensely successful. Now, they’re also award winners.
CHS would like to announce David Fahringer, MSPH, PA-C Emeritus, as the latest CHS Hall of Fame inductee. Also, Aaron Sciascia, PhD, LAT, ATC, PES, SMTC, FASSET, has been named this year’s Young Alumni Award winner, while Trey Cline, AuD, CCC-A, F-AAA, is the recipient of the second annual CHS Undergraduate Alumni Achievement Award.
Fahringer, professor emeritus here in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the College of Health Sciences, has only continued to improve upon his impressive legacy of pedagogy.
He has taught in the Physician Assistant Studies Department since 1994. Since then, he has also served in the Physician Assistant Education Association in the following areas: on the Membership Committee, PAEA graduate advisory to the Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Chair of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission.
In 2007, he also became one of the four founders of the International Academy for Physician Associate Education (IAPAE). In 2010, he started the first PA program in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia with George Washington University-Medical Faculty Associates at the Prince Sultan Military College of Health Science.
Fahringer returned to the University of Kentucky in August 2012, and became the Associate Program Director until June 2020, when he became the Program Director of Post Graduate Education in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies before his retirement.
A graduate of Mt. Vernon Nazarene University (1973), Southern Nazarene University (1975), UK’s Physician Assistant program (1988), and the College of Public Health (1992), Fahringer said this award announcement came as a surprise.
“This honor has come to me in total shock,” he said. “I have attended many CHS Hall of Fame events over the years, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that one day I would be inducted. It is with humility that I am accepting this honor.”
Sciascia, currently the Clinical Outcomes and Research Director at Lexington Clinic, previously served as an associate professor for Eastern Kentucky University's CAATE-accredited Master’s in Athletic Training program and spent 13 years as the coordinator of the Shoulder Center of Kentucky.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training degree from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science in Kinesiology degree, graduate certificate in Clinical and Translational Science, and a doctorate from the Rehabilitation and Health Sciences PhD Program, all from the University of Kentucky.
Sciascia has been previously honored as Clinical Athletic Trainer of the Year and with the Award of Merit from the Kentucky Athletic Trainers’ Society and the Founders' Award from the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists (ASSET). He is also a past President of ASSET and holds the distinction of Fellow within the Society.
Sciascia is an Affiliate Member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons and a Distinguished Fellow of the Athletic Training Academy within the National Academies of Practice. He has produced multiple peer-reviewed articles and book chapters related to function, evaluation and treatment of the shoulder and scapula, and he speaks at various venues annually. He has co-edited two textbooks and serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training.
Sciascia credited his success to his CHS professors.
“During my time as a graduate student at the University of Kentucky, my classmates and I received a healthy balance of encouragement and challenging of our biases,” he said. “We were encouraged to contribute back to our respective professions based on our strengths, but we were also mentored to own those aspects of ourselves that needed improvement. We were taught to put the patient ahead of ourselves and to reign in our biases, as difficult as that may be at times.
“What actually made those teachings palatable was that the College of Health Sciences professors embodied those teachings,” he continued. “The professors did not offer up lip service but instead served as living examples for us. To be the recipient of the Young Alumni Award is incredibly humbling because it is the result of the efforts poured into me by the faculty.”
Cline, a clinical audiologist at UK HealthCare for the past 12 years, received his bachelor’s degree from CHS in Communication Sciences and Disorders and his doctorate in audiology from the University of Louisville. He is now pursuing a PhD from UK in gerontology with clinical interests in diagnostic audiology, including central auditory processing disorders and appropriate rehabilitation technique.
Cline has the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology. He specializes in diagnostic audiology, electrophysiology and hearing aids.
“I was extremely honored to be nominated, much less to actually receive the Undergraduate Alumni Achievement Award,” Cline said. “This University has afforded me so many opportunities with my undergraduate career and now as a professional. I love the patient care that I get to do every day; however, one of my absolute favorite things to do is interact with students.”
Cline said he enjoys telling students about audiology.
“I was once in their shoes and it's nice to see things come full circle,” he said. “Fortunately for me, many of those students reach out to tell me how impactful the talks were and how I piqued their interest in audiology. For me, I can easily remember being an undergraduate student and experiencing the uncertainty that can come with picking a major, a career, considering graduate schools, etc. The teachers and personnel at UK in CHS took the opportunity to speak with me and help me navigate the rough waters of making big decisions as a young adult.
“I always said that if given the opportunity, I would do the same,” he continued, “and I am very, very fortunate that the University of Kentucky, the College of Health Sciences, and the Department of Otolaryngology have allowed me to impact current and future students and colleagues.”
Again, congratulations to all our award winners. The College of Health Sciences will be hosting an induction ceremony and awards reception from 5:30-8 p.m., Wednesday, April 23 at The Signature Club.
“We in the College of Health Sciences are so proud to honor these amazing alumni,” said CHS Dean Scott Lephart, PhD. “We celebrate the kinds of creativity, resiliency, leadership and altruism that each of these impressive former students displays. They are wonderful role models for our current students, and I can think of no one better to represent CHS.”