Shenandoah PA Professor Receives Major Honor 

Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Sheila Hautbois, MSPAS, MPH, CHES®, PA-C, is one of the first non-physicians to be named a fellow by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). She received the honor at the ACLM’s recent national conference. 

“It feels incredibly amazing to be one of the few (and first) non-physicians to earn the distinction of fellow in the American College of Lifestyle Medicine,” Hautbois said. “It is truly a dream come true!” 

In addition, she and Dr. Cliff Morris, her colleague at the Morris Cardiovascular and Risk Reduction Center, an outpatient cardiology practice, received the ACLM’s 2023 Clinical, Business & Innovation Award. Hautbois said the award’s description states that it is “for being a glowing example of lifestyle medicine in action, through a commitment to advancing lifestyle medicine in clinical and business settings and by demonstrating innovative and scalable approaches for care delivery, resulting in high-value care for patients and enhanced provider well-being.” Both she and Morris have also served as preceptors for Shenandoah’s PA Studies program. 

Her fellow faculty at Shenandoah have expressed pride in her work, too. “Not only is Sheila a very active member of ACLM, she is doing an amazing job at furthering the reach of the PA profession, placing herself in various positions that allow her to increase awareness of the PAs and helping to provide growth opportunities for PAs within this community,” said Shenandoah Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Diana Dewolfe, M.S. 

Hautbois, a certified lifestyle medicine professional, provides lifestyle medicine consultation in her clinical work. She explained that lifestyle medicine “looks at whole-person health and addresses getting healthy from the inside out. It involves optimizing nutrition, exercise, stress management, sleep, substance use, and social connections. Six in 10 adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease and four in 10 have two or more,” she said. “Lifestyle medicine, by working on root causes, can prevent, improve and even reverse chronic diseases, thereby reducing health care costs and enabling patients to get healthier.” 

She said she also brings her lifestyle medicine work into the classroom, often using case studies to illustrate its powerful effects. “I weave it into some class presentations, and I incorporate it in the humanities course I teach for PA students. Not only is it important for our students to know about, since it is good for our patients, but it is also good for providers and students to put it into practice for ourselves to optimize our own health!”