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By David DeFusco

When Ronee Goldman’s father was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive stage-four brain cancer, everything in her life suddenly shifted—her priorities, her sense of purpose and the career path she had long planned. At the time, she was on the fast track to a legal career—having taken the LSAT, gained acceptance to law schools and secured a job at a law firm. But as she watched her father confronting his illness and witnessed the care he received from medical professionals, she realized her true calling wasn’t in the courtroom—it was at the bedside, helping patients like her father.

“My family’s very close-knit,” said Goldman, a 2024 graduate of the Katz School’s M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies. “During that experience, I wanted to find more meaning in what I was doing. I wanted to help people more. Law is wonderful but I felt that in medicine, I’d make a bigger difference.”

During her surgical rotation at Bellevue Hospital, one patient with metastatic endometrial cancer, nearing the end of her life, left a lasting impression on her. The woman arrived in the emergency room with a painfully distended abdomen, and Goldman assisted in performing a paracentesis, draining several liters of blood to relieve her discomfort. As the patient was moved to palliative care, Goldman remembered her father’s illness, ensuring that the woman’s family was brought to her bedside so they could share her final moments together.

“I had a very special place in my heart for this family,” said Goldman. “I remember holding my Dad’s hand close to his heart when he was afraid. I felt his heart racing, and I told him in Hebrew, ‘Abba, I know you don’t like that we’re going to the hospital, but we’re going to take good care of you. We’ll make sure you have no more pain.’ That’s what I kept telling him because that’s the only thing you can promise someone in that situation. Only then did I feel his heart rate go down.”

For Goldman, the surgical rotation at Bellevue was especially transformative. In one procedure, she carefully held a patient’s liver and surrounding organs to give the surgeon clear access to the surgical site. In another, she skillfully maneuvered a thoracoscope—a flexible tube equipped with a light and tiny camera—inside a patient’s chest, ensuring the surgeon had a clear view of the area. Later, during her OB/GYN rotation, she assisted in removing metastatic endometrial cancer tumors from a patient’s intestines, further deepening her passion for surgery and patient care.

“I did all the pre-op, and when I walked into the operating room for the first time, I was nervous. You learn about what not to do, what not to touch,” she said. “Then the surgeon turned to me and said, ‘You’re going to be my first assistant today. Don’t worry, you got this. Let’s go.’”

Of the 10 five-week clinical rotations Goldman completed as a student, her most meaningful experience was in breast surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center—the same hospital where her father had received treatment.

“For me, it was like coming full circle, going back to the place where he passed away,” she said. “I have such a great appreciation for the PAs, the doctors and the nurses who took care of my father. It makes me want to be a better person, a better PA.”

As class president of her PA cohort, Goldman spoke at the program’s completion ceremony, sharing how her experience with loss had shaped her perspective and fueled her determination to heal and advocate for others.

“As we stand on the threshold of our careers, we must also take a moment to recognize the incredible responsibility we’re about to carry forward,” she said. “The role of physician assistant is woven into the fabric of patient care. We are the listeners, the advocates and the compassionate hands guiding patients through their most vulnerable moments. It is a unique privilege and responsibility—one we don’t take lightly.”