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Physician Assistant Week
Posted on 06-16-2025 by Dr. Alex Coleman, Dr. Steven Kronlage, Dr. Matthew Mai, Dr. Chris O'Grady, Dr. James Piorkowski
Posted on 06-16-2025 by Dr. Alex Coleman, Dr. Steven Kronlage, Dr. Matthew Mai, Dr. Chris O'Grady, Dr. James Piorkowski
Each year, from October 6-12, we celebrate National Physician Assistant Week and recognize our incredible Physician Assistants (PA) at North Florida Bone & Joint. Without question, our PAs have dedicated themselves to delivering care on behalf of their patients, communities and the profession.
Did you know?
Meet the North Florida Bone & Joint PAs
Tony Alexander, PA, is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic Physician Assistant with nearly three decades of experience. He works with our renowned comprehensive hip orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Matthew Mai, to treat musculoskeletal conditions of the hip resulting from development, injury, overuse and arthritis.
Charles Barnes, PA, has been practicing as a Physician Assistant since 2003. He brings ten years of combined Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care experience and seven years of orthopaedic trauma and upper extremity experience to his role working with orthopaedic hand surgeons, Dr. Steven Kronlage, Dr. Alex Coleman and Dr. James Piorkowski.
Kerrie Begley, PA, attended the University of West Florida for undergraduate studies in Biology while gaining experience as an employee at Andrews Institute. She received her master’s in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2017. Keri works with orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Chris O’Grady, treating patients as part of his orthopaedics and sports medicine practice.
Chris Key, PA, received his bachelor’s degree in Respiratory Therapy from the University of Alabama and his master’s degree as a Physician Assistant from the University of South Alabama. He has worked in orthopaedics since graduating in 2005. Chris is also part of Dr. O’Grady’s orthopaedics and sports medicine team.
Hand Therapy services at our Pensacola office, located on 9th Avenue, and our Gulf Breeze location at the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine (Ste. 209) provide an opportunity to treat both acute and chronic conditions or injuries of the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. At North Florida Bone & Joint Specialists, our fellowship-trained surgeons work closely with our exceptional Certified Hand Therapists to develop a comprehensive course of treatment to improve outcomes related to conditions and injuries of the upper extremities, including the following:
Arthritis is the degenerative process through which a joint space loses its “cushioning” due to injury, illness or the natural process of aging. Translated to “inflammation of the joint,” this painful condition is the leading cause of musculoskeletal pain and can be found in almost every part of the body. As we make our way into May for National Arthritis Awareness Month, it’s important to recognize the symptoms, causes, and risk factors and explore non-surgical treatment options such as hyaluronic acid injections.
Arthritis represents a wide variety of joint inflammation diseases. Patients most often have chronic Arthritis in their wrists, hands, and fingers, experiencing flares of inflammation, soreness or stiffness affecting the joints. As we recently wrapped up Bone & Joint Action Week, this is an excellent opportunity to bring awareness to the most common categories of Arthritis, proactive methods for pain prevention and available treatment solutions.