User:Atroxell13/Joyce Nichols

=== Joyce Nichols (born Clayton, June 28, 1940 - July 29, 2012) was an American physician assistant (PA). Nichols who was the first woman and the first black woman to be certified as a PA, graduating from the Duke University Medical Center program in 1970. ===

She was inducted into the Duke University PA Alumni Hall of fame in 2002 for her concerns for poor people and her advocacy skills.
=== Nichols died in her home in Durham, North Carolina on July 29, 2012. At her funeral, three of her close professional colleagues, John Davis, PA-C, Earl Echard, PA-C and Lovest Alexander, PA-C, paid tribute to her legacy as a pioneering physician assistant. ===

=== In July 2020, the PA Foundation announced the launch of the Joyce Nichols Memorial Scholarship, a new scholarship to be awarded to Black PA students. Based upon the funding that was committed at the time of the announcement, a minimum of four $1,000 scholarships were to be awarded in 2020 and the next five years following. ===