Liz Benissan-Messan, PA-C, MPAS, MS, is honored to receive the Sean M. McNeeley Advancing the Specialty Award. She serves as Medical Director of UC Fellowship and Occupational Medicine at Wellnow Urgent Care, where she leads the development and advancement of clinical education and occupational medicine initiatives across a multi-state network. Her work focuses on strengthening the quality, consistency, and scalability of Urgent Care practice and occupational medicine.

She has played a key role in the development and advancement of an accredited Urgent Care fellowship program, which has graduated 190 traditional fellows since she joined in 2021. Her work has emphasized a structured, competency-based curriculum and a high degree of standardization across training sites, preparing new graduate providers for safe, high-quality, and efficient independent practice.

She also has contributed to advancing clinical and operational standardization, particularly within occupational medicine. Her contributions include the development of protocols, provider education, and real-time clinical decision-support tools to support providers in managing work-related injuries and employer services, improving both regulatory compliance and clinical consistency.

She has supported the integration and expansion of occupational medicine within fellowship training, aligning educational experiences with the evolving demands of Urgent Care practice and reinforcing the role of Urgent Care in workforce health.

She serves in leadership roles on several multidisciplinary committees and collaborates with clinical, operational, and technical teams to translate clinical standards into scalable systems across a growing organization. Her work reflects a broader commitment to advancing Urgent Care as a specialty through education, system improvement, and leadership development.

She earned her Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a Master of Science in Clinical Anatomy from the Creighton University. She has over a decade of clinical experience in Urgent Care and cardiology and remains committed to mentorship, clinical excellence, and advancing the next generation of Urgent Care providers.