Two Keesler medics to begin AFIT fellowships Published July 25, 2012 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Two 81st Medical Group members will begin Air Force Institute of Technology fellowship programs soon. Capts. Donna Burrowes and Steven Bryant, both members of the 81st Medial Operations Squadron, learned in the fall they had been selected for the AFIT training. Burrowes, a psychologist with the mental health flight, has already left Keesler and Bryant, Physician Assistant Residency director, departs by the end of the month. Burrowes will attend a one-year child psychology post-graduate fellowship at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital under the Developmental Medicine Program starting Aug. 1. "I am honored to have been selected for the AFIT Child Psychology fellowship. It has been an aspiration of mine to broaden my career by becoming an Air Force child psychologist and be able to further help military families. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to study under Harvard Medical Services and gain experience with military children in (United States Air Forces in Europe)." Burrowes said, "I was told that my likely follow-on would be Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, but I won't know definitively until January 2013. I do know that all of the child psych billets are in USAFE and I was told 'Spang' would be the only one open. So I will most likely be in Germany." Bryant will attend the Duke University Orthopedic Physician Assistant Fellowship, also a one-year program, starting Sept. 3. He noted that he is the only Air Force PA in the fellowship this year and there are just a handful of orthopedic PAs. "There will only be eight for 25 slots by 2014," Bryant said. "It's a brand new program. I'm excited. This is a great opportunity, especially at Duke. A lot of dominoes had to fall to make it happen. It's pretty phenomenal!" As an orthopedic PA, Bryant said he will assist during surgeries and likely will be the initial evaluator for patients coming into the clinic, determining whether they require surgery or less invasive care.