Ms. Pagel is the Executive Director of PA Services at the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and is responsible for the oversight, compliance, utilization and productivity of all physician assistants, ensuring they practice within a team-based model to promote and enhance patient access and care. She is a member of the Cleveland Clinic Physician’s Health committee, Patient Companion task force, Quality task force, APP Optimization task force and the Opioid Task Force. She serves as Clinical Associate Faculty to the School of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She is a member of the USAO Task Force on Heroin & Opioid Action Planning. She also serves as Chaplain and President of the American Legion Auxiliary, Post 717.
Ms. Pagel is a Past President of the AAPA. She has held multiple appointed and elected positions within the organization and is a Distinguished Fellow of AAPA. She currently is a member of the Nominating committee. She is the Chair of Governmental Affairs committee, Chair of the Pharmacology CME committee and a Delegate to the House of Delegates for the Ohio Association of PAs.
She received multiple awards for her work within the PA profession including the OAPA’s Charles Hudson award in 1997 and 2007. In 2017 she accepted the Partnership Award from the PA Education Association for all of the work Cleveland Clinic’s PA Services has done to promote clinical training of PA students. In spring of 2014 she was inducted into the Pi Alpha Honor Society for PAs.
Pagel began her PA career over 40 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer, working with communities in the Philippines. She has worked in various medical disciplines, including CT surgery, family practice, psychiatry and addiction medicine. She presently volunteers with the county free clinic, providing much needed health care to members of the community.
With more than 40 years of clinical experience and more than 30 years of executive administrative experience, Ms. Pagel has broad expertise in facilitating groups in organizational management, team building, inter-professional work relations and engagement and executive leadership. She frequently gives talks on APP reimbursement and practice models. As a former elected city council member of North Ridgeville, Ohio, Pagel represented her community on safety, building and lands and administrative committees. She also ran for the Ohio House of Representatives.
Pagel is a graduate of the Cuyahoga Community College Surgical PA program. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Baldwin Wallace University and her master’s in PA studies, psychiatry and addiction medicine from the University of Nebraska. She is an Ordained Minister with a Master’s in Divinity and is presently finishing her studies for a Doctorate in Divinity and metaphysical Sciences. She is an avid gardener, and speaks to community groups on herbal gardening.