Christian Rathke’s intellectual curiosity, creativity, and desire to serve have taken him to some interesting places throughout his career.
“I have always liked trying and learning new things; I am a lifelong learner. The process of growing and creating new programs and resources — this is what I do,” he said.
Rathke heard about the PA profession during his first time in the Navy during the Gulf War and was drawn to the flexibility of the profession and the ability to move around and focus on a variety of specialties. He said of the PA profession, “I couldn’t think of a better combination of helping other people, serving my country, and having my job be physically making a difference in patients’ lives in a hands-on capacity.”
Rathke’s first job out of PA school was at Yale, after applying for over 200 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) positions, as a site director for a new community health center in rural Fredonia, Arizona.
“We also had a very small nursing home to take care of with around twelve patients,” he said. “As the director, and because it was such a small town, I got to do all of the hiring and PR processes for the community health center. I wrote a monthly news article for the paper; I did PR events like health fairs to get the word out.”
Rathke ended up becoming the president of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Fredonia Fire Department during his two years there.
“I was the only medical provider in this amazing and precious rural community, near the north rim of the Grand Canyon,” he reflected.
Rathke’s next move was to practice in cardiology at a naval hospital in Florida, while also starting an information technology education business with colleagues.
“While I was in Pensacola, I met an aerospace physiologist who was active-duty Navy, and this career field sounded extremely interesting,” he said.
With his new mentor’s encouragement, Rathke decided to pursue the Navy career, as flying airplanes was a childhood dream. After being accepted into the aerospace physiology program, he completed three more years of training, which included learning to fly Navy helicopters and airplanes.
“At right about the four-year mark, I really started to miss medicine and taking care of people. I realized that if I continued down this career path, I would be leaving medicine behind me forever. I was not ready to do that,” he said.
Instead, Rathke decided to transition into the U.S. Public Health Service as an active-duty officer and work as a PA again. Since then, he has held three positions within the organization and now serves as director of the Office of Health Services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In this role, Rathke is involved in executive administrative oversight, medical directing, policy writing, and quality assurance aspects for all five NOAA medical programs: aviation medicine, marine medicine, behavioral health, diving medicine, and NOAA Corps medical affairs. Besides this job, for the past 20 months, he has served as medical director for the agency’s COVID-19 response.
“This job has been a privilege. I am grateful to be in the position of writing medical policy — the ripple effect of our policies affects 12,000 people at an agency level in a meaningful and practical way. The policies have the ability to truly move the needle with regard to advocating for the personal health and safety of our personnel within the jobs that they do,” Rathke said.
Rathke also spearheaded a brand new behavioral health program two years ago that has been a huge success. Rathke has testified to Congress twice due to the success of the program, and expansion is planned.
“Our behavioral health program is growing because it is meeting a very real workforce need in a uniquely practical way,” he said.
Rathke says that Lynchburg’s DMSc coursework has been relatable to his daily work.
“On multiple occasions, as I have gone through the DMSc program, I have utilized the information from my classes on the job during the same week that I learned it,” he said.
He noted that the way the coursework is structured requires students to look at the practice of medicine from many viewpoints.
“Lynchburg’s program has been incredibly flexible. I really appreciate the professionalism and mentorship of all the faculty. Dr. Colletti has been a great advisor and has been eager to help with changes in my demanding schedule. I just wish I had done this degree earlier in my career,” he said.
