Physician Assistant Cherishes College Support System

AdventHealth University was a safe haven for student Charde Holt in 2016.

The graduate of Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School in Winter Haven, FL, is a high achiever, completing high school with enough college credits to begin her junior year. She’d be the first one in her family to attend a university, and she had an idea that she wanted a career in healthcare.

That calling stems from the exceptional care she received as a patient during a freak cheerleading accident in 10^th grade. She fell on her head during a stunt and began experiencing vision loss and hundreds of seizures a day. She was in and out of the hospital and missed four to five months of school. Doctors diagnosed her with chronic intracranial hypertension and suggested placing a shunt in her brain to drain extra fluid. Hesitant to go through that surgical procedure, Holt decided to see if weight loss would have an effect. Forty pounds lighter, Holt’s symptoms went into remission and she graduated on track.

After an internet search suggested AdventHealth University might be a good option for a healthcare career, Holt was interested to see how this next chapter would pan out. As a first-generation college student, Holt had high expectations for herself.

“It’s a lot of pressure. Everyone is cheering you on and expecting you to do well.”

This also was her first time living on her own, and while at AHU, her mom left an abusive relationship, temporarily rendering her family without a place to live.

At AdventHealth University, a small, Christian university with locations in Orlando, Denver, and online, Charde found a home.

“It was a peaceful environment for me. It was definitely a dark time for me, and I found a lot of support there. I was so thankful. I never would have known I would need so many people to pour into me.”

She credits Dr. Sebastian Farrell for serving as a mentor and counselor as she sought her bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences in 2016 and then returning for her master’s degree in physician assistant studies, which she earned in 2019. Holt then went on to earn her doctoral degree in physician assistant studies with a global health focus from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

At age 25, Holt is married, pregnant with her “miracle baby,” and in a career she loves. “I enjoy working in different specialties in the emergency room. I like the collaboration and working as a team with everyone.”

Holt said AdventHealth University does a great job of fulfilling its vision to develop influential professionals with uncommon compassion. Though she makes a difference in so many lives in her hospital setting, Holt hopes to be able to help those in the community who are underserved.

“Later on,” Holt shared, “I see myself caring for patients in an indigent family medicine practice.”