The Downeast Association of Physician Assistants named Matthew Cowan, PA-C of Jonesport, 2007 Rural Physician Assistant of the Year at its annual business meeting held in Manchester in April at the Maine Medical Association Building.

The award is presented each year to a Maine physician assistant in recognition of dedicated service to a rural community, both as a health care provider and as a resident.

Cowan, originally from Blaine, has worked at the Arnold Memorial Medical Center in Jonesport for nine years.

FORT KENT ? Martin Bernstein, CEO at Northern Maine Medical Center, has announced the hiring of urologist Dr. Richard E. Morris. A native of Jamaica, Morris and his colleague urologist Dr. John Gregory have a practice in Belfast. Before joining NMMC, Morris was employed at Urology Consultants in Evansville, Ind.

Morris will visit NMMC one week each month in the same manner as Gregory. When in Fort Kent, Morris is based at the Medical Office Building, lower level, Internal Medicine suite.