EVMS physician assistant program ranked among top 10% nationally
Eastern Virginia Medical School’s Master of Physician Assistant (MPA) program is among the top 10% in the nation, according to a new ranking released on April 25.
U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 edition of “Best Graduate Schools” ranks the EVMS program 27th among the nation’s 300 physician assistant programs.
“It is an honor to be recognized with this ranking,” says Dr. Kimberly Dempsey (MPA '03), Program Director and Associate Professor for the Master of Physician Assistant Program and Doctor of Medical Science Program at EVMS. “It reflects the hard work of our faculty, the support from the administration at EVMS, and the success of our students.”
Dempsey underscores the longevity of the program, which boasts over 20 years of history in educating physician assistants.
“We have a solid, mature curriculum with a proven track record of educating PAs who become leaders in healthcare,” she says. “Additionally, we have faculty who have extensive clinical experience and are experienced educators.”
The MPA program faculty — many who have taught in the program for over a decade — have experience in all specialties, including primary care, internal medicine, urgent care, emergency medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, and more. This range of clinical expertise gives the program a great depth of knowledge to draw upon, says Dempsey.
The MPA program’s three-year, full-time curriculum ensures EVMS graduates are well equipped to provide care and work collaboratively in a variety of healthcare settings, including hospitals, urgent care centers, outpatient offices and clinics.
The program is unique in that it is affiliated with a medical school, allowing PA and MD students to interact and understand each other’s roles as integral members of a healthcare team. It also features hands-on, point-of-care ultrasound training early in the program, better preparing EVMS students to utilize bedside ultrasound in their clinical rotations.
“The hands-on aspect of the PA program is one of the reasons that I chose the PA profession,” says Samantha Putnam, Master of Physician Assistant Class of 2024. “The PA program has tons of exposure to high-level medicine."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of PAs is projected to grow 28 percent from 2021 to 2031, with close to 13,000 openings projected annually during that timeframe.1 This is much faster than the average for all occupations.
“The looming retirements of the baby-boomer generation professionals and the growth in population are combining to produce a shortage of physicians, nurse and other practitioners,” says Dr. C. Donald Combs, Vice President and Dean of the School of Health Professions at EVMS.
“PAs are helping to address that shortage,” he says, “and the profession is proving to be very attractive to students who want to become a provider of health services and who want certain employment and career flexibility.”
For those seeking advanced credentials, EVMS also offers a fully online Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc), a two-year program designed for established physician assistants who want to attain the culminating degree in their profession. This is another way EVMS is helping to build a new generation of leaders in the field.
“EVMS’ DMSc program was designed to be completed at any stage in a physician assistant's career,” Dr. Dempsey explains. “Working PAs can achieve their professional goals by focusing on an Education or Advanced Clinical Practice track, and the curriculum offers experience and leadership skills that can be directly applied in academic or clinical settings.”
Learn more about the Master of Physician Assistant (MPA) and the Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
1Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Physician Assistants, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physician-assistants.htm (visited April 12, 2023).