The Duke University Physician Assistant (PA) Program began in 1965 as the first PA program in the United States under the Direction of E. Harvey Estes, Jr., MD. The Expansion of the Physician Assistant Training Program is currently working, with funding from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to increase the entering class size from 72 to 80 within the next five years. Expansion will be accomplished through these objectives:
- Development of an innovative new longitudinal primary care experience in the clinical year;
- Collaboration with the Duke School of Medicine, MD Program to develop learning experiences that engender leadership and primary care team skills among MD/PA teams, with the aim of building highly effective teams to practice together in patient-centered medical homes; and
- Collaboration with the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation’s Community Practitioner Program (CPP) to develop longitudinal primary care training sites and to place graduates into economically distressed and medically underserved areas of the state. The CPP will offer further assistance to the graduates through repayment of any remaining educational loans in return for a PA graduate’s commitment to remain at the practice for five years.
To learn more about Duke University’s PA Program, click here.
