Duke Physician Assistant Program News

With an eye on the future, The Duke Physician Assistant Program (DPAP) recently held a faculty and staff event titled, “DPAP 2027: Disruptive Innovation for the Future of PA Education.”   

In her opening remarks, Program Director Jacqueline Barnett, DHSc, MSHS, PA-C, said:   

As part of the reunion weekend, the alumni hosted a "Summer Brunch Meet & Greet" for the class of 2022 just before they embark on their careers as physician assistants (PA).

Durham leaders recently dedicated a new affordable housing project to Joyce Nichols. Nichols, a 1970 graduate of the Duke Physician Assistant Program, was the first Black female Physician Assistant (PA)

A group of Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program students and faculty attended The Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March in Washington, DC. with the North Carolina chapter of White Coats for Social and Health Justice.

Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program students Emily Campbell, Sami Moyer, Austin Graydon and Kay Burrows recently completed the 2022 Future Clinician Leaders College (FCLC) offered by the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS).  

 The Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program was well represented at the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ (AAPA) 2022 conference, the first in-person conference since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Last month students and faculty from the Duke Physician Assistant Program traveled to two local high schools as part of the Physician Assistant Education Association’s (PAEA) Project Access initiative.  

Project Access is a national program designed to “make aware and encourage students from underrepresented in medicine groups to consider the PA profession as a health career.”  

For 20 years, students from the Duke Physician Assistant Program have visited Burton Elementary School in Durham for an annual health education presentation.

Embrace Your Journey

Physician Assistant (PA) school is a journey filled with countless moments of joy, expansion of knowledge, perseverance, growth, exhaustion, reflection, and the occasional unexpected trial. It will also push you to heights you never thought possible.

I was sitting at my desk at Duke University Hospital when I received probably the most awaited email of my life – Offer of Admission, Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program. The outpatient abdominal transplant team surrounded me, the people who had inspired me to learn, grow, and take this giant leap.