Duke Physician Assistant Program News & Blogs

The Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program held its graduation and certificate ceremony on Aug. 6, with a hybrid in-person and live-streamed event. After managing a difficult course of study for two years, most during the COVID-19 pandemic, 89 students were awarded their diplomas at Duke Chapel.

“You’re just a nurse.” A statement made by a colleague, forever stained in my memory. “You’re just a nurse.” As if to assume my chosen undergraduate degree placed a glass ceiling on my knowledge and expertise in regards to the healthcare of my patient.

Relaxing on my much-awaited spring break after completing two semesters of pre-clinical year, I am still in a state of disbelief that I am part of Duke University’s Physician Assistant (PA) program. If anyone had told me a few years ago that I would become a PA student at Duke University, I would have thought the person was making fun of me. It is a surreal journey that has brought me to this stage of my life. I think sharing my journey would be helpful to at least a few like me who would never dare to dream of this.

What comes to mind when you think of Physician Assistant (PA) school? For many pre-PA students, images of donning a white coat with a stethoscope neatly placed over their shoulders fill their imagination. This narrative quickly changes for students accepted into a PA program with illustrations of a never-ending stream of exams. I don’t want to downplay the rigor of PA school because the hours of studying are all too true, but this does not mean you need to sacrifice other aspects of your life, such as your health.

To be a physician assistant student is to voluntarily commit to expanding your mind daily for 24-36 months and beyond. I will use this space to share a thing or two I wish I knew. I am thinking back to the moment when pursuing healthcare just felt right. A newly minted 911 dispatcher for Virginia's capital, EMS calls had a hold on me in a way that was impossible to ignore. Five years later, I began the most rigorous training I have personally ever received.

Few experiences can so universally provoke feelings of nervousness, excitement, and anxiety as a first day. Whether it be a first day of school, first day at a new job, or first day of a new clinical rotation, many of us have experienced enough first days in our lives to wonder – how many times before this becomes less awkward?

As a pre-PA student, you often hear about how rigorous PA school is. Many describe the experience as feeling as though you’re “trying to drink from a firehose.” We were prepared to spend long hours in class, long hours studying and long hours in clinic. But nothing could have ever prepared us for the experience of being a PA student in the midst of a global pandemic, a racial justice movement, and an extremely volatile political climate.

Shelby Neil, Stead Society president for the Class of 2021, is from Denver, Colo., and hopes to work in pediatric hospital medicine after graduation in August. She fell in love with inpatient pediatric medicine after her rotation in pediatric bone marrow transplant.

Alex Steele, MHS, PA-C (’02), never imagined he’d work on the front lines of a global pandemic. He specializes in orthopedic surgery, but as a member of the Air Force Reserves, was mobilized to New York City in April 2020 to assist overwhelmed hospital staff caring for COVID-19 patients.