Physician Assistant

Physician Assistants are well-recognized and valued members of the modern health-care team—professionals licensed to practice medicine, working dependently with a physician. PAs are educated in the medical model, taking many of the same core courses as medical students, but their overall formal education path is much shorter.

MSU's PA program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant through March 2017.

Why MSU for PA?

At MSU, Physician Assistants receive two years of broad education in medicine, starting with classroom and laboratory instruction in the basic medical and behavioral sciences. In the third year, clinical rotations in internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, family medicine, rural medicine, pediatrics and adolescent medicine, geriatrics, psychiatry and women's health offer practical training and experience to the PA student.

Unlike most master's degree programs, the MSU PA program does not require a bachelor's degree to gain admission to the program. A successful completion of 66 hours of undergraduate-level prerequisite study, however, is required. Admission is limited and highly competitive.

Career Opportunities

Most PAs practice in the areas of primary care medicine including family medicine, adult medicine, pediatrics, gerontology, and obstetrics and gynecology, though other options are available such as surgery and surgical subspecialties including orthopedics and cardiovascular.

At MSU, many of our students return to the communities from which they came, choosing to meet the needs of residents in smaller cities and rural areas of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.