Throughout the didactic portion of the curriculum, students will be guided towards the goal of completing a capstone project. The project begins to take shape in PA 551 Medical Biostatistics; where an emphasis is placed on bio-statistical concepts and literature search/analysis. The project continues to develop in PA 653 Research Design & Implementation; where students are paired together and choose a clinical question of interest.  They also formally outline and propose the concepts for their project that will ultimately result in a systematic review.  The students devise a strategy to identify appropriate literature searches, read and review the literature, and synthesize data/information. Finally, in PA 654 Capstone Project; students present conclusions and make recommendations in the form of a paper suitable for publication and a poster presentation. The posters are displayed and presented for JMU faculty and students. The capstone project is completed prior to students leaving for their supervised clinical experiences.

Visit JMU Scholarly Commons to take a look at PA student capstone projects from previous years.