Mission Statement

To provide educational opportunities and to foster a culture of wellness for students to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and resiliency necessary to function as primary care physician assistants, serving the medical needs of the Commonwealth of Virginia and society in general including rural and medically underserved areas.

Program Objectives

Detailed Overview of Program Goals, Objectives, & Outcomes

Objective #1: To provide a curriculum that balances basic sciences, clinical sciences, and supervised clinical experiences in a manner that prepares graduates with a solid foundation upon which to begin their career in medicine

Objective #2: To promote and demonstrate resiliency and professional practice that is patient-centered primary care in focus, culturally competent, interprofessional in approach, and service oriented

Program Required Competencies

Program required competencies are modeled after the competencies for the PA profession that were developed by four national organizations (NCCPA, ARC-PA, AAPA, and PAEA):

1. Medical Knowledge
2. Interpersonal & Communication Skills
3. Patient Care
4. Professionalism
5. Practice-based Learning & Improvement
6. Systems-based Practice