Stanford Launches Physician Assistant Master’s Program

Stanford University School of Medicine will begin offering a master of science physician assistant program designed to train physician assistants as both clinicians and future leaders in health care. The program will start in the fall of 2017, and applications to be considered for the inaugural class are due November 1, 2016.

“As health-care access improves, we need to equip medical practitioners with the skills to meet growing demand,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine. “This new master of science program for physician assistants helps health-care teams navigate that complexity and provide precision health: personalized treatment when disease strikes and proactive and preventive care that keeps people from getting sick in the first place.”

Designed for a class of 25 to 30 students, the 30-month program will emphasize training alongside medical students in coursework and clinical care. It will also require students to choose an area of scholarly concentration within one of four areas: community health, health services and policy research, clinical research or medical education.

“This program will set itself apart from many other physician assistant programs by combining excellence in clinical training with scholarly projects that will help our graduates to become future leaders in their field,” said Charles Prober, MD, senior associate dean of medical education.