UW-Parkside to Offer New Physician Assistant Master’s Degree
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside is proud to announce the approval by the UW System Board of Regents of a Master of Science degree in Physician Assistant (MSPA) at their August meeting. This 27-month program will accept its first class of professional students in May of 2024 and is a natural evolution that has grown out of the long-standing strength of our “Signature” Pre-Health program.
The MSPA program will offer students a natural pathway from the Pre-Physician Assistant concentration which facilitates the development of students’ basic clinical skills through its required 300-hour internships.
The advantages of graduating from UW-Parkside’s Signature Pre-Health program are well documented:
Seventy-one percent of students who complete the Pre-Physician Assistant concentration, have successfully entered PA programs across the country over the past twenty years.
UW-Parkside undergraduate Pre-Health students have also successfully gained admission into other professional health schools including medicine (91%), pharmacy (90%), physical therapy (77%), veterinary (86%) and chiropractic (100%).
The MSPA program will advance UW-Parkside's Bold Goal to increase the number of graduates by 50% by 2025 – a key element of the university’s 2025 Strategic Framework.
The MSPA is the seventh master’s degree program added in the past ten years, bringing the total master’s degrees in the College of Natural Health Sciences to eight.
“This program can be a game changer for UW-Parkside in preparing graduates for the future and will strengthen the university’s position as a premier institution for training future healthcare professionals,” said UW-Parkside Chancellor Debbie Ford.
The MSPA program is a partnership with regional healthcare facilities, namely, Advocate-Aurora Hospital, Ascension Hospital, and Froedtert South Hospital. The cohort-based, MSPA program will follow the requirements, standards, and guidance of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).
Dean Emmanuel Otu said, “I am delighted UW-Parkside has been authorized to implement this program. Health provision in our region will be impacted positively in the years to come.” The program will produce a highly skilled, highly trained, pool of healthcare professionals that will provide immediate, necessary, and in demand talent to our regional healthcare partners.
For more information, call Dr. Bryan Lewis at 262-595-2330, or the College of Natural and Health Sciences office at 262-595-2977.