Biomedical engineer for a medical device company. Health Science teacher. U.S. Navy Intelligence professional. Hospital administrator. These roles, held by four members of the Yale School of Medicine Physician Assistant Online (PA Online) Program Class of 2024 prior to starting PA school, are reflective of the class’s diversity. The 80 students in the class began the 28-month program on January 4, 2022.
Class members live in 28 different states; since the program began five years ago, students have come from 44 states and the District of Columbia. The program is designed so that students do not have to relocate. In their first year, students participate in highly interactive classes and course work online, as well as 120+ hours of patient care in or near their home community. Students then spend 15 months performing clinical rotations in or near their home communities. One aim of the program is to train PAs who will practice in their home communities as a way to address the country’s significant primary care needs. Thirty-five percent of the students in the incoming class come from medically-underserved areas and 23% from rural locations.
The geographic flexibility leads to an older class, with an average age of 31 and students ranging from 21 to 52 years-old. Twenty-four percent of students already have an advanced degree, 43% are first-generation, and 25% are underrepresented in medicine.
Yale PA Online Program Director James Van Rhee, MS, PA-C, says, “Every year as we start a new cohort, I am amazed by the wide and varied backgrounds and experiences our students bring to the program.”