Dean’s Welcome

As the Founding Dean of the School of Physician Assistant Studies, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to our website as you explore your physician assistant (PA) opportunities. On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students here at ACHE, we are pleased you are interested in us. Historically, PAs have been thought of as tremendous, hard-working clinicians. However, as our dynamic career field grows and expands, not only nationwide, but also globally, we must change our expectations on what the duties and responsibilities of PA include. In our opinion, we would like to see bigger PA footprints in five areas: education, legislation, leadership, research, and advocacy for the PA profession. We are hoping that as we forge this cutting-edge PA program, we can embrace those important areas.

There are two vital attributes that we stress for our PA students. One, is to be a creative, innovative problem solver. This may sound like a vague term but will serve our PAs well after graduation and into their careers. The second is to be a critical thinker. This allows our PAs to think logically and pragmatically through complex clinical scenarios to come up with the best treatment plan possible. Additionally, we stress the importance of interprofessional and collaborative work here. Healthcare is a team sport, and no one provides healthcare singularly. We have a unique opportunity here at ACHE to collaborate with student doctors, Biomedicine students, physical therapists, and occupational therapists to name a few. We have state of the art instructional classrooms, laboratories (including cadaveric gross anatomy), and simulation laboratories. This also fits beautifully with Optimal Team Practice (OTP) concept which occurs when PAs, physicians, and other healthcare professionals work together to provide quality care without burdensome administrative constraints.

We would love to get to know you better and answer any questions or concerns that you may have regarding our program. We feel it is top notch! Our goal here to create a close-knit educational community that produces highly skilled and compassionate physician assistants that will serve the local area, state, and nation. We are confident that our faculty, curriculum, and collaborative community will inspire our next generation of physician assistants!

All the best,

Gregory S. Mangione, DMSc, MPAS, PA-C
Founding Dean, School of Physician Assistant Studies