Physician Assistant Studies

UC San Diego School of Medicine Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0616
La Jolla, CA 92093-0616
(858) 534-2230
http://paeducation.ucsd.edu/

All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.

Established in 2024, the Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program was made possible by a generous bequest from former UC San Diego chancellor and UC President Richard C. Atkinson and the late Rita Atkinson. The program is housed within the UC San Diego School of Medicine, established in 1968, and is the region’s only medical school. The School of Medicine is closely tied to the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and UC San Diego Health, which includes the UC San Diego Medical Center, Jacobs Medical Center, Moores Cancer Center, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Longevity Science, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, Shiley Eye Institute, and many other centers, clinics, and affiliates throughout Southern California.

Every year in June, the program admits a new cohort of students. It will attract a broad array of applicants and recruit extensively from areas in the southern half of the state that currently lack adequate health care providers. While in the program, learners will gain rich and diverse didactic and clinical experiences through clinical rotations at regional clinics and hospitals, honing the clinical skills acquired during their didactic training. The local and national need for additional qualified medical practitioners who practice as part of a medical team is well recognized, and ours would be the second PA program in the University of California system, complementing that of UC Davis. Our program is committed to educating learners from a diverse array of backgrounds, settings, and geographies to address the health care needs of the state of California. Our goal is to train outstanding clinicians who strive for excellence, collaborate effectively, recognize the needs of diverse populations, and embrace innovation and scientific discovery.

PAs (physician associates or physician assistants) are licensed clinicians who practice medicine in every specialty and setting. Trusted, rigorously educated and trained health-care professionals, PAs are dedicated to expanding access to care and transforming health and wellness through patient-centered, team-based medical practice.

• Education: Becoming a physician assistant requires a master's degree from an accredited program.
• Licensure: PAs must be licensed in the state where they practice. Licensing requirements typically include graduating from an accredited physician assistant program and passing the physician assistant national certifying examination (PANCE) administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
• Scope of Practice: The scope of practice for PAs varies by state and specialty but generally includes conducting physical exams, diagnosing and treating illnesses, ordering and interpreting tests, prescribing medications, and assisting in surgery. PAs work in various health-care settings, including hospitals, clinics, physician offices, and long-term care facilities.
• Collaborative Practice: PAs work closely with physicians and other health-care professionals as part of a collaborative health-care team. While they work with the supervision or collaboration of a physician, the level of supervision or collaboration can vary depending on state regulations, practice setting, and the PA’s level of experience.
• Specialties: PAs can choose to specialize in various areas of medicine, such as emergency medicine, primary care, surgery, pediatrics, dermatology, and psychiatry, among others. Some PAs may pursue additional certifications or training to specialize in their chosen field.
• Career Outlook: The demand for physician assistants is expected to grow significantly due to factors such as an aging population, increased access to health-care services, and a shortage of primary care physicians in many areas. PAs enjoy competitive salaries and opportunities for advancement and specialization within the field.

The University of California San Diego School of Medicine Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program will recruit and retain learners who reflect the diverse population of California. Graduates will be prepared to provide safe, effective, person-centered health care in various settings to improve the health and well-being of the patients and communities we serve.

The Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program goals align with its mission and support a learning environment that emphasizes learner success, diversity, and service to Californians. The rigorous curriculum provides the learner with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for competent clinical practice with a focus on primary care. The program will maintain a robust process of continuous self-assessment to evaluate performance related to each of its goals and to ensure compliance with ARC-PA accreditation standards. Faculty and staff have set the following goals for the UC San Diego Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program.

To measure success toward meeting program goals, guide program analysis, and improve performance over time, measures of success have been established for each goal. Measures of success will be reevaluated at specific intervals throughout the program in accordance with the program self-assessment policy.

1. Graduates will acquire the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes/competencies for entry into professional physician assistant practice.
2. Contribute to regional primary care workforce needs by graduating physician assistants who are ready to serve the California public.
3. Recruit, retain, and graduate learners who reflect the diverse population of California.
4. Foster and maintain collaborative connections between the Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program and its alumni.

Admission

The Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program is committed to building and sustaining a diverse academic community of faculty, staff, and learners. We aim to attract and admit culturally and cognitively diverse learners with the potential for clinical excellence, whose interests align with the mission, vision, and core values of the program. The program is dedicated to a holistic admissions process that considers the lived experiences, attributes, and academic achievements of each applicant, recognizing their unique potential to serve as future clinicians.

Applicants must satisfy both the minimum and prerequisite course work requirements by the stated application deadlines. Admission is highly competitive. Meeting some or all these requirements does not guarantee admission.

Learners granted admission must fulfill all program requirements. No substitutions for program of study course work will be accepted, including but not limited to the following:

• Advanced Placement (AP)
• International Baccalaureate (IB) courses
• CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) examination
• Credit for experiential learning and continuing education
• Courses completed as part of a professional degree
• Medical school course completion (domestic or international)

Transfer of credit toward the MAS-PAS degree from other PA programs will only be granted to ARC-PA approved transfers via the “expansion of class size” process. The program reserves the right to refuse transfer credit in part or in whole or to allow credit provisionally. The program may request additional information, materials, or passage of competency assessments when considering a request for transfer of credit. Transfer credit outside of the “expansion of class size” process will not be considered.

Applicants to the Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program must complete an online application using the centralized application service for physician assistants (CASPA), and a secondary program application. Applicants must satisfy both the minimum and prerequisite course work requirements by the application deadlines. Admission is highly competitive. Meeting some or all these requirements does not guarantee admission.

Minimum Requirements

• CASPA application with official transcripts submitted by August 1; verified by September 1 
• Secondary application submitted by August 1 
• Evidence of US citizenship, permanent US residence, or current DACA recipient and/or undocumented
• Bachelor’s degree (or higher) from regionally accredited US institution or equivalent prior to matriculation* 
• Completed prerequisite course work 
• Minimum overall undergraduate GPA of ≥ 3.0 or overall graduate GPA of ≥ 3.0 (4.0 scale) 
• Minimum undergraduate sciences GPA of ≥ 3.0 or graduate sciences GPA of ≥ 3.0 (4.0 scale) 
• Minimum of 500 hours of health-care experience (volunteer or paid) 
• Three letters of recommendation

* https://grad.ucsd.edu/admissions/requirements/international-students/english-proficiency.html

Prerequisite Course Work

• Completed at a regionally accredited US institution. International prerequisite courses not accepted
• Completed with a grade by the August 1 deadline and verified by CASPA before September 1
• Letter or numerical grade on transcripts is required
• Grades of Pass (P) for 2020-2021 course work will be accepted
• AP/CLEP and concurrent enrollment course work documented on the official transcript is accepted
• Community college and online/distance courses from regionally accredited institutions are accepted
• Prerequisite course work does not expire/time-out

Biological Sciences	• twelve quarter credit hours/eight semester credit hours • In addition to the anatomy, physiology, and microbiology requirements below
Human Anatomy with Lab*	• four quarter credit hours/three semester credit hours
Human Physiology with Lab*	• four quarter credit hours/three semester credit hours
Microbiology with Lab	• four quarter credit hours/three semester credit hours
Chemistry	• four quarter credit hours/three semester credit hours
Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry	• four quarter credit hours/three semester credit hours
Statistics	• three quarter credit hours/two semester credit hours
*Eight quarter credits/six semester credits combination human anatomy/physiology with labs also accepted.

Program of Study

Learners who have been recommended for graduation to the Learner Progress Committee (LPC) by the principal faculty of the program may be awarded the master of advanced study in physician assistant studies (MAS-PAS) degree provided they meet all the following conditions.

1. Satisfactory completion of all didactic and capstone courses during the didactic phase of the curriculum earning eighty-eight quarter credits and achieving an overall cumulative ≥ 3.0 grade point average.
2. Satisfactory completion of the end-of-didactic summative practical assessment (EOC SP-OSCE) at the end of the didactic phase of the curriculum.
3. Satisfactory completion of all clinical and capstone courses during the clinical phase of the curriculum, earning forty-eight quarter credits and achieving an overall ≥ 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
4. Satisfactory completion of the End-of-Curriculum™ (EOR) examination administered in the last four months of the program of study.
5. Satisfactory completion of the end-of-curriculum summative practical assessment (EOC SP-OSCE) administered in the last four months of the program of study.
6. Satisfactory completion of the master’s Capstone Project.
7. Satisfactory demonstration of the ethical, professional, behavioral, and personal characteristics requisite to practicing as a physician assistant.
8. Satisfactory completion of all didactic, clinical, and capstone courses earning 136 quarter credits and achieving an overall ≥ 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
9. Satisfactory demonstration of all program learning outcomes and graduate competencies.

Concentrations

The four four-week concentration, elective, or selective rotations allow learners to individualize their experience and explore areas of interest. Learners choose from a wide range of primary care, specialty, and subspecialty practices throughout the UC San Diego Health system and in other affiliated clinical training sites that are vetted by the PA program. Learners may select from already established rotations or work with the program’s clinical team to develop specific areas of interest. Selective rotations are designed specifically to meet the course learning outcomes for learners opting to pursue a clinical concentration in primary care, rural and border health, and specialty/subspecialty foci. One elective or selective rotation is protected for independent study.

Primary Care Concentration

PAE 461. Primary Care Selective Rotation I

PAE 462. Primary Care Selective Rotation II

PAE 463. Primary Care Selective Rotation III

PAE 489. Independent Study Rotation 

Specialty Care Concentration

PAE 471. Specialty Care Selective Rotation I

PAE 472. Specialty Care Selective Rotation II

PAE 473. Specialty Care Selective Rotation III

PAE 489. Independent Study Rotation

Border and Rural Health Concentration

PAE 481. Rural and Border Health Selective Rotation I

PAE 482. Rural and Border Health Selective Rotation II

PAE 483. Rural and Border Health Selective Rotation III

PAE 489. Independent Study Rotation

Evaluation

Normative Time to Complete the MAS-PAS Degree

The normative time from matriculation to degree completion for the MAS-PAS program of study is twenty-nine months. This includes fifteen months of didactic instruction followed by fourteen months of clinical instruction. The program of study is designed as a lockstep model. The program will conduct frequent, objective, and documented evaluations of student performance to monitor learner progress in meeting the program’s learning outcomes and graduate competencies.

Exceptions to Normative Timeline

The program’s Learner Progress Committee has established policies regarding remediation, reassessment, and deceleration to ensure learners complete the program of study within the prescribed timeline. If a learner decelerates, the maximum time from matriculation to the granting of the degree is forty-four months. Approved leaves of absence recommended by the Learner Progress Committee and approved by the associate dean/program director may extend the forty-four-month maximum time to completion. These decisions will be determined on an individual basis and will not set precedent. Learners placed on a decelerated path to completion must pay full tuition and fees for all additional quarters.

Part-Time Enrollment

The program does not offer a part-time program of study. Except in cases where deceleration dictates the need for part-time enrollment, all learners must be enrolled full-time every quarter. Special topics guided independent study courses will be utilized to ensure no decelerated learners are enrolled part time.

Learners required to repeat clinical rotations to graduate during the summer quarter may be enrolled part time and the tuition may be prorated. Part-time enrollment may challenge learners seeking financial aid to pay tuition and fees. Special topics guided independent study courses may be utilized to enroll a learner full time. If enrolled full time, tuition and fees for additional quarters will not be prorated. 

Requests to Progress Online

Requests to progress in the program of study exclusively online will not be approved. The program does not offer a hybrid model or a fully online curriculum. Temporary exceptions to this policy will be accommodated for reasons of disability or illness. Temporary accommodations cannot be made permanent as the change would result in the learner’s inability to meet all program learning outcomes and graduate competencies. The learner may also need to reaffirm the program’s technical standards policy. A permanent accommodation to progress exclusively online is considered a fundamental alteration in the program of study and would therefore be unreasonable to accommodate.

Role of the Learner Progress Committee

The Learner Progress Committee is charged with the consistent application of academic policies and monitoring of physician assistant learners throughout the program of study to ensure they are meeting the program’s academic standards and to promptly identify and remedy any academic deficiencies. The LPC frequently and consistently reviews academic performance on examinations and assessments during every quarter and meets at the end of every quarter to review all grades and determine the need for targeted academic advisement of learners who either perform unsatisfactorily or appear to be trending toward unsatisfactory. A learner’s progression from matriculation to graduation is at the discretion and recommendation of the LPC.

Advising

Academic advising is a collaborative relationship between a learner and an academic adviser. The intent of this collaboration is to assist the learner in developing meaningful educational goals that are consistent with personal interests, values, and abilities. Although many individuals on campus, including academic advisers, may assist the learner in making decisions and accomplishing goals, the academic adviser is granted formal authority to assist the learner in progressing toward the completion of the MAS-PAS degree. Effective academic advising also helps the learner utilize the extensive network of academic support services available on campus and empowers the learner to realize the full educational experience at UC San Diego. Achievement of this end requires the ongoing involvement of the learner, one or more academic advisers, and the institution. Each of these has unique roles and responsibilities.

The program will employ a longitudinal advising model. It will integrate a triple-aim approach that utilizes the proactive, appreciative, and coaching-based (GROW/RE-GROW) advising models in both individual and group formats to provide learners with supportive and timely interventions during their educational journey at UC San Diego. One of the cornerstones of the program’s academic advising process is the creation of five longitudinal learning communities (LLC). Each incoming learner will be assigned to one of the LLCs and maintain this affiliation over their entire physician assistant education career. Each LLC functions as a group or collective advising efforts which promote a hybrid delivery of academic advising that encourages peer-to-peer support.

Academic advising is available only to learners accepted to and enrolled in the MAS-PAS program of study. Advising is provided by program faculty in the PAE suite of offices in MET 330.04.