{"id":14542,"date":"2026-05-19T14:41:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=14542"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:49:11","slug":"augsburg-pa-program-name-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2026\/05\/19\/augsburg-pa-program-name-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Augsburg PA program name change reflects evolving profession"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Augsburg has long led Minnesota in what was formerly known as physician assistant studies, having established the first PA program and the first PA doctoral degree in the state. Now, the PA program has a new name and departmental home: the Physician Associate Program, part of a newly created Department of Physician Associate Medicine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The name change aligns Augsburg\u2019s programs with the professional title adopted nationally by the PA profession\u2014a shift that aims to more accurately reflect PAs\u2019 scope of practice, credentials, and role in delivering high-quality health care. The change will ensure consistency with professional standards and accreditation, while positioning Augsburg to support broader efforts across the state to modernize PA terminology in legislation and public understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe transition from \u201cassistant\u201d to \u201cassociate\u201d reflects the modern role of PAs as collaborative, highly trained medical professionals who practice medicine as part of health care teams,\u201d said Associate Professor Vanessa Bester, director of Augsburg\u2019s School of Health. \u201cThis change reflects Augsburg\u2019s ongoing commitment to leadership and innovation in health professions education.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The change also brings together Augsburg\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/pa\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Master of Science in Physician Associate Studies<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/dmsc\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Doctor of Medical Science<\/span><\/a> degrees into a combined department. The Doctor of Medical Science program, launched in Fall 2025, advances practicing PAs\u2019 leadership expertise in education, research, and health care administration.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Augsburg has long led Minnesota in what was formerly known as physician assistant studies, having established the first PA program and the first PA doctoral degree in the state. Now, the PA program has a new name and departmental home: the Physician Associate Program, part of a newly created Department of Physician Associate Medicine.\u00a0 The <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14544,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14542\/revisions\/14544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}