Physician Assistant

Overview

Physician assistants (PAs) are health professionals licensed to practice medicine under the supervision of a physician. PAs are extensively trained to provide diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive healthcare services. Working as members of the healthcare team, physician assistants can take medical histories, perform physical exams, order and interpret laboratory tests, diagnose and treat illnesses, counsel patients, assist in surgery, and set fractures. PAs can also work as the principal health providers in rural or inner city clinics, where a physician is on the premises for only one or two days each week. In these types of clinical work environments, the PA confers with the supervising physician and other medical professionals as needed or as required by law.

Physician assistants are educated as generalists in medicine, thus most of the PA graduate programs emphasize primary care in their training. Although their education and credentialing are based on a primary care foundation, PAs can also work in specialty fields like cardiovascular surgery, orthopedics and emergency medicine. Nonetheless, the largest proportion of PAs opt for the primary care specialty areas of family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.

Biola offers an excellent educational foundation and individualized advising/preparation for any student interested in becoming a physician assistant (PA). The Health Sciences major in the Biological Sciences Dept. is ideally suited for students pursuing a PA career. In fact, the various prerequisites for Physician Assistant Masters level graduate programs (around the country) were studied carefully when designing the pre-health care professional emphasis of the Health Sciences major. In recent years, Biola graduates have had impressive success in gaining admission to respected PA Professional school programs both locally and around the nation.

The Biola major most suited for students interested in a future career as a Physician Assistant is the health sciences major in the Department of Biological Sciences. The Pre-Health Care Professional emphasis under this Health Sciences B.S. degree is specifically designed to provide students the complete educational foundation required for a PA career.

Biola’s excellent science curricula and faculty equip each student with the knowledge base necessary for a future medical career. This is evidenced by the fact that most Biola graduates from the Sciences score significantly above the national average on graduate school admissions tests. This includes the GRE, as well as early administrations of the PA-CAT admissions exam.

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Reasons to study pre-PA at Biola

1. Integration

   Science instruction and teaching at Biola is always implemented in the context of the sovereignty of God, and as a tool to further explore and appreciate his creation. A distinctive of the pre-PA program at Biola University is that it offers excellent preparation for PA school as an integrated part of the much larger on-campus Christian community.

2. Personal Advising

   Every pre-PA student has access to personal advising from BOHPA, the Biola Office of Health Professions Advising. Specifically, every pre-PA student has the opportunity for multiple advising appointments with the chief advisor, an M.D. degree graduate from the UCLA School of Medicine.

3. Clinical Experience

   Over the last several years, Biola University has had a successful number of students gain admission to PA health professional graduate programs after completing their undergraduate degrees. Many PA schools want applying students to have both an undergraduate science background and significant clinical experience before matriculating into a PA graduate program. The Biola Office of Health Professions Advising counsels students on how to obtain this needed clinical work experience both during, and immediately after, their undergraduate studies.
   
   Every pre-PA student is eligible to enroll in the upper division clinical shadowing program (BIOS 460) at Biola University. This semester-long experience for juniors and seniors provides weekly or semi-monthly opportunities to observe and interact directly with a physician assistant seeing patients in clinical practice. Clinical shadowing allows students to explore the physician assistant field, gain required clinical experience, provide sources for letters of recommendation, and make decisions about future career paths.

4. Community

   Biola has a wonderful peer-to-peer community for pre-health students in the Health Careers Club (HCC). The HCC provides opportunities for like-minded students to gather, fellowship, learn, and share the pre-health career journey together. Student officers of the HCC plan monthly activities and presentations directly related to the medical field. Speakers from various specialties are brought in to discuss their clinical work and topics in their field. Christian professionals and sponsoring missions organizations are also scheduled for students interested in short-term and long-term missions. Unlike some of the larger state schools, the Health Careers Club at Biola University ensures that no student has to undertake the challenging pre-health career journey alone.