MSU-Meridian announces inaugural class of new Master of Physician Assistant Studies program
MERIDIAN, Miss.—Twenty students comprising the inaugural cohort of Mississippi State University’s new Master of Physician Assistant Studies program report this week for orientation at MSU-Meridian’s Riley Campus. These students are among over 250 applicants and 50 finalists who vied for limited slots in the state’s only publicly funded PA program.
The program achieved Accreditation-Provisional status, the initial phase of accreditation for all new programs granted by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, or ARC-PA, in October 2020.
PAs are nationally certified and state-licensed medical professionals who practice medicine on healthcare teams with physicians and other providers. They perform a broad range of diagnostic, therapeutic, preventative and health maintenance services. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the occupational outlook for PAs will increase by 31 percent through 2029.
In addition to Mississippi natives, the inaugural class includes students from six other states across the country:
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana—Kelly Edmonds
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—Madison Reese
BRANDON, Mississippi—Kaitlin White
BROOMFIELD, Colorado—Megan Wade
CASSELBERRY, Florida—Wesley Wilson
COLLINSVILLE, Mississippi—Pamela Vayda
ELLISVILLE, Mississippi—Taylor Rawls
HATTIESBURG, Mississippi—Frank Anin
HOUMA, Louisiana—Megan McCormick
LAROSE, Louisiana—Cody Guidry
LUMBERTON, Mississippi—Karen Keith
MERIDIAN, Mississippi—Katherine Bruister
METAIRIE, Louisiana—Jennifer Madden
PETAL, Mississippi—Kaiman Parker
QUITMAN, Mississippi—Kallie Belcher
SAN JOSE, California—Madison Whitehead
SANDY HOOK, Mississippi—Jacie McKenzie
SEYMOUR, Indiana—Krishna Patel
YORK, Alabama—Cerina James
For more on MSU-Meridian’s PA program, visit https://www.meridian.msstate.edu/academics/physician-assistant/ or email pa@meridian.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Mississippi State University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Mississippi State University.
Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class. The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-mississippi-state-university-meridian.