Postgraduate PA Residency and Fellowship Programs 2017

Postgraduate PA Residency and Fellowship Programs 2017

Postgraduate education for physician assistants (PAs) first developed in the early 1970’s.

Over the past four decades the PA postgraduate training movement has slowly expanded, and in 2017 there are 70 programs listed on the Association of Postgraduate PA Programs programs (APPAP) website.

All of these post graduate training programs, also referred to as residencies or fellowships, provide some form of advanced learning in various medical and surgical specialties.

  • Those who attend residency programs claim that PA residencies offer hands on practical experience that will prepare you to be better perform at your job.
  • PAs who jump into specialty without residencies claim you can get paid 2-3x as much, work less, and learn just as much while getting your training on the job.

Who is right? I am not here to debate this, but I think it depends on the person and your individual needs.

By far the most comprehensive PA residency program is hosted by the Carolinas Healthcare system which offers eight PA fellowships in Acute Care, Critical Care/Trauma, Family Medicine, Hospitalist, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Urgent Care and Urology!

PA program residency quick facts:

  • Program certification: There is no official certification process for post graduate residency programs.
    • ARC-PA: There are currently only 8 accredited clinical residencies for PAs in the US, listed on ARC-PAs website here. Accreditation is voluntary through ARC-PA and does ensure a certain level of educational standards, but it is not required and offers no current benefit. Since 2014 The ARC-PA has placed the accreditation process for clinical postgraduate PA programs in abeyance while it studies a different type of process to recognize program educational quality.
    • Association of Postgraduate PA Programs (APPAP): At the American Academy of Physician Assistants Convention in Los Angeles in May 1988 a group of postgraduate PA programs met to formalize a national postgraduate PA program organization. Bylaws were written and approved by the eight founding programs and the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs (APPAP) was formed to further specialty education for PA’s. Programs are not required to be registered with APPAP and certain membership criteria must be met to be eligible. While there are benefits to being registered with APPAP, there are also very expensive membership fees that programs may not wish to spend their money on. Do not be hesitant if the program you find interesting is not on APPA’s website.
  • What about my loans? You can defer student loans during your residency and some programs offer loan repayment
  • Do I get paid during my residency? Most residencies provide stipends of 40 – 75 k and require 40-80 hours per week up to 6 days per week
  • How many hours will I be required to work? The average program length is 12 months but some programs are up to 24 months long
  • How competitive is the process? 10-30 people interview at each program annually and accept on average 1-4 residents

PA Postgraduate Residency and Fellowship Programs by Specialty (Updated January 2017)

Yellow: ARC-PA Accreditation 

Name of Program Location Duration Class Size

Acute Care Medicine PA Residency

University of Missouri Columbia, MO 15 months 2
Carolinas Healthcare System Center Charlotte, NC 12 months 28

Cardiology PA Residency

Mercer-Piedmont Heart Atlanta, GA 12 months 2

Cardiothoracic PA Residency

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Ypsilanti, MI 12 months 1
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Lebanon, NH 12 months 2
Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center Houston, TX 12 months 2 to 3

Critical Care/Trauma PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Center Charlotte, NC 12 months 28
Intermountain Medical Center Murray, UT 12 months 1
Einstein/Montefiore Division of Critical Care Medicine Bronx, NY 12 months
Emory Critical Care Atlanta, GA 12 months 2
Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD 12 months 6
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Ypsilanti, MI 12 months 1
St. Luke’s Hospital Bethlehem, PA 12 months 4
Mayo Clinic Arizona Phoenix, AZ 12 months 1
WakeMed Health and Hospitals Raleigh, NC 12 months 3
Winthrop University Hospital Mineola, NY 12 months 1

Dermatology PA Residency

The Dermatology Physician Assistant Fellowship Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI 12 months

Emergency Medicine PA Residency

Albany Medical Center Albany, NY 12 months 5
Albert Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, PA 18 months 2 or 3
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Colton, CA 14 months 15
Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX 12 months 4 to 6
Brown Alpert Medical School Providence, RI 12 months
Carilion Clinic Roanoke, VA 12 months 3
Eastern Virginia Medical School Norfolk, VA 12 months 2 to 4
St. Luke’s Hospital Bethlehem, PA 12 months 4
Jane R. Perlman / NorthShore University Health System Evanston, IL 12 months 2
Johns Hopkins – Bayview Hospital Baltimore, MD 18 months 1 every 6 months
Lakeland Regional Health Lakeland, FL 12 months 4
Marquette University – Aurora Health Milwaukee, WI 12 months
University of Missouri Columbia, MO 13 months 2
New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center New York, NY 12 months 4
Regions Hospital St. Paul, MN 18 months 2
Staten Island University Hospital Staten Island, NY 24 months 4
Team Health EMAPC Fellowship Oklahoma City, OK 12 months 2 to 3 every 6 months
University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 18 months
University of New Mexico School of Medicine Albuquerque, NM 18 months 2
UCSF Fresno Fresno, CA 18 months 2
The US Army/ Air Force-Baylor Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (EMPA) Residency

  • Must be Active Duty Army or Air Force, with a minimum of 4 years (Army) or 2 years (Air Force) active commissioned service as a Physician Assistant.
JBSA Fort Sam Houston, TX 18 months
Yale New Haven Hospital New Haven, CT 18 months 2

Family Medicine PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable
Carilion Clinic Urgent Care and Rural Health Daleville, VA 12 months 2

Geriatric Medicine PA Residency

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center – Houston, Texas – Physician Assistant Post-Graduate Residency in Geriatric Medicine

Houston, TX 12 months

Hematology/Oncology

Mayo Clinic Arizona Phoenix, AZ 12 months 1
MD Anderson Cancer Center – The University of Texas Houston, TX 12 months 2-Jan

Hospitalist PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable
Mayo Clinic Arizona Phoenix, AZ 12 months 1
Regions Hospital St. Paul, MN 12 months 1

Internal Medicine PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable

Neonatology PA Residency

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA 12 months 2
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 12 months 2 to 3

OB-GYN PA Residency

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Colton, CA 12 months 6
Montefiore Medical Center Bronx, NY 12 months 2

Orthopedic Surgery PA Residency

Arrowhead Orthopedics Redlands, CA 12 months 4 to 6
Carilion Clinic Roanoke, VA 12 months 2
Illinois Bone and Joint Institute Park Ridge, IL 12 months 5 to 7
DMC Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Warren, MI 12 months 2
UCSF Fresno Fresno, CA 13 months 2
Riverside University Health System Moreno Valley, CA 12 months
Navy PA Graduate Training: Orthopedics – Career military physician assistants Portsmouth, VA 12 months 2-4

Otolaryngology PA Residency

Mayo Clinic Arizona Phoenix, AZ 12 months 2

Pediatrics PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable

Primary Care PA Residency

Shasta Community Health Center Redding, CA 12 months 2-3
North Florida-South Georgia Veterans Health System – University of Florida Physician Assistant Residency in Primary Care Gainesville, FL 12 months
The Emory Physician Assistant Program and The Veterans Atlanta Medical Center (VAMC) Atlanta, GA 12 months

Psychiatry PA Residency

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry PA Program Columbus, OH 12 2
University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 12 2
The Cherokee Mental Health Institute (CMHI) Cherokee, IA 12

Surgery PA Residency

Bassett Healthcare Cooperstown, NY 12 months 2
Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC 12 months Varies
Hartford Healthcare Hartford, CT 12 months 2 to 4
Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD 12 months Up to 11
Montefiore Medical Center – Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY 14.5 months 5
Norwalk Hospital/Yale Norwalk, CT 12 months 12
Texas Children’s Hospital Pediatric Surgery Houston, TX 12 months 6
University of Florida Gainesville, FL 12 months 4
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Pittsburgh, PA 12 months 2

Urgent Care PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable
Carilion Clinic Urgent Care and Rural Health Daleville, VA 12 months

Urology PA Residency

Carolinas Healthcare System Charlotte, NC 12 months 28 per cohort, variable
UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX 12 months 1

Other Fellowships

Hepatology Physician Assistant Fellowship – Alexandria, VA
  • Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) – Nationwide, including Puerto Rico (paid)
  • Community Health at Drexel University – Philadelphia, PA (paid)
  • HHS/CDC – Atlanta, GA (unpaid)
  • HHS/NIH – Bethesda, MD (unpaid)
  • HHS/Office of Minority Health – Rockville, MD (unpaid)
Public Health Physician Assistant Fellowship – Atlanta, GA

  • Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) – Seeks physician assistants with a master of public health (MPH) or equivalent degree with an interest in public health and a commitment to public service. 2-year full-time program in Atlanta. Applications are accepted in May of each year.

 Gastroenterology Fellowship – Phoenix, AZ

About Stephen Pasquini PA-C

Site admin and creator of The Physician Assistant Life and the Physician Assistant School Finder PA School Program Directory.