The Physician Assistant Studies Program at Brenau University has received continued accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.
The PA program is the newest degree in the Ivester College of Health Sciences. It was established in 2020 with initial accreditation, and the first cohort graduated in 2023.
“We are looking forward to better serving our program’s mission to helping the medically underserved and with a focus on behavioral health,” said Department Chair Julie Keena, DHSc, PA-C. Keena is the founding director of the program and is also a professor. “Our hope is that with the accreditation complete, we can bolster the expanding healthcare network in Northeast Georgia with quality physician assistants.”
The initial accreditation period, after which a program can begin admitting students and granting degrees, is required prior to earning continued accreditation. The process can take up to six years to complete, requires the submission of more than a hundred pages of application paperwork, and multiple site visits, according to Kyrus Patch, DHSc, PA-C, assistant program director.
“You have to collect a lot of data, and you have to prove to the accrediting body everything that you report,” Patch said. “We collected information on how students and faculty are performing, along with graduate scores on the certifying exam.”
The program will not need to undergo another accreditation review until 2035.