The Role of a Physician Assistant

A Brief History of the Profession The physician assistant (PA) role emerged over the last five decades due to the expanding demands of the medical field and to combat a shortage of doctors.  The first PA program was started by Dr. Eugene Stead at Duke University in 1965 in recognition of the need for additional medical providers.  He based the PA role on an existing relationship between a fellow physician and his assistant.  Military corpsmen were some of the first PAs and were ideally suited...