The Physician Assistant (PA) Program at Mayo Clinic is designed to provide the knowledge and skills needed to serve the healthcare needs of tomorrow. Our transformational education model focuses on active learning that will engage you in evidence-based clinical reasoning needed for high-quality patient care.

Program highlights include:

• Excelling in direct patient care. Through our curriculum, you’ll learn foundational clinical knowledge and skills with a distinct focus on providing exceptional healthcare to patients from all walks of life.
• Exceptional faculty and mentors. As you learn from experts in their field, you’ll also be at their side for clinical experiences. Our teaching faculty provides unique mentorship opportunities from people who not only teach, but practice in the field every day.
• Serving local community health needs. Our program is committed to educating local community providers. Therefore, applicants who live in the communities served by Mayo Clinic in the Midwest are preferred applicants.
• Prioritizing your personal wellness. To support students in their rigorous studies, we have woven into our curriculum unique opportunities and activities for personal wellness development. You will have the tools to later guide your future patients toward optimal health.
• Developing PA leaders for tomorrow. In our team-based approach to care, you will learn leadership skills that contribute to the most effective utilization of your talents as a PA in patient care.

After successfully completing this program, you will receive a Master of Health Sciences degree in PA studies from Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.

Inclusive environment

Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science strives for inclusive learning and training environments. If you experience or anticipate experiencing any disability-related barriers, contact Disability Access Services at mccms.ds@mayo.edu.

Mission statement

To develop extraordinary PAs through transformational learning, providing optimal healthcare within patient-centered care teams, distinguished by the exceptional leadership and professionalism common to Mayo Clinic values.

Definition of mission statement terms

• Extraordinary PAs: Mayo PA graduates will exceed normative standards in their chosen roles, providing high quality, evidenced-based healthcare with respect and compassion as astute leaders within healthcare teams.
• Transformational learning: The learning experience at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences includes mastering the knowledge, skills, and professionalism of Mayo PA graduates through boldly innovative instruction in unparalleled state-of-the art facilities by talented teachers and mentors.
• Optimal healthcare: Mayo PA graduates will skillfully guide patients from all walks of life to achieve health, defined by the World Health Organization as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
• Patient-centered care teams: Effective team-based care requires PAs to sustain physician-led care by consummate skills in communication, integrating all contributors to the interprofessional team and ensuring that the needs of the patient come first.
• Exceptional leadership and professionalism: The expectation of all Mayo PA graduates includes the practice of servant leadership with the highest level of professionalism, patient-centeredness, altruism, and culturally-informed service excellence.

Program vision and values

Program vision

The Mayo Clinic Physician Assistant Program will become the leader in physician assistant education by preparing future PAs to:

• Provide high-quality, evidence-based healthcare
• Provide respectful, compassionate care for all
• Become team-oriented, effective leaders

Program values

The overarching primary value guiding the Mayo Clinic is “the needs of the patient come first.” As a reflection of the related Mayo core values, the Physician Assistant Studies Program values:

• Diversity and inclusion: Promote a diverse student body, staff, and faculty, ensuring inclusiveness by a welcoming, culturally appropriate environment to all.
• Integrity: Adhere to the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and personal responsibility, worthy of the trust our patients place in us.
• Teamwork: Value the contributions of all, blending the talents of individuals and the expertise of organizations such as the collaboration with Saint Mary’s University and the University of Minnesota-Rochester in developing student pipelines.
• Excellence and resiliency: Deliver the best outcomes of the highest quality through dedicated effort, overcoming obstacles when necessary to reach success.
• Meeting local community needs: Give priority to filling local workforce and community needs, especially for Mayo Clinic in the Midwest including rural care.
• Scholarship: Assure a commitment to the best practices of discovery, integration, application, and teaching of knowledge in continuous personal growth and professional development.
• Wellness: Encourage the pursuit of a lifestyle that respects a balance of physical, emotional, and spiritual health and contentment.

Accreditation

Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) states:

The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences Physician Assistant Studies Program sponsored by Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. 

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-mayo-clinic-school-of-hs/.