History

In 1961, Charles Hudson recommended to the American Medical Association, the creation of new medical providers. Eugene A. Stead of the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina assembled the first class of physician assistants in 1965, composed of four former US Navy Hospital Corpsmen. He based the curriculum of the PA program on his first-hand knowledge of the fast-track training of medical doctors during World War II. Two other physicians, Richard Smith at the University of Washington in Seattle, and Hu Myers at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia, also launched their own programs in the mid and late 1960s. And Dr. J. Willis Hurst started the Emory University Physician Assistant Program in 1967.

Beginning in January 1971, the US Army produced eight classes of physician assistants, at 30 students per class, through the Academy of Health Sciences, Brooke Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas (academically accredited by Baylor University, Texas).

In 2017, approximately 68% of physician assistants in the United States identified as women and approximately 32% identified as male.

The profession has expanded globally. It can now be found in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, India, Israel, Liberia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. Many countries do not use the term but do have people that are employed to do similar types of work, such as clinical officers in Africa, clinical associates in South Africa, assistant medical officers in Malaysia, assistant doctors in China, Health extension officers in Papua New Guinea, and feldshers in countries formerly comprising the Soviet Union. As a profession physician assistants have greatly influenced the theory and conceptualization of socially accountable health professional education.