“Anyone in health care, especially those who are becoming clinicians, is automatically expected to perform as a leader,” said Stephanie Jalaba, MMS, PA-C, associate professor in the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s PA Program. “We lead our patients. We may lead groups of providers, hospital systems, educational teams.
“Leadership is an essential skill in health care.”
That includes PAs, Jalaba said, and may require more emphasis in leadership education and training for the PAs of tomorrow, an idea supported by recent data from the American Association of Physician Associates: only 12% of licensed PAs report having formal leadership training.
To further investigate, Jalaba is turning to research. She and collaborator Amber Herrick, MS, PA-C, associate professor at the Midwestern University College of Health Sciences PA Program – Glendale, Ariz., received a Support to Advance Research (STAR) award from the PA Education Association (PAEA), the national organization representing PA educational programming. The award allows researchers to submit questions and use data from PAEA’s 2025 Program Survey, which will be distributed to all PA programs across the country. Findings will help uncover the current state of leadership training and assessment in PA programs and highlight any barriers to that training.
“It is possible that a lot of leadership training is taking place informally, but it may actually encompass more expectation and assessment than actual training,” Jalaba explained. “This is an effort to gain more insight into what’s being taught – if there is truly enough training in leadership concepts and skills, or if it’s just being expected and assessed.”
Specifically, she and Herrick are seeking to answer the question: How can PA programs better prepare students to lead? She hopes the research will better inform where the profession needs to go in terms of training future clinicians in leadership.
Who are PAs and how is their leadership evolving?
PA students from the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine learn with Athletic Training master's students from the MSU College of Education to manage heat stroke and neck injuries.
PAs are clinicians who assess, diagnose and treat patients. Their training typically spans 27 months, resulting in a master’s degree. Training typically encompasses 12-15 months of didactic classroom learning and roughly 2,000 hours of clinical rotation training. PAs work collaboratively with physicians, but the exact arrangement varies from state to state, based on practice laws.
“We are a team-based profession and as we know from research, team-based health care provides the best outcomes for patients,” Jalaba said. “Our strength is being collaborators amongst a team of providers. I think leadership skills really come into play there.”
While the PA profession is relatively new – first established in the 1960s in response to a shortage of primary care physicians – there are roughly 190,000 board-certified PAs in the U.S. today, contributing to more than 500 million patient interactions per year. As patient care roles have expanded, Jalaba has seen more PAs move into positions of greater leadership in health care, academia and the private sector. Some PAs are pursuing informal leadership roles while clinically practicing; others are in more management and administrative leadership positions, some to the level of deans, senior vice presidents and CEOs.
The profession is also amid major changes, including state-specific efforts to change titles from physician assistants to physician associates and advancing a licensure compact that allows PAs to practice across state lines with a streamlined authorization process.
“As PAs, our main goal is to increase health care access for patients and provide high-quality patient care. We can accomplish this best through both clinical and leadership roles, so preparing PAs for leadership, whether formal or informal, is of critical importance.”
Read more about Jalaba’s research and the STAR award.
By E. LaClear