Photo by Beth Wynn / Mississippi State UniversityShey Washburn, left, and Tara Milligan, assistant clinical professors with MSU-Meridian’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies program, demonstrate patient simulation equipment that will be used as part of the rigorous 24-month curriculum. The program’s launch at the Riley Campus in downtown Meridian is pending achievement of Accreditation-Provisional status at the upcoming meeting of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, or ARC-PA. Fifty prospective students were invited to interview this month for 20 available slots.

STARKVILLE —Fifty students were invited to interview this month for 20 class seats in Mississippi State University’s new Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree program while administrators and faculty prepare for the first PA students to enroll in January 2020.

The program’s launch at the Riley Campus in downtown Meridian is pending achievement of Accreditation-Provisional status at the upcoming meeting of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, or ARC-PA. The university will be notified regarding its application for Accreditation-Provisional in the next few weeks. The program will not commence in the event this status is not granted.

Terry Dale Cruse, MSU-Meridian associate vice president and head of campus, said 227 applications were submitted by prospective students before the Aug. 1 deadline. Of those invited to interview, 29 of the 50 are Mississippians with the others representing Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Cruse said he expects the program to announce its first cohort in October.

PAs are nationally certified and state-licensed medical professionals who practice medicine on healthcare teams with physicians and other providers. They perform a broad range of diagnostic, therapeutic, preventative and health maintenance services.

For more on MSU-Meridian’s PA program, visit www.meridian.msstate.edu/academics/physician-assistant/ or email pa@meridian.msstate.edu.