Buies Creek, NC— The Physician Assistant (PA) Program at Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences (CPHS) moved one step closer to accreditation following a provisional site visit on Oct. 21-22. The visit was conducted by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).
“The PA Program faculty and staff did a superb job preparing for the site visit,” says Program Director Tom Colletti, MPAS, PA-C. “The evaluators were impressed by the excellent organization of curricular materials and the attention to detail in substantiating our compliance with their standards.”
ARC-PA is the national accrediting agency that defines the standards for PA education. During the visit, the evaluation team gathered evidence to verify Campbell’s self-study is thorough and accurate.
“Instructors, preceptors, and senior administration attended the site visit meetings and demonstrated significant commitment to our PA program,” says Colletti. “I am appreciative of all who were involved, and for their skills and diligence. Now I look forward to preparing the best PA clinicians to improve health care in our community and the nation, while representing the Campbell tradition.”
CPHS will actively move forward with preparations for the inaugural PA class next fall while waiting to receive the accreditation results in March 2011. Next on the agenda is reviewing applications, interviewing students, and providing provisional acceptances until the ARC-PA report is released. Then students will receive an official offer of acceptance into the program.
Renovations on the program’s facility, Carrie Rich Memorial, are scheduled for completion in January 2011. The PA Program Department is organizing exam rooms and classrooms, developing class schedules and arranging training materials including plastinated cadavers for the anatomy lab.
CPHS is accepting applications for the PA Program, for more information visit www.campbell.edu/paprogram.
CPHS was established in 1985 as the first new school of pharmacy to open in the United States in 35 years. In addition to the Doctor of Pharmacy degree, the college offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Clinical Research and Pharmaceutical Sciences.? In 2009, the name was formally changed from the School of Pharmacy to the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences to provide additional health science programs, including the newly established PA Program, slated to enroll its first class in fall 2011.
Photo Copy: Chris Stewart, M.D., medical director of the PA Program, Tom Colletti, MPAS, PA-C, director of the PA Program, and Dwaine Greene, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, attend a meeting during the site visit.