U.S. News and World Report recently released its rankings of PA programs for its "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008" publication. The magazine ranked the PA program at the University of Iowa No. 1, followed by the PA programs at Duke University and Emory University.
The University of Iowa's PA Program is unlike any other PA program in the country. Our unique program curriculum is purposefully designed to have the PA students complete more than 60% of their didactic curriculum with sophomore medical students. The innovative curriculum is intricately woven into a creative matrix of courses that prepares students to move far beyond simple memorization of facts and figures to developing skills designed to prepare them as lifelong learners.
These skills produce a clinician who can adapt to new theories and technologies as they become available. Students in our program become clinicians who know how to develop questions, collect and critique information, and critically reason conclusions using evidence-based medicine principles. Clinicians who possess these skills are capable of providing excellent patient care. In addition, they learn to think in a manner that is consistent with their supervising physicians, which allows them to easily become integrated into the PA/Physician team.
We are very proud of the tradition of excellence that has been established here at the University of Iowa PA Program.