Perspectives Winter/Spring 2018

32 Nova Southeastern University Health Sciences Online and On-Site Programs PA Profession Praises a Pioneer THE FIRST EDUCATIONAL program for physician assistants (PAs) was estab- lished at Duke University in 1965 by Eugene Stead, Jr., M.D., who was a medical educator and researcher, as well as the founder of the physician assistant profession. He created the profession, in part, as a response to a physician shortage. The first graduating PA class consisted of three former United States Navy hospital corpsmen who graduated from Duke on October 6, 1967, her- alding the creation of a new health profession. From those first three pioneers, there are now hundreds of thousands of men and women practicing as PAs. Acceptance of this new profession by the medical commu- nity was by no means universal. Resistance occurred from physicians and nurses, and there was a lack of enabling legislation for PA practice. If not for the hard work of Stead, the profession may not have survived. The PA profession has since grown to more than 115,500 certified PAs nationwide, with more than 225 accredited PA programs in the United States, which graduate approximately 5,000 PAs annually. Charles C. Lewis, D.H.Sc., M.P.H., PA, assistant professor, was in the fifth class at Duke University. Lewis entered training in 1969, graduated in 1971, and became one of the pioneers of this new pro- fession. Lewis had a stellar career as a physician assistant and was a pioneer in physician assistant education. He held faculty appointments at the Uni- versity of Texas Southwestern Medi- cal School, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, the Med- ical College of Georgia, East Carolina University, and Methodist College. Lewis, who serves as a faculty mem- ber in the Department of Health Science and teaches in its online programs, joined the NSU faculty in 2000 and taught in the physician assistant and public health programs. Students rec- ognized his teaching excellence by awarding him two Gold- en Apples—one for each program. He was awarded a third Golden Apple by the Bachelor of Health Science students. He began his health care career in 1961 when he joined the U.S. Navy as a corpsman. He left the Navy in 1964 to attend Newberry College in South Carolina, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1968. While working in the field of psychiatry post-graduation, Lewis heard of a new training program for physician assistants at Duke University. He subsequently applied and was accepted in 1969. By Richard Davis, Ed.D., PA-C, Executive Associate Dean and Professor, Doctor of Health Science and M.H.S./D.H.S. Dual Degree, and Anthony Dyda, D.H.Sc., M.P.A.S., PA, Associate Professor, Health Science Doctoral Programs Charles C. Lewis