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The Master of Health Services — Physician Assistant Studies Degree Program prepares graduates to deliver care as physician assistants.

In alignment with the school's vision to advance health, the mission of the physician assistant program is to educate health care professionals to deliver care as members of interprofessional health care teams and to improve the availability of culturally relevant primary health care to underserved populations throughout California.

Physician assistants are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, physician assistants conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery and write prescriptions. Within the physician-physician assistant relationship, the physician assistant exercises autonomy in medical decision making and provides a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. A physician assistant’s practice may also include education, research and administrative services.

The physician assistant program prepares clinicians with the knowledge and skills needed to serve in those capacities and meet the needs of a constantly changing health care system. Rooted in a growing body of research and nurtured by visionary faculty who seek to transform health care, the curricula embrace integrative case-based learning, technology and systems-wide perspectives. 

Graduate Program Requirements