Marshall University Physician Assistant Program

09/18/2026

Clinical rotations give Marshall University Physician Assistant Program students opportunities to put their knowledge into practice while experiencing different specialties and patient populations.

Distinctive rotation experiences in orthopaedics, cardiology and rural health, help students build their skills while discovering where their interests may take them. 🩺💚

Your clinical experiences are an important step toward the provider you’ll become.

📅 Applications must be submitted and verified through CASPA by Oct. 1.

🔗 Learn more and apply: rebrand.ly/gaa7boe

09/16/2026

Choosing a physician assistant program means finding the right place to learn, grow and prepare for the patients you’ll one day serve.
At the Marshall University Physician Assistant Program, students benefit from:

• A strong emphasis on rural health
• Clinical rotations in orthopaedics, cardiology and rural health
• Competitive PANCE scores
• Affiliation with the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and Hershel "Woody" Williams VA Medical Center

Ready to take the next step? 💚

📅 Applications must be submitted and verified through CASPA by Oct. 1.

🔗 Learn more and apply: rebrand.ly/gaa7boe

09/16/2026

09/15/2026

Putting ECG Skills Into Practice!

Our MUPA students just completed an intensive three-week stretch of ECG interpretation in their Testing & Procedures course, building their skills in recognizing rhythms, conduction abnormalities, ischemic changes, and other important cardiac findings.

Today, they took the next step by putting that knowledge into action during their first cardiac simulation! Students worked through a realistic patient scenario, interpreted ECG findings, made clinical decisions, and practiced responding as a healthcare team.

This is just the beginning. As students continue through the program, they will participate in additional simulations that become progressively more challenging, dynamic, and complex, requiring them to integrate clinical knowledge, procedural skills, teamwork, communication, and rapid decision-making.

Experiences like these help bridge the gap between the classroom and clinical practice while building the confidence and clinical reasoning skills they will need as future PAs.

Great work, MUPA! 🩺⚡️❤️

09/10/2026

🩸 Stop the Bleed — Free Community Training

Hosted by GROWMED, Marshall University’s Physician Assistant Program Global, Rural, and Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group

Severe bleeding can happen anywhere—at home, on the road, at work, or in your community. In those critical first minutes, you can be the difference between life and death.

Join us for a FREE, hands-on ACS Stop the Bleed course designed for community members. No medical background is required.

You will learn:
• How to recognize life-threatening bleeding
• How to apply direct pressure
• How to properly use a tourniquet
• How to pack a wound
• What to do until emergency help arrives

📅 Sunday, October 4, 2026
🕐 1:00–3:00 PM
📍 Marshall University JCESOM
C**n Education Building
1542 Spring Valley Drive
Huntington, WV 25701

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Children and minors are welcome with a guardian present
👩‍⚕️ Certain healthcare professionals may be eligible to become Stop the Bleed instructors after completing the course
🎟️ Space is limited
💲 Completely free and open to the public

This practical training is based on the national Stop the Bleed initiative led by the American College of Surgeons. Learn more about the program at StopTheBleed.org.
Emergencies do not wait. Be prepared. Be confident. Be the person who knows how to help.

Register here:
GROWMED: ACS Stop the Bleed Course: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0545AEA629A4FFC16-65497540-acsstop #/

08/06/2026

With the summer semester winding down, the students and faculty are still active in and out of the classroom.

Aaron Bailey led the Wilderness Medicine Special Interest Group (GROWMED) members on a hike.

Last week, students learned about lumbar punctures, cultures, and Gram stains before heading into the lab for hands-on practice. They performed lumbar punctures on simulation models and had the opportunity to examine real gram-stained specimens under the microscope. 🔬

And to top it all off, the Marshall Athletic Training Program and PA Program joined forces for their annual interprofessional event, because together, we can achieve greatness!

This week, the focus shifted to wound closure and suturing techniques. Students practiced a variety of skills, including:
🧵 Simple interrupted sutures
🧵 Running sutures
🧵 Subcuticular closures
🩹 Staples
🩹 Skin adhesives

Now, they’re heading into finals and preparing to close out the semester! 📚

Next semester brings an entirely new set of clinical skills and procedures, including ECG interpretation, cardiac, lung, renal, and DVT point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), intubation, advanced laboratory concepts, and women’s health procedures such as IUD placement, vaginal delivery, and prenatal POCUS.

We’re excited to watch our students continue building the knowledge, confidence, and hands-on skills they’ll carry with them into clinical practice.

07/24/2026

Marshall University PA Program Assistant Professors Kate Lee, PA-C, and Aaron Bailey, PA-C, faculty advisors for GROWMED (MUPA's global, rural and wilderness medicine student interest group), attended the Wilderness Medical Society 2026 Summer Conference in Asheville, North Carolina.

The conference brought together wilderness medicine professionals for hands-on workshops and educational sessions focused on caring for patients in remote and resource-limited environments. Topics included wildfire medical support, swiftwater rescue, search and rescue in Southern Appalachia, diving medicine, environmental illness, wilderness airway management, disaster medical kits, and special populations in wilderness settings.

Kate participated in “Lifeline in the Flames: Wildfire Medical Support,” a practical workshop covering medical incident reporting, communication, evacuation planning, resource coordination, and patient care during wildland fire operations. Aaron attended the Technical Rescue Rope Systems, Raises and Mechanical Advantage workshop, gaining hands-on experience with rope-based rescue systems used in challenging environments.

Through experiences like these, Kate and Aaron continue working toward completion of their Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) while bringing current, practical wilderness and disaster medicine concepts back to the classroom and expanding student opportunities through GROWMED.

07/20/2026

The Marshall University PA Program recently participated in the Facing Hunger Foodbank event, where PA students (led by Principal Faculty Dr. Holly Knuckles) worked alongside volunteers to help provide over 13,000 meals for community members experiencing food insecurity.

As future Physician Assistants, service extends beyond the clinic. Compassion, advocacy, teamwork, and a commitment to improving the health of our communities are at the heart of our profession. Opportunities like this remind us that promoting health also means helping meet basic needs, including access to nutritious food.

We're grateful for the chance to serve our community and live out the values that guide us as PAs.

07/20/2026

We’re proud to recognize the outstanding faculty members who have been promoted for their dedication to education, research, clinical excellence and advancing the future of medicine. 👏

Join us in congratulating the following faculty members on their well-deserved promotions:

• Farzad Amiri, MD | Professor, Surgery

• Meredith Bentley, DO | Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine

• Alip Borthakur, PhD | Associate Professor & Tenure, Biomedical Sciences

• Lydia Bogomolnaya, PhD | Associate Professor & Tenure, Biomedical Sciences

• Jessica Buerck, MD | Associate Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology

• Jenalee Corsello, MD, MPH | Associate Professor, Surgery

• Price Dickson, PhD | Associate Professor & Tenure, Biomedical Sciences

• Beth Emrick, MD | Professor, Pediatrics

• Wesam Frandah, MD | Professor, Internal Medicine

• Jordan Gaal, DO | Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine

• Jared Hollinger, MD | Associate Professor, Neurology

• Janice Hostetter, DO | Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine

• Wei Li, MD, PhD | Professor, Biomedical Sciences

Ahmad Mahdi, MD | Associate Professor, Internal Medicine

• Sebastian Proano, MD | Associate Professor, Pediatrics

• Amy Roy, MD | Associate Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology

• Elizabeth Saunders, MD | Professor, Internal Medicine

• Ahmed Sherif, MD | Professor, Internal Medicine

• Ben Spurlock, MS, PA-C | Associate Professor, Surgery

• Kasey Stickler, MD | Associate Professor, Family & Community Health

• Vishal Verma, MD | Associate Professor, Ophthalmology

• Courtney Wellman, MD | Associate Professor, Family & Community Health

Congratulations to all of our newly promoted faculty members! 💚