Physician Assistant Studies

NARRATOR: Physician Assistants are one of the fastest growing and in-demand professions at the forefront of health care. Touro University Nevada's School of Physician Assistant Studies offers a master's program that's focused on primary care and community health. Our faculty are committed to seeing our students succeed with a unique open door policy that establishes a critical line of open communication.

JAMES SMITH: I picked Touro because a lot of the faculty have clinical experience. They currently work on the clinic and they're able to take that knowledge and apply it to class and teach us.

DUYEN HOANG: Our faculty is awesome. They were in our shoes, some of them not too many years ago, so they really understand the struggle we're going through and they help us by giving us their experience. So whatever helped them, they are always open to sharing and I think that's really essential in this kind of profession.

NARRATOR: The School of Physician Assistant Studies offers both local clinical rotations options, as well as international rotation opportunities in countries like Nepal, Guatemala, and Peru. And through a unique partnership with Southwest Medical Associates, Touro's PA students can complete their clinical rotations and get critical hands on training at Southwest Medical Associates facilities throughout the Valley with the goal of transition earning students into full time positions after graduation and licensing.

ERIN SPIRO: I'm currently doing my emergency medicine rotation at Desert Springs Hospital. Every day is a growing experience and you learn something new. You learn a new test to order and you just, you know, way to approach things or a way to, oh, I didn't even think about that diagnosis at that point. So every day is a learning experience.

NARRATOR: The Touro campus is designed to provide a supportive community environment for students every step of the way, from their white coat ceremony through graduation.

JAMES SMITH: One great advantage of Touro is that it's all under one building, which allows us to have all of our classes in one building. We don't have to walk very far from lab to lunch to the gym. We're able to interact with a lot of other programs: the DO program, OT, PT. A lot of my classmates become good friends with them. They play in intramural mural sports with them. So we are able to kind of have a family environment within the Touro community.

NARRATOR: Touro strives to foster a connection with the students and the community at large through meaningful service learning opportunities that are integrated into the PA school curriculum, like working on the Touro Mobile Healthcare Clinic, providing care for southern Nevada's homeless populations, and volunteering at the Touro Stallman Clinic at the Shade Tree Women's Shelter, which offers free services to women and children staying at the shelter.

JAMES KIM: This is something that I think definitely separates Touro, Nevada from a lot of different programs, is having this first year and second year experience to go out, practice everything that we've learned in the classroom, apply that and actually provide, you know, physical care to these people. And so they just feel more connected not being from Nevada. I feel like this is home now and being able to have these opportunities definitely helps me to connect with the people that I'm going to be providing care to in the future.

ERIN SPIRO: The end of the day, all we want to do is take care of people. And so giving the opportunity to do that, especially during your didactic portion, is a really great reminder of why you're doing all of this hard work in the first place.

NARRATOR: Employment of physician assistants is projected to grow 37% by 2026, and the state of Nevada has one of the highest annual mean wages for a PA, coming in at $119,000 a year. As the demand for physician assistants grows in our community and beyond, so too does our PA program and student body. Each year, we look forward to welcoming a new cohort of passionate, driven students who share our commitment to improving health care. A group of future medical professionals and leaders whose journeys all begin right here. See yourself here at Touro, Nevada.