History of the PA Profession

History of the PA Profession in Nebraska

The nation’s first class of PA graduates came from Duke University in the late 1960s, but Nebraska was not far behind. In 1971 the Nebraska legislature allocated funds for the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to start a PA program. The legislation mandating the formation of the UNMC PA Program was accomplished with the aid of Sen. Loran Schmidt. Nebraska was the only State in the nation to mandate the State Medical College establish a PA program. The purpose of the PA Program was to provide primary care providers for rural and underserved areas of Nebraska.

The following year, UNMC’s Jesse Edwards and T.F. Gallagher, M.D., collaborated with Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas to begin training PAs. Dr. Paul Nelson was the first PA Program Director. Dr. Gallagher then served as program director and medical director from 1974-1989.

The first class of students enrolled in 1973. The first class had 29 students (15 students at Sheppard Air Force Base and 14 at the UNMC campus). They graduated from the program in 1975 with bachelor’s degrees.

That inaugural PA class established the Nebraska Academy of Physician Assistants (NAPA) in the fall of 1975 with the leadership of several graduates. Mike Grutsch was a graduate of that first class and played critical roles in NAPA during the formative years. He served positions on the NAPA Board for most of his career including repeat terms as President and Treasurer. He envisioned the NAPA scholarship program and oversaw the development of the scholarship funding.

There were several other devoted PAs that helped develop the foundation of our Academy while also putting forth an effort to establish themselves as PAs and our profession in Nebraska in those first several years.

Jesse Edwards is recognized as the founder of the PA profession in Nebraska. Edwards was asked to lead the effort of developing a PA program by the Dean of UNMC. He was assisted by Tom Gallagher, MD, who provided clinical oversight. In the early stages of the program’s development, Edwards was kept busy establishing the administrative structure of the program, drafting the first PA statute in Nebraska, consulting with members of the State Legislature about the concept, and traveling extensively throughout the State to promote the concept to physicians and to ask them to provide clinical clerkship sites for the PA students. In addition to his outstanding efforts for PAs in Nebraska, he worked with national organizations for the advocacy, education, and development of the PA profession. For nearly 40 years, he devoted his career to PA education and advocacy locally and nationally. He retired from UNMC in 2008.

Read more about Mr. Edwards in his obituary or his biography from the PA History Society.

The UNMC PA program evolved to a master’s degree program in 1993 and with that, created the Distance Learning Program in 1996 to allow PAs with bachelor’s degrees to earn master’s degrees while still working as PAs.

The Union College PA program was next to develop in Nebraska in 1997.

UNMC extended its PA program in 2015 by starting a remote campus in Kearney, NE.

The growth of our profession over the decades led to the additions of the College of Saint Mary PA Program in 2016 and Creighton University PA Program in 2019.

The State of Nebraska now has over 160 PA graduates from its PA Programs annually.