Graduate Catalog 2025-2026

Contents
Catalog Links

Physician Assistant

https://graduate.umaryland.edu/mshs-pa-umb/

Degree Offered

M.S.

Program Description

We aspire to be a leader in physician assistant (PA) education whose diverse graduates provide superior healthcare within the communities they serve.

The University of Maryland Baltimore Graduate School (UMB) and Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) promote excellence in education to foster the development of competent, ethical and compassionate primary care providers. Together we value diversity, lifelong learning, research, and scholarship.

To accomplish this mission, emphasis is placed on both academics and professionalism. Our students are expected to exemplify the virtues of integrity, honesty, respect, and ethical behavior.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Educate physician assistant students to provide delegated services in an ethical, safe, legal, and competent manner under the supervision of a licensed physician.
  2. Provide educational and clinical experiences that prepare the physician assistant student to work collaboratively and lead interprofessional teams.
  3. Provide an educational experience that stresses the importance of furthering education through advanced study and continuing education, applying the concepts of evidence-based, patient-centered medicine.
  4. Provide students with educational opportunities and a wide variety of clinical experiences that will enable them to recognize social determinants of health and work effectively in all primary care settings including underserved and diverse communities.
  5. Prepare students to become effective communicators, educators, and responsible members of the community who utilize critical thinking skills in the clinical setting and base their practice on evidence-based, patient-centered medicine and sound ethical values.
  6. Enable students to meet the eligibility requirements and successfully pass the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) certifying examination upon graduation.

Program Admission

  • Applicants to the Physician Assistant program must have a bachelor’s degree or higher conferred from a nationally recognized institution.
  • Completion of the GRE.
  • Completion of the following prerequisite courses with a minimum grade of B in each course: Statistics, General Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology 1, Anatomy and Physiology 2, Introduction to Psychology or Developmental Psychology, and General Chemistry or Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry. Prerequisites provided in the admissions information to ensure equivalency prior to submitting a CASPA application. Transcript evaluation services are not available. The anatomy and physiology courses are required to have been completed within the last seven (7) years of the date the CASPA application is submitted.
  • Applicants to the Physician Assistant program must submit application materials and complete an application through the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) at www.caspaonline.org. Applicants are encouraged to apply by July 1 since the CASPA application process can take several weeks to be completed. Program requirements such as a bachelor’s degree or higher, minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, GRE, and equivalency of the six listed prerequisites with a minimum grade of B or better must be reflected in the completed application to be eligible for consideration. UMB must receive the completed CASPA application by the deadline date of September 1. Applicants must also complete three (3) Letters of Recommendation, a Personal Statement and Patient Contact Experience history (a minimum of 1400 hours is preferred) in the CASPA application.
  • Foreign educated students must have their international college transcripts from all higher-level institutions attended evaluated by one of the following credential evaluators: ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators) at www.ece.org, WES (World Education Services) at www.wes.org or SpanTran: The Evaluation Company at www.spantran.com. Please be advised that this process may take several months and must be completed in order to submit and complete the CASPA application.
  • Applicants whose native language or language of the home is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum acceptable TOEFL score for admission is 250 for the computer-based test and 100 for the Internet-based test. Please note that TOEFL scores are only valid for two years. Official TOEFL scores must be reported on the CASPA application and be mailed to CASPA by the application deadline. 
  • Please refer to the Physician Assistant website for detailed information regarding Physician Assistant admission requirements and process.

Degree Requirements

In order to complete the Physician Assistant Program, the student will complete 116 credits of coursework at UMB.

First Year Summer Term

MSPA 465Foundation of PA Practice

5
MSPA 470Applied Medical Sciences

7
MHS 600INTRODUCTION TO LIBRARY RESOURCES AND SCHOLARLY WRITING

1
MHS 602LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES FOR HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND CLINICAL PROFESSIONALS

2
Total Credit Hours:15

First Year Fall Term

MSPA 512Clinical Medicine 1

8
MSPA 514Pediatric Medicine 1

2
MSPA 515Psychiatric Medicine

3
MSPA 520Pathophysiological Approach to Pharmacotherapeutics 1

3
MHS 615BIOSTATISTICS FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

3
Total Credit Hours:19

First Year Spring Term

MSPA 518Clinical Medicine 2

8
MSPA 519Pediatric Medicine 2

2
MSPA 521Emergency Medicine

4
MSPA 522Clinical Correlations

3
MSPA 523Pathophysiological Approach to Pharmacotherapeutics 2

3
MSPA 551Transition to Clinical Clerkships

1
MHS 630ESSENTIALS OF CHRONIC INFECTIOUS EPIDEMIOLOGY

3
Total Credit Hours:24

Second Year Summer Term

MSPA 671Clinical Clerkship 1

4
MSPA 672Clinical Clerkship 2

4
MHS 633CLINICALLY APPLIED CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

3
MHS 652LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

3
Total Credit Hours:14

Second Year Fall Term

MSPA 673Clinical Clerkship 3

4
MSPA 674Clinical Clerkship 4

4
MSPA 675Clinical Clerkship 5

4
MHS 660ADVANCED APPLIED PHARMACOLOGY

3
MHS 608RESEARCH SEMINAR I

3
Total Credit Hours:18

Second Year Spring Term

MSPA 680Issues and Trends in Health Care

3
MSPA 676Clinical Clerkship 6

4
MSPA 677Clinical Clerkship 7

4
MSPA 678Clinical Clerkship 8

4
MHS 622IMPROVING QUALITY OF CARE IN HEALTH SYSTEMS

3
MHS 609RESEARCH SEMINAR II

3
Total Credit Hours:21

Third Year Summer Term

MSPA 679Clinical Clerkship 9

4
MHS 700CAPSTONE PRESENTATION

3
Total Credit Hours:7

Total Credit Hours: 118

Details are given in the Course Descriptions part of this catalog.