Physician Assistant Global Experiences
Arcadia’s Physician Assistant (PA) program offers a variety of optional experiences that broaden the perspective of a traditional medical education, including service opportunities and international clinical experiences. Many of our students find the experience of service or international practice to be an illuminating piece of their medical education. These experiences can offer unique perspectives on how medical care differs in various communities, both domestically and internationally. The availability of these opportunities, particularly internationally, vary year by year and capacity may limit the number of students able to participate in these experiences.
International Clinical Rotations
These experiences enable participating students to spend four weeks internationally with a supervising physician providing health care in a variety of clinical settings. To-date, Arcadia PA students have studied in over twenty countries around the world, including South Africa, Bolivia, England, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, and Italy.
Student costs for international clinical rotation opportunities typically range from $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the location of the experience. We offer limited scholarships of $1,500 to eligible students toward the cost of international rotations.
Medical Service Trip
This upcoming May, the Arcadia PA Program will provide a medical service trip to Lima, Peru through MedLife, a non-profit organization that partners with low-income communities in Latin America and Africa to improve their access to medicine, education and community development projects. Arcadia PA students had been participating in an annual medical service trip since 2013, with the exception 2021 due to the pandemic.
Service Opportunities: PA Olympics
The PA Olympics unites the leadership of local PA faculty and students and affords them the opportunity to work collectively in service for a designated charity. Founded in 2003 by Professor Michael Huber, MMS, PA-C, DFAAPA, Director of Outreach in the Department of Medical Science at Arcadia, the PA Olympics bring together PA students from surrounding PA programs. Arcadia University, DeSales University, Drexel University, Salus University, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Temple University, Saint Joseph’s University, West Chester University, Delaware Valley University, Jefferson University East Falls/New Jersey, and Jefferson University Center City have all been recent participants.
Each year the students choose a local charitable organization to support. They fundraise in teams for that organization, and then gather to compete in medical-themed sporting events to celebrate their combined, three month-long fundraising campaign. The school that raises the most funds receives a trophy as a symbolic gesture of their efforts.
To date, the annual event has provided more than $219,000 in support of local charities in the Philadelphia region. This year, the PA programs supported the Block Gives Back! This ministry aims to promote community involvement and engagement throughout Philadelphia by targeting issues within the community and devising a plan to recruit local volunteers, businesses, organizations and community leaders to help us in working toward a solution. This organization was started in 2015 by high school students who wanted to make a change, and they provide meals, neighborhood clean-ups, school supply giveaways, and more!