Excelon Associates  ·  Sample Job Description  ·  Higher Education · Healthcare  ·  October 2025

Sample Job Description · Physician Assistant Education · Allied Health

Physician Assistant Instructor

Position Summary

About the Role

Excelon Associates is partnering with accredited colleges and universities to identify experienced Physician Assistant Instructors capable of delivering high-quality instruction, fostering clinical excellence, and preparing students to succeed in diverse medical settings. This role is central to shaping the next generation of compassionate and clinically skilled healthcare professionals.

The Physician Assistant Instructor plays a vital role in developing future healthcare practitioners by providing both classroom instruction and hands-on clinical supervision. This position involves developing and delivering engaging course content aligned with program outcomes, evaluating student progress, and ensuring ongoing compliance with ARC-PA accreditation standards. Instructors may also supervise students during clinical rotations, maintaining a consistent and meaningful link between didactic learning and real-world clinical practice.

This position is ideal for a practicing or recently retired PA who is passionate about mentorship, committed to evidence-based education, and ready to invest in the professional formation of the next generation of physician assistants.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

  • Teach and assess students in accordance with established PA program curriculum, learning outcomes, and ARC-PA accreditation standards across didactic and clinical phases.
  • Develop, review, and regularly update course materials, case presentations, and assessments to reflect current evidence-based medical practices and emerging clinical guidelines.
  • Supervise students in laboratory, simulation, and clinical environments, with consistent emphasis on patient safety, ethical practice, and professional conduct.
  • Collaborate with the Program Director, Medical Director, faculty colleagues, and clinical preceptors to ensure cohesive and well-sequenced student learning experiences.
  • Participate in faculty meetings, academic committees, curriculum reviews, and program assessment initiatives as required by accreditation and institutional governance.
  • Provide academic advising, mentorship, and early intervention support for students who are struggling academically or professionally.
  • Maintain current NCCPA certification, state PA licensure, and clinical competency through continuing medical education and professional development activities.
  • Contribute to scholarship, research, or community engagement activities consistent with institutional expectations for faculty in health professions programs.
  • Support program self-study, accreditation site visits, and ongoing outcomes reporting processes as directed by program leadership.
Minimum Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Education
Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies, Medical Science, or a related healthcare discipline. A Doctorate (DMSc, DHSc, or PhD) is strongly preferred for full-time faculty appointments.
Certification and Licensure
Current NCCPA certification and active state PA licensure required, or eligibility to obtain licensure in the state of appointment prior to the start date.
Clinical Experience
Minimum two to three years of clinical practice experience as a PA in a relevant specialty or primary care setting. Teaching, precepting, or mentoring experience is strongly preferred and may partially substitute for prior formal instructional roles.
Core Competencies
Strong communication, mentorship, and organizational skills. Demonstrated commitment to fostering a supportive, inclusive, and professionally rigorous learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds.
Preferred Qualifications

What Sets the Best Candidates Apart

Clinical Specialty

Specialty Practice Background

Experience in surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, or other high-acuity specialties is particularly valuable for teaching complex clinical reasoning and procedural skills in a PA program context.

Accreditation

ARC-PA Experience

Prior involvement in ARC-PA accreditation processes, including self-study development, site visit preparation, or ongoing standards compliance, is a meaningful differentiator for PA program faculty candidates.

Scholarship

Research and Publication

Demonstrated scholarly activity including peer-reviewed publication, grant participation, or presentation at regional or national PA education conferences strengthens the candidacy for full-time faculty appointments.

Institutional Context

Why This Role Matters

The United States faces a growing shortage of primary care and specialty providers. Physician assistants play an increasingly critical role in closing that gap — but only if they are trained rigorously, ethically, and with genuine clinical depth. The PA Instructor is the person most directly responsible for whether that happens.

By bridging academic theory and clinical practice, the PA Instructor shapes how students approach patient care, ethical decision-making, and professional identity. The quality of instruction in a PA program is not an abstract institutional metric — it shows up in patient outcomes, in board passage rates, and in the careers of practitioners who will serve communities for decades.

Excellent PA instructors are rare precisely because they must be excellent clinicians first. Finding and placing them is specialized work, and Excelon Associates approaches it with the seriousness it deserves.

A PA instructor who has practiced at the highest level and can communicate that experience clearly to students is one of the most valuable people a healthcare education program can hire. The right person in this role changes outcomes for patients long after students graduate.

About This Search

Retained Search by Excelon Associates

Excelon Associates is a retained executive search firm headquartered in Asheville, NC, with additional offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL. Our healthcare education practice places faculty, clinical educators, and academic leaders at accredited institutions across the United States, including PA programs, nursing schools, and allied health departments.

We work closely with PA programs to identify experienced clinical educators who strengthen accreditation standing, elevate student outcomes, and bring genuine clinical credibility to the classroom. If your program is seeking a PA Instructor, Clinical Coordinator, or academic program leader, reach out to start a confidential conversation.