UNMC’s College of Allied Health Professions has earned a fifth consecutive five-year renewal of a U.S. Department of Defense contract to provide services for the Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP).
The college assists the IPAP in promoting the program, evaluating application materials, reviewing curriculum, providing a variety of student services, processing transcripts and ultimately conferring Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degrees upon its graduates. UNMC has held the contract continuously since 1996.
The renewal, at $2.8 million, is the largest IPAP contract with UNMC, and comes with more and improved services provided to the military by the College of Allied Health Professions.
“The entire College of Allied Health Professions team has done an outstanding job in providing the highest quality services to the IPAP,” said Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., dean of the CAHP. “This has resulted in continual improvements in services, in the educational experience for IPAP students, and no doubt, in the ongoing renewals of the contract.”
Michael Huckabee, Ph.D., professor and director of PA education and the college’s assistant dean of clinical affairs, and Maggie Winnicki, CAHP director of student services, are responsible for the day-to-day interaction between the college and IPAP. They monitor workflow, ensure the delivery of timely services, and promote communication between the two organizations.
“This has been a wonderful partnership,” Dr. Huckabee said. “The opportunities forged by this collaboration have sharpened our own program as we engage the excellent faculty of the IPAP in mutually developing PA educational strategies. We are proud to support our military’s finest in becoming PAs.”
Through the contract, IPAP students and faculty have access to UNMC resources available to on-campus faculty and students.
The College of Allied Health Professions’ physician assistant program has a long history of supporting the training of PAs in the military. In 1972, UNMC established an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to award degrees to graduates of the Air Force physician assistant training program at Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita Falls, Texas.
In the mid-1990s, the program expanded to add members of the Army, Army Reserve, Navy and Coast Guard branches of the military as the IPAP. More than 2,300 military PAs are UNMC alumni.
UNMC has had a similar agreement with the Canadian Forces Medical Service School since 2009.
In the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings, IPAP is the 11th-ranked PA program; UNMC’s PA program ranks ninth. Each program has recently received continued national accreditation for the maximum of 10 years.
A truly amazing program – another one of our gems here at UNMC!