Didactic
The Physician Associate training begins with a twelve-month didactic phase with lectures and small-group instruction taught by the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine.
Physician Associate Curriculum
Students in the first year class at the Yale PA Program listen to a lecture and take notes on their laptops in the Hope 203 classroom.
For more than 50 years, the Yale Physician Associate Program has been preparing students for clinical excellence in the delivery of team-based, patient-centered care across a variety of populations and practice settings. Learning activities emphasize the development and practice of critical thinking, clinical reasoning, self-assessment, collaboration, and culturally appropriate communication skills while preparing students to understand the mechanisms of health and disease and master clinical skills.
The curriculum promotes curiosity and encourages exploration of one’s interests by offering multiple clinical elective opportunities, through the development of an individual thesis project, and by supporting students as they pursue scholarship and leadership opportunities locally and nationally.
Curriculum Overview
The Yale Physician Associate Program, under the auspices of the Yale School of Medicine, offers graduate-level medical instruction with a curriculum extending over a twenty-eight month period and culminating in the conferral of a Masters of Medical Science (MMSc) degree. The curriculum comprises three major components:
Didactic
Clinical
Upon successful completion of the didactic phase, students move on to the sixteen-month clinical phase, consisting of both clinical clerkships and thesis work.Read MoreResearch Education
There is no separate research phase. Instead, research is integrated into the didactic and clinical phases.Read More
At Yale, we believe PA students are mature, motivated learners. Therefore, we foster a non-competitive, engaging, collaborative learning environment where students want to participate actively. We strive to ensure an inclusive learning community that values diversity and that cultivates ethical behavior and personal responsibility.Yale PA students receive the individual attention and guidance needed to actualize their full potential.