The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) has welcomed the University of Maryland, Baltimore/Anne Arundel Community College (UMB/AACC) Physician Assistant (PA) Program to Pharmacy Hall as part of the program’s transition to the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB.)
Students in the Physician Assistant Program have transitioned to Pharmacy Hall, where they use classrooms, study and lounge space, lockers, and a clinical examination suite.
The PA Program is a 27-year legacy program, first accredited with Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in 1996 and graduating its first cohort in 1998. PA accreditation standards now require the sponsoring institution to award a master’s degree as the terminal degree of the profession. As a community college, AACC does not grant master’s degrees, so it partnered with the University of Maryland Graduate School to transition and ultimately shift the PA Program sponsorship to UMB.
The Graduate School assumed sponsorship of the program Jan. 1, 2020, while providing a “teach-out” of the last UMB/AACC dually enrolled PA students under a collaborative agreement. When this agreement ends June 30, 2022, the name of the program will change to the University of Maryland Graduate School Physician Assistant Program.
“In the fall of 2021, the PA Program began its transition to UMB and reached out to the School of Pharmacy leadership with space needs,” said UMSOP Dean Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FAAPS, FCP. “In Pharmacy Hall, the program is making use of classrooms, study and lounge space, lockers, and our Objective Structured Clinical Examination Suite. In addition, we will be sharing a director of simulation position, which will provide interprofessional education opportunities between PA and pharmacy students.”
