Pre-Physician Assistant

A physician assistant (PA) is a medical professional. Under a doctor’s supervision, and within the scope of the regulations of each state where the PA is licensed, a licensed PA may perform physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, assist in surgery, order and interpret lab tests, provide patient education, and prescribe drugs. Most PAs are found in primary care settings, especially family medicine, internal medicine, Ob/Gyn, and pediatrics, but there are also options to specialize in a variety of medical specialties such as orthopedics, cardiology, dermatology, radiology, surgery, and emergency medicine. The PA profession is rapidly growing as demand steadily increases and interest in the profession expands.

There are currently 12 fully or provisionally accredited PA programs in North Carolina :

UNC Charlotte does not offer a professional-level PA program.

Recommended Core Courses

The following classes are recommended for completion of the basic pre-physician assistant core at UNC Charlotte. The classes are recommended to cover the minimum basic requirements at the majority of physician assistant programs.

General Biology with labsBIOL 2120+2130 
Human Anatomy & Physiology with labs BIOL 2273+2274Most programs accept EXER 2168+2169.
Microbiology with labBIOL 4250Many programs accept BIOL 2259.
GeneticsBIOL 3166 
General Chemistry with labCHEM 1251+1252 
Organic Chemistry with labCHEM 2131 
BiochemistryCHEM 3165 or CHEM 4165 
StatisticsSTAT 1220 or 1221 or 1222 
PsychologyPSYC 1101Some programs require 2 psychology courses.
Medical Terminology EXER 2299

Each physician assistant program establishes their specific prerequisites, and there is a lot of variation program-to-program; always check the websites of the programs that you want to attend.

More Resources

STUDENT CLUBS

Pre-Physician Assistant Association email: prepauncc@gmail.com website: https://unccprephysicianassistant.weebly.com/

RESOURCES