October 6-12 is PA Week! This week is a time to celebrate physician assistants (PA), the care provided by PAs, and the legacy of the profession. The birthplace of the profession was here at Duke. The first PA program was established in 1965 at Duke thanks to the efforts of Dr. Eugene Stead, then Chairman of Duke’s Department of Medicine. The program aimed to address the problem of the physician shortage, particularly in rural areas throughout North Carolina. While the initial recruitment was targeted at ex-military corpsmen who possessed some medical experience, Duke’s PA program soon attracted a wide range of applicants. Today there are nearly 190,000 PAs practicing in the US. The success of the profession during the second half of the 20th century is due in part to the early efforts of Duke PA leaders, graduates, and students.
The Archives contains several collections that document the history of the Duke PA Program. The Physician Assistant Program Records has over 61 linear feet of materials documenting the program. We recently featured a three-part series about Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr. and the recent addition to his papers at the Archives. Read the first post here.
We also invite you to check out the PAHx Digital Repository on MEDSpace. This online collection contains over 3,000 items from the DUMC Archives and PA History Society’s collections. The materials are organized chronologically and feature correspondence, photographs, publications, reports, and cartoons.
For any questions, please contact the Archives!