Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is fundamental to PAEA’s mission, “Advancing excellence in PA education through leadership, scholarship, equity, and inclusion.”
PAEA’s vision is “Health for All.” This vision informs our values, and our values determine our focus. Racism is a public health issue; therefore, in PA education, we must work together to stand against racism and strive toward providing equitable opportunities for students and faculty and equitable care for patients. It is an ongoing, deliberate, and constantly evolving process intended to achieve meaningful outcomes. To that end, PAEA has developed practical, actionable resources to help our members to build more inclusively excellent programs.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Tools
DEI Toolkit & Best Practices Guide
Developed by PAEA, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Toolkit is an applied, sequential, and customizable framework created to help your program meet the diversity and inclusion accreditation standard. Beyond simply meeting the standard, this toolkit is designed to encourage the creation of policy statements that boldly articulate your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and what that means within your program and sponsoring institution. This DEI Toolkit is not a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all solution. It offers the flexibility to be used in the context of your institution’s mission, vision, and values.
Project Access Toolkit
Project Access is an outreach recruitment program that aims to encourage high school students from underrepresented minoritized groups to consider the PA profession as a career. The program aims to help students become competitive candidates for PA programs by preparing them early in their education. Ultimately, these efforts will help to increase the number of underrepresented PAs, provide more accessible primary care, and eliminate health disparities.
Webinar Series: Elevating DEI in PA Education
PAEA’s four- part webinar series, “Elevating DEI in PA Education” is designed to equip PA educators with tools and resources to bolster diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at their programs. Watch the series to learn best practices from PA education JEDI leaders. This series was developed in collaboration among PAEA’s Diversity, Faculty Development, Leadership, and Research Mission Advancement Commissions.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in PA Education: A Review of the Evidence for What Works Webinar
In a dynamic discussion among members from the Diversity & Inclusion and Research Mission Advancement Commissions along with Carolyn Bradley-Guidry, DrPH, MPAS, PA-C, and her research team, the group provided evidence-based practices and insight to successfully promote diversity among PA students.
BIPOC Faculty Development
The Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) Faculty Development webpage was created as a space where BIPOC PA educators can not only find tools to support professional growth but also resources to nurture healthy lives.
Reading Between the Lines: A Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Bookclub
Join the DIMAC as we dive deep and read between the lines of books that impact our patients, our communities, and each other. We will amplify and highlight diverse communities and their intersections with our healthcare system.
Our 2023 book selection is Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. On the author’s website, the book is described as “Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible injustice done to her patients.”
Join the Between the Lines Bookclub
Sign up NowEDI in Action
Every month PAEA’s EDI team identifies a PA program that is seeing success in anti-racist and inclusive programming. While many programs are eager to support their underrepresented in medicine (URiM) students, faculty, and staff, some are unsure what to do. We hope these examples serve as inspiration and a model that other programs can follow.
Join the Conversation
PAEA Professional Learning Communities are a space to have conversations that matter in an easy and convenient format. We encourage you to utilize this space to engage in critical discussions about creating safe spaces for underrepresented PA students and faculty.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Staff
Emma Sellers, MS
Brent Buesking, MPA
Ranya Shannon
K. Ashley Phayme, MPA, CMP
Diversity and Inclusion Mission Advancement Commission (DIMAC) Members
Alicia Bolden, DMSc, MPH, PA-C
Sheena Brown, PhD, MSCR
Carl Frizell, DMSc, MSPAS, PA-C
Dadalia Garces Mejia, MD, MPH
Gerald Glavaz, DHSc, PA-C
Lillie Hudson, MSPA, MPH, PA-C
Pam Nagasawa, PhD
Samuel Paik, MSPAS, PA-C
Darin Ryujin, MS, MPAS, PA-C
