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Lisa Mustone Alexander Bio Sketch
Lisa received her PA training at George Washington University, where she also completed a Master in Public Health and doctoral degree in Education.
She is currently a Professor in the Department of PA Studies at the Royal College of Surgeons In Ireland and the Director of their Physician Associate programme. Simply stated, her responsibilities include oversight of the programme and advocacy for the profession. These are critical roles, since the PA profession is relatively new in Ireland. As of December 2021, only 39 PAs are engaged in clinical practice, with another 28 in training.
Lisa is Professor Emeritus at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, awarded to her after a long career leading the PA programme and serving in many roles in the university and medical center. During her career, her leadership and advocacy work extended far beyond the PA program…by developing community outreach and pipeline programs to develop and diversify the future healthcare workforce. During her career at GW, her grant portfolio exceeded $13 M from government and non-governmental funders. She was the first funded PA educator to develop a proof of concept curriculum in service learning for PA students, after only 6 years as a PA educator.
She has extensive front-line clinical experience as a PA in major hospitals and safety net primary care clinics. She was the 1st medical director for the student run inter-professional clinic for uninsured patients at GW and has always been a champion of experiential learning that facilitates professional identity formation. Her doctoral research focused on the identity of the PA profession.
Dr. Alexander has a long history of leadership and service at the local and national levels, with the PA Education Association, American Academy of Physician Assistants, and the PA Foundation. She also has a longstanding relationship with the clinical officer profession in Rwanda and served as a Fulbright scholar where she assisted with the development of the curriculum launched over 10 years ago.
She views her greatest accomplishment as being a mother of 3 children, one of whom is a family medicine PA in North Carolina.
We speak with Dr. Lisa Mustone Alexander about the physician associate profession in Ireland. Dr. Alexander shares her insights on the differences between the Royal College of Surgeons' programme and most U.S. PA programs and she explains the challen...