Mary Jo Bondy, DHEd, MHS, PA-C

President and CEO

In February 2020, Mary Jo Bondy became the first PA to serve as CEO of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), the only national organization serving the more than 270 accredited and developing PA programs around the country. In this role she leads a staff of 40, dedicated to meeting the Association’s vision of Health for All by promoting the overall health and wellness of PA programs, their faculty, and their students — through faculty development, advocacy, research, and other products and services.
After graduating from Duke University’s PA Program in 1993, she worked in many clinical settings and specialties, including in family medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and orthopedics. Throughout her career she has been a clinical preceptor for PA students and she is an award winning educator.
Dr. Bondy has served multiple roles as a PA faculty member, including program director for the AACC/UMB PA Program. She earned the Doctor of Health Education degree from AT Still University in May 2011. During her tenure as the AACC PA program director, she led the college’s collaboration with the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) and in 2014 she became the UMB, graduate school, director of graduate academic programs and subsequently assistant dean of graduate academic programs. Dr. Bondy was also a leader in innovating and expanding online education at the UMB graduate school establishing the Academic Innovation in Distance Education office and was a key member of the UMB Graduate School team that established a new PhD program in Health Professions Education. Before coming to PAEA, she played a critical role in UMB receiving state-funding in 2019 to establish and sustain the Physician Assistant Leadership and Learning Academy (PALLA), where she served as the founding executive director. The mission of PALLA is to increase the capacity of faculty to educate future PAs for the Maryland health workforce, and to advance PA education, research, and policy. Dr. Bondy has served in multiple leadership roles at the state, region and national level, lending her insights and experience in health professions education, PA practice and leadership.