The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) has released a new report regarding the status of different specialities within the physician assistant (PA) field, including each specialty’s gender representation.
Women represent 71.6 percent of all PAs in the United States and 71.2 percent of all PAs working in primary care. Although their representation varies, women are the majority of all PAs in every speciality included in the report.
The specialities with the greatest representation of women PAs are obstetrics and gynecology (98.6 percent), plastic surgery (91.0 percent), oncology (88.5 percent), general pediatrics (85.9 percent), and gastroenterology (83.1 percent). In contrast, women’s representation is the lowest in orthopaedic surgery (54.3 percent), occupational medicine (56.8 percent), emergency medicine (58.8 percent), cardiothoracic and vascular surgery (62.9 percent), and critical care medicine (64.7 percent).
From 2020 to 2024, the only PA specialities that experienced a decrease in women’s representation were critical care medicine (-0.1 percent), internal medicine – general practice (-0.2 percent), and hospital medicine (-1.7 percent). Over the same time period, the specialities with the greatest growth in women’s representation were cardiothoracic and vascular surgery (3.0 percent), pain medicine (2.8 percent), and neurosurgery (2.6 percent).
The First class of PA’s at A &T University, Greensboro, NC is 99% female. 19 of the 20 initial students are females.
Dr. Nicole B. Burwell , PhD, MSHS,PA-C is the Founding Director of the program. She also has served as Director at Large of the PAEA Board of Directors and PAEA President. As the founding director of the Physician Assistant Studies master’s program at A& T University and Chair of the Department she is building the department’s administrative structure, and has lead the effort to acquire successful accreditation for the degree program. Dr Burwell was formerly the director of pre clerkship for Stanford University, and George Washington University.