What is the U. of Iowa's PA program all about [Show Summary]

The role of Physician Assistant was introduced less than 60 years ago and the University of Iowa’s Physician Assistant Program has been at the forefront since day one. Tony Brenneman, the Program Director shares what the program offers and how applicants can gain an invitation to the 25-student cohort. 

Interview with Anthony Brenneman, Program Director at University of Iowa's Physician Assistant Program [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 462nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me today. This interview is all about getting accepted to PA school, specifically the University of Iowa's PA program, which began a half-century ago in 1972. In addition to listening to today's interview, I'd like to invite you to download Accepted's free guide, 10 Tips For Acceptance to a Physician Assistant Program. Grab your free copy for advice on selecting the best PA program for you, writing your personal statement, interviewing effectively, and simply presenting the best application you possibly can. It's a competitive field out there, so you need to do the best you can. 

Today's guest, Tony Brenneman, grew up in Oregon where he also earned his Bachelor's in Psychology and Piano Performance from Linfield College and an MSW from Portland State University. He worked as a social worker until he learned about the PA profession and joined the University of Iowa's PA program graduating with his Master's of Physician Assistant Studies in 1996. He worked in Bone Marrow Transplant, and in 2004, joined the UIPA program and became the Program Director in 2012 and a professor at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine in 2014. 

Before we dive into Iowa's PA program, can you talk a little bit about your own journey, from studying piano performance to social work in Oregon to then becoming a PA in Iowa? [2:19]

It does seem a bit convoluted, doesn't it? I think I had a journey that in some respects is very much like other people that have been thinking about joining the PA profession - they've started off in one career pathway or had bumps along the road, and thought, "Well, this isn't a field that I can get into anymore so I'm going to go off and try other things." I will say when I headed off to my undergraduate experience, I thought for sure I was going to go into medicine. As a 17-year-old, I was a young one going off into college, I wasn't quite ready to put my foot down to the pedal the way I needed to at that point in time. I'd always enjoyed playing the piano so I had enrolled with a biology and piano performance plan.

When I decided I needed to think about other things, I decided to switch it to piano performance and psychology thinking along the lines of music therapy. I still really wanted to be in that healthcare background so that's where that was going at the time. Once I graduated and learned more about music therapy, I decided it probably wasn't a field that fit who I was so I looked around to see what I could do with that psych degree, and a Master's of Social Work was one of the things that I could do. There were social workers that worked in hospital settings, so that was what really intrigued me.

After I graduated, I went on to a hospital there in Portland, Oregon. I started off working in the emergency room,