Physician Assistant Cancer Education
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year grant to the School of Allied Health Sciences and the Physician Assistant Program at Baylor College of Medicine. The Physician Assistant Cancer Education, or PACE, project is a initiative focusing upon assessment of cancer risk, risk reduction and risk management in targeted populations. The project is designed to ensure that PAs are prepared to deliver high quality cancer-related care to patients.
The PACE project’s principal investigator is J. David Holcomb, Ed.D., professor of Allied Health Sciences, director of the School of Allied Health Sciences and associate dean at BCM. The PACE project coordinators are Carl Fasser, PA, associate professor of Allied Health Sciences and director of the BCM PA Program and Laurel R. Spence, M.S., PA-C, instructor of Allied Health Sciences and Maternal and Child Health director of the BCM PA Program. Cancer content specialists, health behaviorists and educators from BCM and other institutions in the Texas Medical Center in addition to liaisons from the Cancer Teaching and Curriculum Enhancement in Undergraduate Medicine will offer expertise throughout the PACE project.
Seven academic programs involved in the education of PAs in Texas will participate in the PACE project.
PA programs are located within the following institutions in Texas:
- Baylor College of Medicine
- Texas Tech University Heath Science Center
- The University of North Texas Health Science Center
- The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio
- The University of Texas Medical Branch PA Program
- The University of Texas – Pan American
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
The control site for the curriculum intervention is The University of Nebraska Medical Center PA Program.
Project activities will be extended to regional PA programs located in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma by PACE project year five.