About the Program

The principal mission of the Weill Cornell Medicine MSHS Physician Assistant Program is to educate highly competent, compassionate, and culturally sensitive physician assistants drawn from diverse backgrounds and experiences, who will be capable of practicing and excelling in varied clinical and academic settings. 

The MSHS PA Program offers a rigorous and thorough foundation in generalist medicine and primary care education, striving for a balanced curriculum that provides students with fundamental principles of clinical practice along with training in general surgery and the surgical subspecialties. 

Consistent with the mission of its sponsoring institution, the MSHS PA Program offers a course of study to advance the art and science of medicine, thereby contributing to the betterment of health care at both national and community levels and to the PA Profession through clinical practice, research and other scholarly endeavors. 

Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to providing an environment that fosters mutual respect, the values of professionalism, ethics, and humanism in the practice of medicine as a physician assistant. The environment thus created will be conducive to learning the importance of the professional duties each student is about to assume. Of paramount importance is to understand the individuality and importance of each person the students will come in contact with throughout both training and practice, taking into account the value of human diversity. This includes patients, colleagues, fellow students, and above all self. 

Each student will be expected to perform at the best of his or her abilities. This requires that faculty, students and administrative and support staff treat each other with civility without limiting appropriate teaching techniques and styles that advance and stimulate the educational environment in order to foster critical thinking and encourage professional leadership. Students will be presented with sufficient information to develop a medical knowledge base and the skills required to refine and expand the knowledge base throughout a professional career, sharpen and hone clinical skills, and comport oneself as a professional in all situations. 

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Weill Cornell Medicine Master of Science in Health Sciences for Physician Assistants Program sponsored by Weill Cornell Medical College.  Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards. 

Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be March 2033. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy. 

The program’s accreditation history can be viewed here.