Physician Assistant Program Celebrates New Headquarters

Mississippi is one of the most medically underserved regions in the nation, and that fact is driving Courtney Costello to help ease the shortage of healthcare professionals.

“I want to be a devoted public servant and provider for Mississippi,” Costello, 25, said at Monday’s ribbon-cutting for the new headquarters of Mississippi College’s physician assistant program.

One of a kind in the Magnolia State, MC’s physician assistant program will work with the University of Mississippi Medical Center and federal clinics to help meet the state’s vast healthcare needs.

Starting May 25, Costello will be among the first 30 students enrolled in MC’s program based on the third floor of the Baptist Healthplex. “This will be very exciting,” said the Bastrop, La. native.

Her graduation date for her master of medicine degree at Mississippi College will be December 2013.

Costello joined Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, members of Mississippi’s medical community, MC leaders, Clinton Mayor Rosemary Aultman and other officials at ceremonies to show off the new physician assistant facility to the public.

Under construction since the summer, the 10,000-square foot Medical Education Center on the Clinton campus will house classrooms, mock exam rooms, faculty and staff offices, a conference room, and state-of-the art video recording system.

Dr. Bob Philpot, the chairman of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, said he’s received nothing but encouragement from President Lee Royce, Lt. Gov. Bryant, faculty, staff and others to make the new program a success.

“It was like God was looking at my to-do list and checking it off,” Philpot said.

A number of extraordinary faculty members have come forward, with classes less than two months away.

“We have a fantastic faculty team,” said Philpot, the former chairman of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at South University in Georgia and former P.A. faculty member at the University of Florida.

Royce remembers the initial conversation he had a couple of years ago with Stan Baldwin, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics, about the idea of starting a P.A. program at Mississippi College. When learning that UMC in Jackson wasn’t planning to start one, MC got busy. “UMC was eager to help us do it,” Royce said after discussing the idea with then UMC Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. Dan Jones. An MC graduate and former trustee, Jones now serves as chancellor of the University of Mississippi.

Royce is a believer in P.A. programs. In a speech at ribbon-cutting ceremonies, Royce recalled he was treated by a physician assistant when he was president at Anderson University in South Carolina before his arrival as MC’s leader in 2002.

“It is very exciting to see this happen,” Royce said of MC’s new venture.

MC’s new program is “of great importance” in a state that has many healthcare challenges, Bryant said. Mississippi’s teen pregnancy rate is the highest in the nation, and so is the state’s rate of diabetes and heart disease, noted the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

MC graduates finishing this program will leave the Christian university with “skills to save lives,” Bryant said.

Lightening the workload of physicians, physician assistants can diagnose patients, write prescriptions, and counsel patients on preventatives health strategies.

Philpot is working closely with Dr. Rod Cutrer, the program’s medical director and longtime Hattiesburg physician, to recruit faculty and students and spread the word about MC’s new P.A. initiative.

The word is getting out. “The Clarion-Ledger” featured MC’s physician assistant program in a front-page story Monday. Jackson television station WLBT-TV 3 covered the ribbon-cutting. Presently, there are a little more than 100 physician assistants in Mississippi.

Rep. Steve Holland of Tupelo, chairman of the House Public Health and Human Services Committee, and longtime state Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson, joined P.A. advisory committee members at Monday’s event.

For more information, contact Dr. Bob Philpot at 601.925.7370 or Philpot@mc.edu.