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Enhance your impact in the clinic, classroom and community with The College of Idaho’s online Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) degree program. The 36-credit, fully online program meets your evolving needs as a practicing physician assistant/associate (PA) with a curriculum that integrates implementation science and allows you to maintain your clinical practice while elevating your skill set.
From day one, you’re matched with a doctoral-trained PA advisor who guides you throughout your journey. Our faculty, who are PAs themselves, bring real-world insights into every course and understand the challenges of balancing a full-time career with advancing your education. You’re connected and supported through a collaborative learning environment, even as an online student.
Join us for an information session! Reserve your spot now by visiting our DMSc Events Page.
Whether you’re a new PA focused on delivering high-quality care or a seasoned professional ready to take on leadership or teaching roles, the online DMSc degree program prepares you to implement real change in healthcare.
We understand the financial demands of working full-time while pursuing advanced education — our affordable tuition aims to ease that burden.
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Receive personalized support while engaging with an online curriculum that matches your career stage and future goals.
Explore our DMSc Curriculum
Ready to join the #YoteFam? Review admission requirements, deadlines and important dates for the online Doctor of Medical Science program.
Review Admission Requirements & DeadlinesWith seven concentrations aligned to different stages of a PA’s career, our online DMSc program offers flexibility and specialization. You can complete the 36-credit DMSc degree in time frames ranging from 9-18 months and scheduled breaks to help you avoid burnout. Each pathway enables you to thrive in your field, from clinical practice to education and leadership.
If you are seeking to enhance your clinical expertise as a PA, you will explore evidence-based strategies for disease prevention and provider well-being in the Lifestyle Medicine & Advanced Clinical Practice track. You also complete a practicum course to apply in-class knowledge to practical situations that are personally or professionally relevant.
If you are a PA who wants to transition into education or expand your teaching expertise, you will learn clinical pedagogy skills, curriculum development and leadership strategies in the Health Professions Education track. You also complete a practicum course to apply in-class knowledge to practical situations that are personally or professionally relevant.
Learn More About our DMSc Curriculum
If you are seeking to enhance your clinical expertise as a PA, you will explore evidence-based strategies for disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention and provide well-being in the Lifestyle Medicine & Advanced Clinical Practice track. You also complete a practicum course to apply in-class knowledge to practical situations that are personally or professionally relevant.
Learn More About our DMSc Curriculum
The Health System Leadership pathway is ideal for PAs looking to step into leadership roles or improve healthcare delivery. Your courses focus on healthcare administration and policy, patient safety and management strategies. You will also use implementation science to solve real-world scenarios in a practicum.
If you’ve taught as a PA faculty member at an ARC-PA-accredited program for five or more years, the Experienced Educator accelerated concentration deepens your knowledge of student engagement and leadership strategies. Though a practicum course, you put your skills to practice in a realistic setting.
Designed for PAs who have recently graduated, the Early Career PA pathway helps you build confidence as a provider while expanding your healthcare system knowledge. Courses include topics in healthcare policy, strategies for early career success and a hands-on practicum.
Learn More About our DMSc Curriculum
The PA Fellow accelerated concentration is for PAs currently enrolled in or recently completed a PA fellowship or residency. Pair your advanced clinical training with courses on research methods, scholarly writing and leadership, and apply implementation science to a real-world problem through your practicum course.
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By harnessing the power of the principles of implementation science, you learn to turn knowledge into action – by focusing on system-level thinking, overcoming resistance to change and ensuring best practices become your daily standard.
The mentorship and guidance from the DMSc program are second to none. It’s a flexible program that I get to do on my own time as a full-time working PA. The program has challenged me academically while elevating my confidence and feeding my enthusiasm, resilience, and determination for the goals that are most important to me. It is an honor to be able to be part of a program that aims to create change, elevate patient care, and advance my career.
B.A. in Biology from Idaho State University; MPAS from Idaho State University in collaboration with The College of Idaho; and DMSc from The College of Idaho.
In PA education, many of us are clinically practicing with no formal background in academia. So, if you get thrown into being a PA faculty, it’s a steep learning curve. So, CofI’s Experienced Educator pathway really addresses all of those issues that I had to struggle through and learn as an experienced PA. And, now I’m actually going back and learning some of the theory behind what our MPAS program does and why we do it. And, as our MPAS program needs to be competitive, one way to do so is to have doctoral-trained faculty.
B.S. in Biology from Idaho State University; MPAS from University of Nebraska Medical Center; and DMSc from The College of Idaho.
Being a tenure-track professor, you need to do research. And, it’s really hard to do that when you have to learn boots on the ground. You lack confidence; we are not trained how to do research as PAs. And, so CofI’s Health Professions Educator pathway has been a way to learn how to do ethical, sound research – to feel better about it instead of just trying to figure it out on my own.
B.A. in Biology from Northwest Nazarene University; MPAS from Trevecca Nazarene University; and DMSc from The College of Idaho.
The professors are really able to respond to you when there are changes going on in your life. They’ve been very great about responding when I have a question and really quickly. I think the program sets you up for success because the people in it are so devoted to help you through the process.
B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University; MPAS from Idaho State University in collaboration with The College of Idaho; and DMSc from The College of Idaho.
Join a program designed by PAs for PAs. With personalized mentorship, flexible online courses and a curriculum grounded in implementation science, The College of Idaho’s online Doctor of Medical Science degree program equips you to drive change in healthcare — all while maintaining balance in your life.
2112 Cleveland Blvd, Caldwell, ID 83605
208-459-5011 • 800-2C-IDAHO
