ST BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure University’s graduates were perfect in acing a national medical exam.
The SBU graduates went 33 for 33 after passing the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam, or PANCE. They can now get a physician assistant license to practice in any state.
In the past five years, first-time test takers succeeded 93% of the time, stated SBU.
The Physician Assistant program was created in 2021. SBU’s founding director of the program, Dr. Keith Young said the test results reflect the success of the students and school.
“This is a tribute to not only the hard work of these students, but to the tremendous support they received from faculty and staff to help them achieve this success,” he said.
Young added that most of the graduates have found jobs, including those from this year’s class and last year’s.
“One of the hopes we had in developing a School of Health Professions was to encourage some of the graduates to stay in a region that so desperately needs quality health care,” said Dr. David Hilmey, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
Many are working in the rural areas of the Twin Tiers of New York and Pennsylvania, according to SBU.
“To see that hope becoming a reality is especially gratifying,” he added.
Program founding director, Dr. Young said that many of these graduates will be working in emergency rooms, urgent care, and specialty practices.