Barry University Physician Assistant Program held a simultaneous white coat ceremony in two separate campuses on August 21, 2009. Thanks to the wonders of technology, 52 students from the Miami Shores campus and 24 from the University Partnership Center at St. Petersburg College watched via interactive videoconferencing as they were recognized by professors and directors of respective departments.
Carmen Queral, PhD, Director of Clinical Education led the 76 students on both campuses in the Oath of Hippocrates to the entering class of 2011 as Dr. Doreen C. Parkhurst, associate dean and program director of the Physician Assistant program, Keith Moore, PA, associate professor of the Physician Assistant program, family and friends looked on.
The PA program began admitting students on the west coast of Florida in partnership with the University Partnership Center at St. Petersburg College via videoconferencing in the fall of 2005. Didactic teaching is conducted via interactive video-conferencing on Internet2, a network application for education and research used to broadcast courses in high-definition between the two locations.
In December 2007 the program celebrated its 10th anniversary and graduated its first class together, virtually. It has since graduated more than 350 physician assistants and has made impressive progress since its inception in the fall of 1997. The Miami Shores Program received full national accreditation in 1999 and a five-year re-accreditation in 2002 and this year, they earned their continuing accreditation until 2016 from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.