PHILIPPI, W.Va. — A new physician assistant program is coming to Battler’s Knob, marking the first program of its kind in Philippi since Alderson Broaddus University closed its doors in 2023.
The new PA program will be offered through West Virginia Wesleyan College. Officials from the college gathered Wednesday afternoon to make the official announcement.
“It was a celebration of bringing the PA program as well as the LPN to BSN program to Battlers Knob, back to the original AB PA campus and nursing program,” the program’s first director Dr. Deanna Leach said.
When Alderson Broaddus University closed, it ended the country’s first physician assistant program.
While this is just a celebration, the college said they have applied for an Accreditation Provisional from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). If this achievement is approved by the ARC-PA meeting in January 2028, the college anticipates welcoming their first cohort in May 2028.
Leach said the PA program will be an extension of what AB started.
She said the university is excited to be able to bring this program back to the area.
“With the loss of AB’s PA programs and the PA’s that they did produce out of that program I think it means a lot to them to bring that PA education back to north central West Virginia as well as Barbour County,” Leach said.
Currently there are hundreds of PA openings in the state.
Leach said the potential opening of the program, will help fill the gap left behind by AB.
“To be able to bring it back through West Virginia Wesleyan is to help fulfill that role and that gap of healthcare professionals in this rural area and West Virginia,” she said.
The program will aim to prepare compassionate, highly skilled medical professionals by using rigorous classroom instruction coupled with hands-on clinical training.
“West Virginia Wesleyan College is excited and proud to make this announcement. As the region’s leader in care-centered healthcare education, we believe that it’s central to our mission to launch programs that will produce graduates who will improve the healthcare outcomes of West Virginians and Appalachians. We are grateful to our healthcare partners for their guidance and partnership in this exciting new program,” WVWC President Dr. James Moore said in a recent news release.