For the past several months, Mallory O’Brien has been working as a PA in family medicine at the Marshville Medical Center – Dickinson in in far-flung Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula.
Her full-time position there is a win-win not only for O’Brien, but also for the PA Medicine program in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University and for the U.P. and rural Michigan, where shortages in medical care are especially acute.
“I wanted to work in a rural area,” says O’Brien, who grew up in Lansing and who spent her first clinical rotation at the Marshfield clinic. “I’m loving it. I see a variety of everything … diabetes, high blood pressure, mental health, substance abuse … and I’m working with all kinds of people. I feel like I have a little more autonomy here and the ability to treat a variety of things without having to be a specialist.”
O’Brien, 26, is among the 32 cohorts who graduated from the inaugural 27-month-long MSU program in the summer of 2024. There are 35 students currently in the clinical phase of the program, graduating in August. The classes of 2026 and 2027, with a combined 73 students, are currently in the didactic phases of the program.
![]()
Courtesy of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State UniversityPA Medicine's inaugural class of 2024.
Launched in May 2022, the MSU PA program is part of the university’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, one of the university’s four medical colleges. The MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine was recently
named No.1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for having the most graduates practicing in health professional shortage areas. The PA Medicine program’s goal is to provide competency-based instruction that prepares students to be “Day 1” ready to begin practice upon graduation.
What makes the MSU program unique is that it is housed within an osteopathic medical school, which enables doctors of osteopathic medicine and PAs to gain a better understanding of how they can work together for better patient care and outcomes, says John McGinnity, who is director of the PA Medicine Program.
MSU administration started the PA Medicine program recognizing the need for medical providers across the state of Michigan, especially in many rural areas. Since the College of Osteopathic Medicine has a long history of suppling more physicians than any other medical school in the state to practice in Michigan. it was a perfect fit for the PA program
The 108-credit program – which culminates with a master of science degree in PA Medicine – includes 15 months of instruction and 12 months of clinical experience. Students rotate through various Michigan medical systems, including Henry Ford Health, University of Michigan Health-Sparrow, Trinity Health, Corewell Health, Hillsdale Hospital and Munson Healthcare to name a few. Clinical training sites are located in areas of need, especially Michigan counties designated as health professional shortage areas, including several in the Upper Peninsula.
“The MSU PA Program has yielded competent and well-versed medical professionals who practice all across Michigan,” according to the Michigan Center for Rural Health, a nonprofit state office that advocates for improvements in rural health care through partnerships with organizations, health departments, hospitals and other entities. “These are providers who understand the healthcare needs of Michiganders and are ready to provide top quality care.”
Ashley Malliett, who is the clinical coordinator in the Department of PA Medicine and an assistant professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, says 100 percent of that first class of graduates in 2024 seeking employment found employment within months of finishing, with 90 percent seeking employment having offers and/or securing contracts before their graduation dates.
![]()
Courtesy of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State UniversityPA Medicine students Olivia Zander, Audrey Persch, and Brenna Stotlemeyer competed in the American Academy of Physician Associates National Challenge Bowl.Eighty one percent of those graduates found positions in medically underserved communities or in areas where there was a health care provider shortage, typically rural regions, says Malliett, who has worked very hard to ensure the program exposes students to health shortage areas across Michigan.
“What is unique about our program is that every one of our students rotate (during clinicals) in at least one medically underserved community and one rural area,” she says, noting those medically underserved communities can include urban areas such as Detroit. “We make sure all of our students have exposure to rural areas or medically underserved areas.”
There are several rotation sites in the U.P., thanks to partnerships with the U.P. Health System in Marquette, MyMichigan Health in St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie and the Marshville Medical Center in Iron Mountain.
Seventy-seven percent of the program’s graduates have stayed in Michigan; 29 percent went into primary care, “where there is a real need,” Malliett says. That care includes family/internal medicine, pediatrics and women’s health.
Sometimes getting students to consider clinical posts and jobs in rural areas is challenging, Malliett says. When it comes to jobs, the pay is typically lower than urban areas and the medical centers are often in remote regions.
“WE tell our students, ‘How do you know if you don’t like something, if you don’t try?’ Sometimes breaking down those barriers to rural areas happens one student at a time. That’s been our approach. Hopefully, we’re making a difference,” she says.
O’Brien is obviously a success case. She was familiar with the U.P. because of family ties and connections.
“The access to health care up there is so poor,” she says. “I still have family up there and some of them drive two hours for primary care.”
Filling those roles in rural Michigan and the U.P. are important, Malliett says, noting the PA program is attracting some students from the Upper Peninsula, including Dylan Dal Santo, who, coincidentally, is from Iron Mountain, and is completing the first 15 months of instruction, with clinicals beginning in August.
![]()
Courtesy of Dylan Dal SantoDylan Dal Santo
As a resident of the U.P., Dal Santo has witnessed some of the pressures of medical shortages in rural areas.
“There’s definitely a part of me that wants to help address that shortage,” he says, recalling that the medical care family members with various conditions received inspired him – “the heroes were the doctors and nurses who cared for them.”
Although Dal Santo initially pursued a different career path – business and marketing – he eventually realized he wanted to pursue a long-time interest in science and medicine. He considered other medical programs before landing at MSU, where he was impressed by the faculty’s commitment to students and preparing them for Day 1 on the job.
“It’s living up to my expectations,” Dal Santo says of the program. “MSU has a storied reputation of producing great physicians. (The College of Osteopathic Medicine) knows what it’s doing. For me, everything is clicking – the program is exceeding my expectations.
MSU’s program is accredited to allow a maximum of 38 students. So far, most of the students have come from Michigan but it has attracted attention from out-of-staters because the program is affordable, especially compared to other big schools.
The need for skilled healthcare providers will continue and so will the need for investment in “the quality and success of rural health care systems and citizens who live in rural Michigan,” the Michigan Center for Rural Health says.
“Supplemental measures in the healthcare workforce will always benefit the people being served," the organization says. "In order to build a strong workforce, we need high quality healthcare education programs, like the MSU PA program, robust pipeline programs, and substantial, thoughtful scholarship and loan repayment options.”