Health literacy expert is new head of Physician Assistant Program

James A. Van Rhee, M.S., PA-C, has joined the School of Medicine as director of the Physician Associate (PA) Program. Van Rhee comes to Yale from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he was founding director of its Physician Assistant Program.

Van Rhee’s academic career has also included leadership roles in the pa Programs at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan, Western Michigan University, and Wake Forest University, where he was named first chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in 2006.

Throughout his academic career Van Rhee has maintained an active clinical presence, working in internal medicine and oncology. For 10 years he has served as project director for the Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge and Rating Assessment Tool (PACKRAT) exam, and has been a site visitor for the Accreditation Review Commission on Physician Assistant Education for more than 10 years, and is currently chair of the commission. Among other grants, in 2007 Van Rhee served as co-principal investigator on a three-year Health Resources and Services Administration training grant to develop a health literacy curriculum for PA students.

Van Rhee received his B.S. in medical technology from GVSU and his PA-C degree from the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. He holds an M.S. in PA practice from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, Ill. He succeeds Interim Director David Brissette, M.S., PA-C, assistant professor in the PA Program.