Agnes Scott College announced today that it received a $50,000 grant from the Truist Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund administered by The Winston-Salem Foundation, to help build a physician assistant workforce to meet growing healthcare needs in metro Atlanta. 

The demand for physician assistants is expected to grow 34.2% in the Atlanta metro area in the next decade, 25.9% above the national average. Driving this demand is a dramatic increase in the need for community health, oncology, women’s healthcare, and neonatal healthcare, which is particularly urgent given that Georgia has the nation’s highest maternal death rate and is ranked 16th in infant mortality. Through the leadership of Dr. Kelly H. Ball, associate vice president and dean for graduate studies, and Dr. LeAnne Martinelli, program director and professor of physician assistant studies, Agnes Scott has developed a new Physician Assistant (PA) program projected to launch in 2025. The PA program will enroll cohorts of 40 students per year to practice evidence-based medicine through a rigorous 24-month curriculum. The Truist Charitable Fund’s gift will support the launch of this critical healthcare education and workforce development initiative, helping to build a pipeline of practitioners representing the diversity of communities across Georgia. 

“We are immensely grateful to the Truist Charitable Fund for their early investment in our physician assistant program at Agnes Scott College. We look forward to working with the community and trusted partners like Truist to answer the demand for a qualified, diverse pipeline of healthcare professionals,” said Leocadia Zak, Agnes Scott College president. 

In planning the PA program, Agnes Scott continues its commitment to mission-aligned, health-focused graduate programs that address community and workforce needs while providing pathways for careers in healthcare for underrepresented populations. Agnes Scott is uniquely positioned to train diverse and culturally competent providers to solve the overwhelming need, with nearly 70% of their graduate student body identifying as people of color. These students reflect the overall diversity of Agnes Scott, with 59.7% of all students identifying as people of color and no single racial majority represented on campus for more than 10 years. 

“Truist’s purpose is to inspire and build better lives and communities,” said Katie Saez, Truist regional president for Georgia. “We think the physician assistant program at Agnes Scott will help address our community’s growing healthcare needs, and Truist is proud to be an early supporter.”