Lisa K. Walker, MPAS, PA-C
- Chair, Physician Assistant Studies
- Associate Professor
Lisa K. Walker, MPAS, PA-C, is an Associate Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and founding Program Director of the developing Physician Assistant Studies program.
Prior to her position at the Institute, she spent several years as the founding director of the Franklin Pierce University physician assistant program in New Hampshire. Her sixteen years of experience in PA education also include faculty and administrative positions at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Manchester, NH, and the University of New England in Portland, ME. In 2012 she spent nine months in Alaska, where she practiced part-time at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center and the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, the only women's prison in Alaska. She also lectured for the University of Washington PA program at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Walker received her Bachelor of Science and certificate in Physician Assistant Studies from Des Moines University and her Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Her teaching has focused on health disparities, cultural competency, patients with disabilities, and patient communication. She is the co-author of a chapter on patients with disabilities in the widely used text Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice, now in its fifth edition. She has presented regionally and nationally in the areas of health disparities, health literacy, and improving access to care.
Walker has been active in the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) with two terms of service on the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and is a current member of the PAEA Cultural Competencies Committee and editor of the feature “Medicine through the Arts” in the Journal of Physician Assistant Education. She also serves as a lead facilitator for PAEA's annual New Program Directors' Retreat, a five-day program to prepare PA educators to lead a growing number of PA programs across the country.
- AS, American Sign Language Interpreter Program, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA
- BS, Certificate of Physician Assistant Studies, Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA
- MPAS, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE
Walker, L., Vacala M. Patients with Disabilities. In Ballweg et al: Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice (ed 5). Philadelphia, PA, Elsevier Saunders, 2013
Walker, L. The Looking Glass: Using Reflective Writing in Medical Education. Journal of Physician Assistant Education 2015; 26(2): 99-100
Walker, L. Teaching Compassion: Cinemeducation in Physician Assistant Programs. Journal of Physician Assistant Education 2014; 25 (2): 44-45
Walker, L. House and Holmes: Clinical Reasoning Comes Full Circle. Journal of Physician Assistant Education 2013; 24(4): 30-31.
Walker, L. Achieving Balance: Healing in Native Art. Journal of Physician Assistant Education 2013; 23 (4):47-49
2015 Walker, L. Providing Access and Preventing Errors: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Patients In Your Institution, national webinar for the American Health Lawyers Association.
2012 Walker, L. Anatomy of an Office Visit, Medico-legal Issues in Interpreting, and Medical Terminology for Interpreters. Alaska Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Continuing Education Workshop, Anchorage, AK, November 30 and December 1, 2012
2012 Abercrombie D, Burwell N, Fleming S, Pomeranz H, Smith D, Walker L. Social Determinants of Health: Effect on Health Disparities. Physician Assistant Education Association Annual Meeting, Seattle Washington
2009 Walker L. Patients with Disabilities: What Your Students Should Know. Physician Assistant Education Association Annual Meeting, Portland, OR