Your journey to becoming a compassionate, competent, and confident Physician Assistant begins here. Our 24-month program is designed to challenge, inspire, and prepare you for real-world practice through a carefully structured sequence of learning experiences.
Each January, a cohort of 100 students begins this transformative journey, graduating in December two years later. The program is full-time and year-round, and all students move through the curriculum together in lockstep, building lifelong professional relationships and teamwork skills along the way.
Be ready to dive in. During the didactic phase, you’ll spend an average of 22 hours each week in the classroom and dedicate an additional 30 hours to studying, collaborating, and mastering material. The pace is fast and the expectations are high—just like the PA profession itself.
From the very start, you’ll connect classroom learning with real patient experiences. You’ll practice your skills through:
These early patient encounters help you apply your knowledge, sharpen your clinical reasoning, and develop the confidence needed to care for patients with empathy and precision.
The clinical year takes you from the classroom to the clinic—where knowledge becomes experience. You’ll complete eleven four-week clinical rotations across a variety of specialties, gaining exposure to diverse patient populations and healthcare settings.
Clinical sites are located across the nation, and students should expect to travel more than 50 miles from campus for some experiences. These rotations are a vital step in preparing you to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care anywhere your career takes you.
The Lincoln Memorial University Chattanooga PA Program has applied for Accreditation - Provisional from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The Lincoln Memorial University Chattanooga PA Program anticipates matriculating its first class in January 2027, pending achieving Accreditation - Provisional status at the October 2026 ARC-PA meeting.
* Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding accreditation-provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. Accreditation – Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class. Accreditation-provisional remains in effect until the program achieves accreditation-continued after its third review, closes or withdraws from the accreditation process, or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards.
In the event the Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) Physician Assistant Program – Chattanooga is not granted Accreditation-Provisional status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), the Program will not commence and will not matriculate a student cohort in January 2027 as planned. If the Program is not granted Accreditation-Provisional status, applicants will be notified in writing and receive a full refund for any tuition and fees paid to the Program within 30 days of the Program receiving notification of the ARC-PA decision. Fees paid by applicants to the program will be reimbursed. Other expenses associated with the admissions process, such as interview travel, are not included in the LMU refund policy.
