Talk about a perfect ending.

Every 2024 graduate of St. Bonaventure University’s Physician Assistant Studies program has passed the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE). The national pass rate for first-time PANCE takers is 93% over the last five years.

“This is a tribute to not only the hard work of these students, but to the tremendous support they received from faculty and staff to help them achieve this success,” said Dr. Keith Young, founding director of SBU’s Physician Assistant program.

Of the 33 May graduates from SBU’s program, almost all have secured jobs, Young said, including several from this year’s class and last year’s first cohort of PA graduates who are working in Olean, Bradford, or other rural areas in the Twin Tiers of New York and Pennsylvania.

“One of the hopes we had in developing a School of Health Professions was to encourage some of the graduates to stay in a region that so desperately needs quality health care,” said Dr. David Hilmey, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “To see that hope becoming a reality is especially gratifying.”

Passing the PANCE allows graduates to get a license in any U.S. state or territory to practice as a physician assistant. 

Many of St. Bonaventure’s graduates will be working in emergency rooms or urgent care facilities, Young said, while others will be working as hospitalist PAs, or in family, women’s health, surgical, orthopedic, or specialty practices.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).