Doug Barker, PA, graduated from the 8th class of the Utah MEDEX Demonstration Project, now known as the University of Utah PA Program (UPAP). He has over five decades of experience as a PA, most of which has been spent abroad. His humanitarian efforts across countries, often in areas with limited access to healthcare providers, have earned him numerous awards and recognition. Doug co-founded the international exchange programs between the University of Utah’s PA students and healthcare providers in Papua New Guinea and Thailand with a fellow classmate, Don Pedersen, PhD, PA, to enhance cultural understanding and emphasize the importance of healthcare access. He has been dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare internationally for the entirety of his PA career.
Doug was born in Murray, Utah, on August 4, 1949. His early years were spent growing up on a farm, followed by travel to Samoa from age 8 to 12, where his parents served as faith-based educators. His upbringing involved performing farming chores and ranching work in Idaho.
After high school, Doug’s mentors recommended he pursue medical work. Consequently, he trained as a US Army Corpsman, graduating with honors. Later, between jobs, a nurse suggested he find work in an inner-city Emergency Room.
Doug learned about the PA profession while working as an EMT for four years at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He made a point of learning from the many Residents and on-call Specialists, usually working the night shift. This experience proved helpful when managing patients at remote work sites overseas. The emergency physicians taught him how to simplify and organize his actions. Physical injury is a strong equalizer of the rich and poor, and the emergency physicians had a focus that cut through priorities that they saw as superfluous. The four ER physicians at the hospital suggested Doug would be suited for the University of Utah’s new MEDEX program. Out of admiration, he followed their advice and pursued MEDEX training, despite knowing little about the PA profession. He graduated from the MEDEX program in 1978.
After PA school, Doug worked as a primary care PA in Moab, Utah, before joining the Peace Corps in February 1980. His first assignment was as a medical education tutor in Nakuru, Kenya, teaching Registered Clinical Officers (RCOs). During his time in the Peace Corps, his specialty shifted from primary care to OB/GYN due to the urgent need in the rural and resource-poor countries he visited.
After his early African Peace Corps experience, Doug moved on to refugee camps and became one of the main health and safety professionals for some 70,000 Khmer and Afghan refugees – first along the Thai/Cambodian border and then the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. This is where he learned the importance of the basic public health issues of safe water and sanitation in resource-poor countries. While working in the Site VII Khmer refugee camp, he met his future wife, Noi, who was from Thailand and working as a pharmacy technician with Doctors Without Borders.
Doug has worked with multinational corporations in various resource-poor and remote countries, overseeing the public health and safety of the indigenous and expatriate workforce at project sites. While working at these sites, he always treated non-employee villagers in the area. This involvement led to various humanitarian outreach efforts, such as participating in the company’s corporate social responsibility healthcare initiatives.
In May 1996, Doug and Don Pedersen co-founded the University of Utah PA Program’s (UPAP) international clinical student rotation exchange. The program provides PA students with the opportunity to work with indigenous “PA-like” healthcare providers in resource-poor countries and understand the unique needs and importance of healthcare in these areas. Health Extension Officers (HEOs) from Papua New Guinea participate in a four-week program at the University of Utah to learn new skills to bring back to their regions. With the help of his wife, Noi, the exchange program later expanded to include Thailand. Students study infectious and tropical diseases with experts and work with Burma Medics, another PA-like profession. The UPAP exchange program is still operational as of 2024, and Doug’s curriculum for the Thailand International Elective (TIE) is considered the “gold standard” for students training for global service.
Mid-level practitioners are increasingly the international health community’s answer to the healthcare crisis facing developing countries. Doug has worked in formal teaching programs, training RCOs, HEOs, Medical Officers (MOs), Community Health Workers (CHWs), Midwife Attendants (MWAs), and Advanced Surgical Medics (MEDEX). He introduced the latest U.S. concepts in PA training, including an attainable knowledge base, a basic skills list, patient simulation, patient management problems, preceptorship by physicians, and competency-based training and certification, all of which were new concepts internationally in the training of medical auxiliaries.
Over the years, Doug demonstrated to the foreign medical community the competency and relevance of American PAs in world health programs, while also seeing PA numbers increase in those countries. In 1996, he received the American Academy of PAs PAragon International Humanitarian PA of the Year award.
Doug and Noi enjoy spending time with their three sons, Juriaan, Ben, and Shane, and their grandchildren. His chief interests include travel and experiencing other cultures. His hobbies are primarily medically related. He is particularly passionate about developing Mine Awareness programs to protect returnees during repatriation, and has created Afghan, Khmer, and Laotian Mine Awareness programs. Three times a year, he and Noi participate in the Thai International Elective he founded, a one-month credited elective, providing Service Learning to University Undergraduates and teaching topics in Global Health to University Upper Graduates.
Acknowledgments: This biography was written by staff with the assistance of Doug Barker and the Historical Perspective essay Doug Barker: 5 Decades as a Global PA by Don Pedersen. This biography was submitted to the Society in December 2024. The photographs are courtesy of Mr. Barker.
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