Sondra DePalma, DHSc, PA-C, CLS, CHC, FNLA, AACC, DFAAPA, grew up as an only child in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the first in her family to pursue higher education. From an early age she trained intensively in classical ballet, a discipline she pursued throughout her childhood and into college. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) from Mercyhurst University in 1997 and performed as an apprentice with a ballet company. The rigor and conscientiousness she cultivated in the studio, she would later reflect, proved to be ideal preparation for a life in medicine and advocacy. Driven by a desire to help people and drawn to the collaborative, patient-centered ethos of the PA profession, she pursued post-baccalaureate premedical coursework at Pennsylvania State University before completing her Master of Health Science in PA Studies at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in 2002.
DePalma launched her clinical career in cardiology; a specialty she would call home for more than two decades. Beginning with Heritage Cardiology Associates in 2002, she went on to practice at Hanover Cardiology Associates, Capital Cardiovascular Associates, Penn State Hershey Heart and Vascular Institute, and the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, where she remained active as a PA through 2023. Over those years, she also served as a sub-investigator in numerous landmark cardiovascular clinical trials, including the CABANA trial on catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation, the ODYSSEY Outcomes trial studying the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab, and studies sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and major pharmaceutical companies. This deep clinical grounding in cardiovascular medicine would prove foundational to the extraordinary policy and advocacy career that developed in parallel.
Her interest in the structural and regulatory dimensions of the PA profession first crystallized through mentorship and organizational service. Michael Clark, DMSc, PhD, PA, FACC, DFAAPA, introduced Sondra DePalma to formal advocacy and opened the door for her to serve as president of the Academy of Physician Associates in Cardiology from 2012 to 2014, a constituent organization of the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA). Through that role she became actively engaged with the American College of Cardiology, where she chaired the Physician Associate Committee of the Cardiovascular Team Section and served on the Annual Scientific Sessions Program Committee. In 2014, her peers recognized her contributions with the Association of PAs in Cardiology’s PA of the Year Award.
In 2015, DePalma pursued her Doctor of Health Sciences degree in Leadership and Organizational Behavior at A.T. Still University. This was a demanding undertaking that she balanced alongside clinical practice and growing professional responsibilities, completing the degree in 2018. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Science of Healthcare Delivery from Arizona State University (ASU) and, later, a Post-Graduate Fundamentals of Education Certificate. As she later described it, incurring significant educational debt as a first-generation college student was one of the most difficult decisions of her life, yet one she considered entirely worthwhile.
Shortly after beginning her doctorate, Sondra DePalma joined the AAPA as Director of the Regulatory and Professional Practice. It was there, under the mentorship of advocacy veteran Michael Powe, that she found the platform through which she would exert her most lasting influence on the profession. She rose to senior director in 2022 and, in 2024, became Vice President of Reimbursement and Professional Practice. In her own words, she became a PA advocate as a natural extension of being a patient advocate and was driven to act when laws or regulations prevented patients from accessing services that PAs were fully trained and qualified to provide.
The impact of that advocacy is substantial and concrete. DePalma was instrumental in persuading the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to discontinue the use of the term licensed independent practitioner — a designation that had systematically blocked PAs from providing services for which they were clinically qualified, since collaborative practice was deemed not “independent.” She contributed to the first formal recognition of the title physician associate in federal regulations. She also led efforts that expanded Medicare’s recognition of PAs in meaningful ways, including allowing PAs to perform required psychiatric and neurological examinations for inpatient psychiatric patients, supervise staff conducting diagnostic tests, order non-invasive colorectal cancer screening tests, and complete hospital discharge summaries without a required physician co-signature.
DePalma’s scholarly contributions have been equally significant. In 2017, she was one of the authors of the landmark ACC/AHA hypertension guidelines, this was the first major revision of U.S. blood pressure standards in over a decade; a recognition of her standing as a subject matter expert that extended well beyond the PA profession. She also co-authored two subsequent ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathways on non-statin therapies for LDL-cholesterol lowering, in 2016, 2017, and 2022, alongside a distinguished faculty of cardiologists. Her peer-reviewed publications span topics including atrial fibrillation management, resistant hypertension, PA job satisfaction, medical malpractice and scope-of-practice laws, PA workforce demographics in cardiology, and PA leadership structures. In 2024, the research she conducted with her husband and co-author, Michael DePalma, on medical malpractice payment reports related to PA scope-of-practice laws and regulations earned her the JMR Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the Journal of Medical Regulation; the honor she has described as among her proudest professional accomplishments, both for the recognition it represents and for the underlying evidence it provided in support of PA practice modernization.
Beyond journal publications, DePalma edited a 2025 issue of Physician Assistant Clinics devoted to cardiology and co-authored major AAPA reference guides on PA regulations, compliance, and professional practice. She contributed chapters to foundational PA educational texts including Ballweg’s Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice (6th and 7th editions) and The JAAPA QRS Review for PAs. In 2025, she was a co-author of the white paper, Physician Associates: A Modern Evolution 1965–2035, a commemorative history of the profession.
Sondra DePalma has been a sought-after speaker at national and international forums for many years, presenting at the American Academy of Physician Associates Annual Conference and Leadership and Advocacy Summit consistently on topics ranging from PA billing and reimbursement to hypertension management to the regulatory landscape affecting PA practice. She has addressed audiences at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions, the Heart Rhythm Society, the National Lipid Association, and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, among others. She also served as an adjunct assistant professor in A.T. Still University’s Doctor of Medical Science Program beginning in 2020 and as a faculty member in the Advanced Practice Provider Leadership Course at the University of Pittsburgh. Her clinical certifications, including Clinical Lipid Specialist through the Accreditation Council for Clinical Lipidology, and Certified Hypertension Clinician through the American Society of Hypertension, reflect a breadth of expertise that has made her a credible voice in both clinical and policy arenas.
Among her numerous honors, Sondra DePalma is a Distinguished Fellow of the AAPA, a Fellow of the National Lipid Association, and an Associate of the American College of Cardiology. In 2024, she joined the CPT Advisory Committee of the American Medical Association as an advisor, extending her influence into the critical domain of medical coding policy.
Outside of her professional life, DePalma now lives in Naples, Florida, and Hanover, Pennsylvania, with her husband (also a PA) and their dachshund. Her love of the arts has remained a constant thread: she attends concerts whenever possible, savoring both the music and the communal experience. She has channeled her lifelong appreciation for beauty and place into travel photography, capturing images from around the world. Asked once which figures across history she would most like to share a dinner table with, she named Leonardo da Vinci for his rare capacity to bridge art and science alongside Paul McCartney and Bono, whom she admires not only for their music but for their activism on behalf of others.
Dr. Sondra DePalma’s career exemplifies the expanding role of PAs in American healthcare as clinicians, scholars, and indispensable advocates for the patients and the profession they serve. Through her decades of work at the intersection of regulatory policy, clinical expertise, and professional leadership, she has helped to dismantle systemic barriers, shape national health guidelines, and ensure that the contributions of PAs are recognized, protected, and enabled to flourish.
To watch Dr. DePalma’s 2026 MasterClass interview, please click here.
Acknowledgments:
This biography was written by Randy Danielsen with the assistance of Sondra DePalma. It was submitted to the Society in March 2026. All photographs are courtesy of Dr. DePalma.
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