Tina Butler, DMSc, MPAS, PA-C, is a multifaceted physician assistant/associate (PA), program director, and associate professor whose professional career exemplifies excellence in healthcare and PA education.
Butler was born and raised in Del Rio, a small border town in rural Texas with limited access to healthcare, particularly preventative care. Growing up in Del Rio, she established a lasting empathy towards underrepresented groups and shaped her dedication to advancing rural medicine. Butler reveals her love for medicine sparked at a young age, first apparent from her curiosity while watching a healthcare-centered show called Trapper John, MD.
With her father in the Air Force, Butler was first exposed to the PA profession through PAs caring for her and her family at military treatment facilities. However, like many students at the time, she began her college career with little understanding of the PA profession. Butler began her journey in healthcare as a pre-medical student at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. While there, she stumbled upon the PA career in a greater capacity, deeply admiring the collaborative and communicative nature of the profession.
In 1994, Butler graduated from Texas Tech with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry, a love for cardiology, and a deep passion to pursue more. Four years later, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (BSPA) in August of 1998. With eagerness to give back to a community similar to the one she grew up in, Butler accepted her first job in 1998 in family medicine and urgent care in Stanton, Texas, a small, underserved town with a population of just 3,000 people. Two years later, Butler got the chance to pursue her growing fascination for cardiology in Midland, Texas where she began work with an interventional cardiologist. Throughout the next ten years as a cardiology provider, Butler recalls finding great satisfaction in providing patient education and helping her patients understand the why behind their disease states. Butler earned her Master’s in PA Studies in May 2007 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, then sought her purpose in education at the Texas Tech PA Program. She taught cardiology in clinical medicine courses for six years.
After years of instructing students, Butler relocated to Brownwood, Texas, where she returned to working in family medicine. With her unwavering devotion to PA education, she accepted a role as the clinical medicine and diagnostic methods course instructor at the developing PA program at Hardin-Simmons University (HSU). Motivated by her eagerness to do more and step into leadership roles, Butler became the academic director and then associate program director for HSU’s PA program. Butler shares that it was during her time as associate program director that she worked closely alongside her role model and program director at the time, Dr. Jennifer Eames. As colleagues, they grew in their leadership skills alongside each other and began contributing to the PA profession through the Texas Academy of PAs (TAPA).
Butler’s work for TAPA included serving on the board of directors for a decade as well as serving as the TAPA president from 2017 to 2018. Shortly thereafter, she earned her Doctorate of Medical Science (DMSc) in August 2020 from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions. As she grew more passionate about cultivating the best environment for the PA profession, Butler stepped into the role as program director for the HSU PA Program in 2023. By prioritizing compassion and a dedication to serve, she fosters an environment structured in empathy and selfless care. In fact, Butler states the proudest moments in her professional career are working with her students on service projects such as medical mission trips to international destinations like Peru or domestic mission trips to Navasota, Texas. She proclaims that teaching the next generation of PAs in the classroom is a joy and honor, but serving underserved groups of people alongside her students is the truest delight.
To continue contributing to the advancement of PA education, Butler channeled her talent with numbers and data by investing time in accreditation consulting to help other programs receive and maintain accreditation. In addition, she now also serves as the chair of the Internal Medicine/Family Medicine Exam Development Board with PAEA.
As a physician assistant who began her work when the profession was still new and unknown to most, Butler prides herself on the time and dedication she spent building rapport with patients who didn’t necessarily understand her role as a PA-C. She spent years providing patients with consistent, compassionate, and patient-centered care that she now holds as the expectation for her students.
For Butler, the white coat worn by PA-Cs is merely a symbol of hard work rather than a reflection of the work itself. While patients often see the coat as a representation of a provider’s ability to heal, she emphasizes that it is her patients who, in many ways, heal her.
Acknowledgments:
This biography was prepared by Kaylee Billstone with the assistance of Tina Butler. It was submitted to the society in June 2026. Photographs are provided courtesy of Dr. Butler.
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