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James F. Cawley, MPH, PA, DHL (Hon)

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James F. Cawley is a distinguished scholar, educator, and professional leader whose research centers on the physician associate (PA) profession. He currently serves as professor and scholar-in-residence at the Physician Assistant Leadership and Learning Academy (PALLA) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and as professor in the School of PA Practice at Florida State University College of Medicine. Over more than four decades at the George Washington University (GW), Cawley taught and conducted research in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is now professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Prevention and Community Health in GW’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. He has co-authored five books and published extensively on primary care, preventive medicine, non-physician providers, and health workforce policy.

Cawley earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Francis College in 1970 and a second bachelor’s degree in PA studies from Touro College in 1974. That same year, he joined the faculty of the Health Associate Program at Johns Hopkins University and began practicing as a primary care PA at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He completed an MPH in infectious disease epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1979. In 1988, he became a fellow in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemiology Program Office, completing the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) course.

Cawley has consulted for the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has advised dozens of institutions nationally and internationally on PA education and accreditation. His faculty appointments have included Johns Hopkins University, Stony Brook University, and Yale School of Medicine. He also pursued doctoral studies in health policy at GW.

Cawley has authored more than 190 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including JAMA, Health Affairs, Annals of Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, and BMJ. He has written more than 250 editorials and columns in professional publications. He served as Contributing Editor for Physician Assistant/Health Practitioner, columnist for Clinician Review and Clinician News, and Editor of the PA Journal. In 2006, he was a Visiting Scientist in the Department of the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he researched the history of the PA profession. In 1994, he chaired and authored the Report of the Advisory Group on Physician Assistants in the Workforce for the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME). For a list of some of Cawley’s publications, please visit his Google Scholar Profile.

His books include Physician Assistants in a Changing Health Care Environment (1987) and, with Roderick S. Hooker, Physician Assistants: Policy and Practice (4th ed., 2017). His widely used book Physician Assistants in American Medicine (1997) was required reading for GW PA students. It remains a foundational resource on the profession’s emergence in the U.S. healthcare system.

Cawley is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA), a former Primary Care Health Policy Fellow, and a past Physician Assistant Education Association president. He served twice as president of the Maryland Academy of Physician Assistants and chaired its Legislative Committee for a decade. In 2011, he was named Maryland Physician Assistant of the Year for the second time.

At GW, Cawley founded the nation’s first dual-degree PA/MPH program, setting a national model for interdisciplinary training. He also held an adjunct appointment at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Health Sciences. From 1984 to 2018, he was a tenured professor at GW, teaching courses on the PA profession, health workforce, preventive medicine, epidemiology, and community health.

In 2011, Cawley received the Eugene A. Stead Jr. Award of Achievement from the AAPA for his pivotal role in advancing the PA profession. That same year, he received the Patron of the PA Profession Award from the University of Utah PA Program.  In 2013, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

He served twice as president of the PA Foundation and was a Senior Research Fellow at the AAPA. He served five years as a commissioner on the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. He held board positions with the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and the Journal of Physician Assistant Education. He chaired the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and led the AAPA Research Advisory Committee. He served as vice chair of the federal Advisory Committee on Training for Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry.

In 2024, the University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies established the James F. Cawley Award for Excellence in the PA Profession, which honors an individual who has made extraordinary contributions toward advancing the PA profession through scholarship, leadership, and policy in Maryland and beyond. In 2025, the University of Maryland, Baltimore recognized him with the Catalyst for Excellence Award, honoring his visionary leadership, advocacy, and broad impact across education, healthcare, and policy.

Cawley continues to be an active teacher, mentor, and researcher.

To watch an interview with Mr. Cawley, please click here.

To watch an interview with James Cawley from the ATSU DMSc MasterClass series, please click here.

Acknowledgments: This biographical sketch was prepared by Reginald Carter and J. Jeffrey Heinrich and edited by James Cawley and submitted to the Society in September 2012. This biography was updated in June, 2025 by David Bunnell. The portrait photographs are courtesy of Mr. Cawley. The second and third photos are from the AAPA Photographic Collection, Physician Assistant History Society, Johns Creek, GA.

When using information from this biography, please provide the proper citation as described within the PA History Society Terms of Use.

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