Stephanie Joseph Gilkey, EdD, MS, PA-C, DFAAPA, was born and raised in Michigan, and in her early years wanted to become a teacher. During her high school years, she learned of a new profession- physician assistant (PA) – which altered her vision of her future. When she graduated in 1976, PA practice became legalized in Michigan. Interested in matriculating into a PA program but with no clinical experience, she attended nursing school and graduated from Mercy College, Detroit, with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1980. Afterward, she matriculated into the Mercy College of Detroit PA school and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies in 1982. After PA school, her experiences serving in various clinical settings instilled an enduring commitment to patient care and set the stage for her future as an educator and leader.
Gilkey was one of the first group of PAs to work in internal medicine, and later endocrinology, at Harper Hospital in Detroit MI. There, she experienced firsthand the uncertainties of early PA practice and was able to demonstrate what PAs were capable of. During the early years of her practice, it was not uncommon for female PAs to be referred to as nurses, and the only opportunities at the large institutions where she wanted to work was full-time clinic practice. Gilkey was one of the first PAs to work with another PA in a job-sharing situation at Harper Hospital , where they worked to educate others on PA practice while gaining experience.
Gilkey’s experiences as a PA in internal medicine, endocrinology, and neurology served as a catalyst for her future work in research and education. While working with an interdisciplinary team in the neurology service at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, she learned to work on an interprofessional team to blend clinical work, student education and clinical research, focusing on headache and stroke. The mentoring and encouragement she received had profound, career-changing implications. During this time, she developed an enduring commitment to patient care, education and research. It was during this time that she presented research on migraine and post traumatic headaches at the Migraine Trust of London, England in 1992 and 1994 respectively. Given her continued interest in education, she took classes and earned a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration and Education from the University of Detroit Mercy (1996) and was given their Chairperson’s Award for academic and professional excellence. Her master’s project, which was the development of a new PA program curriculum with Kathleen Flannigan, MS, PA, established the foundation for the Wayne State University PA program.
In 1997, she joined Wayne State University’s PA program as faculty, academic coordinator, and program director. In these roles, Gilkey developed as a “quiet leader”. Her greatest accomplishment is witnessing program graduates excel in patient care, education, leadership, and research, positively impacting the communities they serve.
Of note, during her time at WSU she developed and led a generation of students through various service-learning projects focused on urban underserved populations, the most enduring being the yearly performance of pre-sport health appraisals for Special Olympics Detroit athletes, allowing thousands of athletes to participate in those sports. For their work on this project, the Wayne State University PA Program received the Innovations in Health Care: 2000 from the AAPA/PA Foundation/Pfizer Recognition Program. The PA program also received the Special Olympics Michigan University Award in 2007 for the Health Appraisals for Special Olympics Detroit Athletes. The Wayne State University Department of Physician Assistant Studies was awarded another AAPA/Pfizer Innovations in Health Care award in 2001 for their Childhood Immunization Initiative. This project which Gilkey developed and led with faculty and students, immunized over a thousand Detroit public school children.
Gilkey was named a Women of Wayne Honoree in 2010 for her education and community work, and in 2011 she was awarded the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Prism Award for Innovation in Teaching, Community Involvement and Service-Learning. She has received funding for research in the areas of healthcare student interprofessional team skills and service-learning. Additionally, Gilkey was the project director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Bureau of Health Professions Physician Assistant Training in Primary Care Grant Program,2003-2005, which focused on inclusive admission practices.
Gilkey matriculated into the Educational Evaluation and Research doctoral program at Wayne State University, College of Education, graduating in 2023. The program enhanced her knowledge of higher education program assessment. She is heavily influenced by the work of her late mentor, Shlomo Sawilowsky, PhD, and his approach to statistical and research methods and emphasis on the importance of robust and nonparametric techniques. His guidance encouraged the adoption of innovative methodologies and rigorous power analysis. Her dissertation focused on the development and assessment of a summative assessment of PA student professionalism survey tool, an area of long-time interest and was presented as a research brief at the PAEA 2025 Annual Forum.
In 2018, Gilkey was offered the opportunity to found the University of Michigan-Flint Physician Assistant program, allowing for expansion of PA education and training in another urban underserved region. Since that time, serving as PA department and program director, she has led the program from development through implementation. GIlkey led the program through the ARC-PA provisional accreditation process through to the accreditation-continued status awarded in 2025. Along with extraordinary faculty and staff, the program has educated and trained student clinicians, leaders, and advocates for patients and the PA profession. In 2022, she and an interprofessional team on healthcare faculty were awarded the University of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (IPE) Award for Innovation and Excellence for their yearly interdisciplinary student hospital discharge planning simulation project, which involves hundreds of students from the PA, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, public health, and nursing departments.
Over the years, she has served the American Academy of PAs (distinguished since 2014), the PA Education Association, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education of the PA, and the Michigan Academy of Physician Assistants in various roles, supporting continuing PA education, research, leadership, and assessment of PA programs. In 2026 she began work as a trustee on the board of the PA History Society to further advance the Society’s mission of preserving, collecting, and sharing the history and legacy of the PA profession.
She has been married for over 40 years to John Gilkey, MD, and is the grateful and proud mother of three adult children: Elizabeth, Sarah, and Alex. She enjoys time with her family, traveling, cooking, reading, and gardening.
Acknowledgments:
This biography was prepared by Stephanie Gilkey and submitted to the Society in March 2026. Photographs are courtesy of Dr. Gilkey.
When using information from this biography, please provide the proper citation as described within the PA History Society Terms of Use.
To request the use of the photographs that accompany this biography, please contact the PA History Society to request permission as some photographs might have restrictions on their use.