Kathy J. Pedersen

Kathy J. Pedersen, PA-C, MPAS

Languages spoken: English, Spanish

Academic Office Information

Kathy.Pedersen@hsc.utah.org

Board Certification

  • ANCC - Nursing Professional Development
  • NCCPA - Proficiency Examination in Surgery

Research Interests

  • Physician Assistants and the Expanding Global Healthcare Workforce
  • Human Resources for Health
  • Task Shifting
  • International Physician Assistant Analogues
  • Social Accountability of the Physician Assistant
  • Competency Guidelines of Physician Assistants Practicing Primary Care in Low Resource Countries
  • Physician Assistant Leadership in Global Health
  • Global Health Tracks in US Physician Assistant Programs
  • Considerations in Hosting Global Visitors
  • International Activities of US Physician Assistant Programs
  • Student Orientation for Global Health Clinical Rotations
  • First Person Accounts of Physician Assistant Practice Outside of the US
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Social Franchising
  • Global Surgery
  • Global Dentistry

Kathy Pedersen PA-C, MPAS

Associate Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine

Kathy Pedersen PA-C is a board certified Physician Assistant and an Associate Professor with the University of Utah Physician Assistant Program.

Ms. Pedersen's intent is to raise visibility of the physician assistant profession, and to innovate with academia and other audiences to identify and consider PA-like providers in settings around the world with the goal of reducing inequity and improving health access. Her academic and clinical work, national presentations and PA organization committee volunteerism, international outreach activities, and board service with the Global Health Education Consortium (GHEC)/Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) support this goal.

Ms. Pedersen has been involved with hosting delegations from other countries; exploring and fostering the PA profession; and working with student electives in Honduras, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Nepal, Indonesia, Liberia, the Thai/ Burma border, and other countries. A career highlight was helping to create the interdisciplinary Thailand International Elective for PA, public health, pharmacy, and medical students. This 4-week rotation exposes students to many impactful experiences in resource-poor settings, including refugee camps and clinics for displaced Burmese, the leprosy hospital, the HIV/AIDS hospice, orphanages, and others. Serving on GHEC/CUGH's (an organization of global health oriented academic physician faculty primarily from U.S. and Canada) board of directors for six years, Ms. Pedersen was successful in creating a liaison between GHEC/CUGH and the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA). In Montreal, at the 2011 GHEC/CUGH Conference that enrolled 1,400 participants from 62 countries, she coordinated a panel discussion on “PA-like” providers and their role in health and wellness around the world.

With the Visiting Scholars Program she worked with a series of Indonesian physicians who came to the U.S. to learn best practices in primary care, public health, and occupational medicine. Starting in 2011, Ms. Pedersen networked within PAEA leadership to promote the development of a PA core curriculum in global health similar to other health disciplines. Several year consultation on the health workforce of Nepal led to discussion of curriculum, clinical training, and career development for their Nepali Health Assistants (HA), a PA-like provider as well as the first international seminars on HA and PA collaboration in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Ms. Pedersen served on the original American Academy of Physician Assistant's Committee on International Affairs from 1999 –2001. She chaired the first International Affairs Committee for PAEA (then APAP), and created the sentinel “White Paper” on international activities of PA programs in 2003. She has authored articles, book chapters, teaching modules, and presentations related to global health. She authored a module on the “Global Health Workforce and Physician Assistants” as part of the Global Health Education Consortium’s Teaching Modules Project: “Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Global Health Education”. For the last two editions, she contributed a chapter on PAs to the GHEC/CUGH guidebook on global health training in graduate education. For PAEA Ms. Pedersen served as technical editor of “Perspectives on PA Education”, the first journal compiling the academic research of PA educators. For the Utah Academy of Physician Assistants (UAPA), she served in the majority of offices, some of which were UAPA delegate to the AAPA House of Delegates, and president during which year her board passed new legislation in Utah.

For 6 years, he was the feature editor of Global Perspectives for the Journal of Physician Assistant Educators, formerly “Perspectives on PA Education”. At the Utah PA Program (UPAP) where she has worked for over 30 years, she served as a Clinical Associate working with PA students in “Tutorial Groups”. Students are taught clinical problem solving, evidence-based medicine, history taking, and physical exam skills. For this course and others that she developed and taught, she received a Clinical Teaching Award in 1993. In 2015, she was awarded the Utah PA Program Director's Award. Through her 30-year career as a Family Practice PA at the Community Health Centers (CHCs) serving the underserved and underinsured, she advocated quality, cost effective patient care, and networked extensively to provide needed patient resources. For her CHC and volunteer outreach work at the Maliheh Free Clinic she received the Humanitarian PA of the Year from UAPA. Maliheh Free Clinic honored her with a 10 year award in 2019. Since 2011, she has been manager of Global Partners.

Education History

Graduate Training University of Utah
 MPAS
Professional Nursing Beth-El School of Nursing
 RN

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Brekowitz, O DiToro R Pedersen K (Spring 2019). Hosting Global Physician Assistant Students in the US. J Physician Assist Educ, 30(Mar 2019), 67-71.
  2. Pedersen D Pedersen K (2019). The Global PA Citation Commentary. JAAPA, 32(2).
  3. Kander M, Pedersen K, Ballweg R, Pedersen D, Wachtel D (2017). Competency Guidelines for Physicians Assistants Practicing Primary Care in Low-Resource Countries. PMID 28207584. J Physician Assist Educ, 28(1), 54-58.
  4. Ballweg R, Pedersen K, Mulitalo K (2016). Hosting Global Visitors Seeking Information about the US Physician Assistant Career. J Physician Assist Educ, 27(3), 147-150.
  5. Pedersen D Pedersen K Barker D (09/01/2015). Rainforest Physician Assistants - The Papua New Guinea Health Extension Officer: An International Physician Assistant Analogue. J Physician Assist Educ, 26(3), 155-158.
  6. Pedersen K, Pedersen DM, Shrestha RP, Spackman J (2015). Human resources for health: a needs assessment of the Nepal health assistant - a physician assistant analogue? J Physician Assist Educ, 26(1), 53-7. (Read full article)
  7. Pedersen D Pedersen K Barker D Santitamrongpan V (11/1/14). The Burmese Medic. Case Studies. Transformative Education for Health Professionals. 1 Nov, 2014 online http://whoeducationguidelines.org/case-studies/list.
  8. Knoble S author Pedersen K editor (2014). Journey as a Physician Assistant in the Kingdom at the Top of the World. J Physician Assist Educ, 25(3), 4.
  9. Gillette K, Pedersen K, Pedersen D (2014). The time is now for physician assistant leadership in global health. J Physician Assist Educ, 25(1), 51-4. (Read full article)
  10. Pedersen DM, Pedersen KJ, Santitamrongpan V (2012). The Burmese medic: an international physician assistant analogue. J Physician Assist Educ, 23(3), 51-5. (Read full article)
  11. Legler C, Pedersen K, et al (2007). Global Clinical Experiences for Physician Assistant Students. 2007(Fall).
  12. Pedersen D, Barker D, Santitamrongpan V, Pedersen K, Kim H (2006). Thailand International Elective (TIE): a Model Curriculum in International Health And Cross-Cultural Experience. Global Perspectives. 17(3).
  13. Pedersen K, Hooker RS, Legler C, Kortyna D, Harbert K, Eisenhauer W, Baggett A (2003). A Report on the Findings of the Ad Hoc Committee on International Physician Assistant Education. 2003:14(4), 50.
  14. Pedersen K (2000). Physician Assistants in International Health: Serving the Global Village. 2000.

Book Chapter

  1. Pedersen K, et al (2014). Global Health: Health Sciences and Team Based Care. Developing Global Health Programming: A Guidebook for Medical and Professional Schools. In Jessica Evert, Paul Drain, Thomas Hall (Eds.), Developing Global Health Programming: A Guidebook for Medical and Professional Schools (2nd Edition, p. 358). San Francisco: Collaborations Press.
  2. Pedersen K (2011). Physician Assistants in the Global Health Arena. Global Health Training in Graduate Medical Education: A Guidebook edited by Jack Chase MD and Jessica Evert. Global Health Education Consortium. 2nd ed. 2011. In Jack Chase and Jessica Evert (Eds.), Global Health Training in Graduate Medical Education (2nd Edition, p. 218). Bloomington: iUniverse, Inc.

Commentary

  1. Pedersen D Pedersen K (In Press). Commentary on "Determinants of the Physician Assistant/Associate Concept in Global Health Systems". J Physician Assist Educ.

Report

  1. Kathy J Pedersen (2020). A Humanitarian in Every Sense of the Word. St John's Creek, Georgia: Physician Assistant History Society.

Video/Film/CD/Web/Podcast

  1. Pedersen K, DeGracia D (2009). Global Health Workforce and Physician Assistants. Module. Global Health Education Consortium Teaching Modules: Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Global Health Education. [Web]. San Francisco, California: Global Health Education Consortium. Available: http://globalhealthedu.org/modules/Modules/Module.aspx?List=ef83b39c-3154-4747-97e2-3b087f6898d2&ID=28.