Blair Whitaker, the program director and chair of Brescia University’s developing physician assistant program, is seen at the C.E. Field Center for Professional Studies on Jan. 12, 2026. ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD | WKC
Returning to her roots, Brescia’s physician assistant program director looks forward to connecting students with local community
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
For Blair Whitaker, coming to Brescia University in Owensboro to serve as the director of its developing physician assistant program, feels “full circle.”
Whitaker’s great-grandparents were from Leitchfield and Hopkinsville and later moved to Louisville, where she grew up. Today, finding herself in western Kentucky is like “returning to my roots,” said Whitaker in a Jan. 12 interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic.
She has been with Brescia University since June 2024, and is working to help them develop the program, which will culminate in a Master of Science in physician assistant studies degree.
If it receives accreditation later this year, Brescia’s PA program will be the fifth in the commonwealth of Kentucky and the first in western Kentucky.
In the field of physician assistant education, western Kentucky was the missing piece, said Whitaker: “It is very much needed in this region.”
She said marginalized communities, such as those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantages in western Kentucky, are often overlooked and underserved in terms of patient education and disease prevention.
But, if patients “are given the time to learn and are not passed by,” they can become actively invested in caring for themselves, she said. “That’s where PAs come in.”
“We’re trained and educated to take the time to communicate that ‘I have a choice in my healthcare and options,’” said Whitaker. “At the end of the day, PAs are here to help meet the needs of the community and to help partner with physicians.”
None of this is new to her, as Whitaker has helped launch two other physician assistant programs in Kentucky.
She served as the founding program director for University of the Cumberlands Northern Kentucky Campus’s PA program, and was the first faculty member hired for Sullivan University’s PA program.
As of this story’s publication, the program has received 540 student applications, which Whitaker said include in-progress and verified applications. The program is partnering with Owensboro Health and HealthForce Kentucky, which is a collaboration among universities and colleges across 16 counties in western Kentucky and focused on increasing careers in the healthcare workforce.
“We can take a cohort of 30, and that’s our plan,” said Whitaker, adding that she is eager to have students from the local area who want to remain in the community after graduation, and serve the western Kentucky population.
“Clinical rotations will be in the surrounding communities,” she said, which will give students the chance to get to know the area and their future patients. “Our goal is to get our students out into those communities.”
She also looks forward to continuing Brescia’s legacy as a Catholic university, especially with the Catholic Church’s history of “being a leader in meeting the needs of underserved communities.”
Learn more
The developing physician assistant program at Brescia University is taking applications through April 1, 2026, for the inaugural cohort planned for matriculation in August 2026. The program will host an information session on Feb. 6 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Central Time. The session will be available in person, located at 811 Frederica St., Owensboro, in Duffy Auditorium, or virtually through Zoom. For more information and the Zoom pass code, visit www.brescia.edu/program/physician-assistant-program.
Originally printed in the February 2026 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
