As we celebrate 50 years of the North Carolina Academy of PAs, we’re starting at the beginning.
The Focus on Fifty series is about more than milestones, it’s about understanding the people, purpose, and moments that shaped the PA profession into what it is today. Before we look ahead, we’re taking a step back to ground ourselves in the story.
There’s no better place to start than with PA History Society Historian Emeritus Reg Carter, PhD, PA.
A Voice of the Profession’s History
Reg Carter has spent his career not only shaping the PA profession, but preserving it. A lifelong member of NCAPA and a co-founder of the PA History Society, his work has helped ensure that the profession’s story is documented, studied, and shared for future generations.
He established the Office of Physician Assistant History at Duke University Medical Center and helped build what is now a nationally recognized collection of PA history, including archives, oral histories, and exhibits housed at the Stead Center in Durham.
For Reg, history is not just about looking back, it’s about identity.
“It’s part of our professional identity, knowing your roots and knowing where you come from.”
A Profession Built at the Right Time
The PA profession was created to meet a need.
In the 1960s, the country faced a shortage of healthcare providers, especially in primary care. At the same time, highly trained military corpsmen were returning home with clinical experience and no clear path forward.
“You had a country that was desperate for healthcare… and corpsmen who could fill that gap.”
What followed was one of the most important innovations in modern healthcare, the creation of the PA profession as a solution to expand access to care.
Reg describes it simply,
“The right time, for all the right reasons, in the right places, by the right people.”
Preserving the Legacy
Today, that history is preserved at the Stead Center, where artifacts, exhibits, and the restored office of Dr. Eugene Stead tell the story of the profession’s earliest days.
Just outside, the PA Veterans Garden honors many of the original pioneers, military medics and corpsmen who helped lay the foundation for the profession.
“This garden represents an opportunity to honor those founding PAs… it’s a place to reflect and remember.”
Why This Story Matters
PAs were developed as a response to a healthcare gap, and that mission still holds true today.
From primary care to public health to addiction medicine, the need for accessible, high-quality care continues to grow. The profession has expanded, but its purpose remains the same, serving patients where they need it most.
“PAs were developed as a social innovation to address the shortage of healthcare providers.”
And now, as the profession has grown in both size and impact, there is an opportunity to do even more.
Looking Ahead, Grounded in the Past
Focus on Fifty is about honoring that foundation while looking toward the future.
Over the coming months, we’ll highlight the people, stories, and moments that have defined NCAPA and the PA profession across North Carolina. From pioneers to present-day leaders, each story builds on the one before it.
We begin here, with history, because it reminds us why this profession exists in the first place.
“The future is bright,” Reg says. “PAs have reached a point where they can truly make an impact in healthcare.”
Fifty years in, that impact is just getting started.
Written by Thomas Wellenhofer
NC Academy of PAs Marketing & Communications Coordinator
