MPAS Program Overview

PAs in Ontario

Physician Assistants (PAs) are highly trained healthcare professionals who work as part of physician-led teams to improve access to care, enhance continuity of service, and help meet the growing healthcare needs of patients and communities. Introduced in Ontario as part of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's 2006 Health Human Resources strategy, the PA profession was identified as an important solution for reducing wait times and improving access to primary care. Beginning in 2007, HealthForce Ontario pilot projects demonstrated the value of PAs across a variety of clinical settings throughout the province. 

In Ontario, PAs work under the supervision of licensed physicians and perform delegated medical activities in accordance with their supervising physician's scope of practice and organizational policies. This collaborative model allows PAs to contribute across a broad range of healthcare environments while supporting safe, high-quality patient care. As of April 1, 2025, Physician Assistants are regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), reflecting the profession's continued growth and importance within the healthcare system. 

Over the past two decades, PAs have demonstrated their ability to strengthen healthcare delivery by expanding physician capacity and improving patient access to care. Research has shown that PAs can help physicians see more patients, improve same-day access for urgent concerns, reduce wait times in emergency departments, and improve overall patient flow. Physician employers consistently report high levels of satisfaction with the contributions of PAs, and many indicate plans to continue expanding PA positions in their practices and healthcare organizations. 

About the MPAS Program

The Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) provides learners with the competencies and clinical skills necessary to provide high-quality patient care and address complex clinical problems within a collaborative healthcare environment. Graduates of the MPAS are well prepared to become licenced clinicians and health system leaders, able make evidence-based judgements in their clinical practice and through the advancement of health knowledge and healthcare innovations. Informed by Temerty Medicine’s commitment to social accountability, graduates of the program are well prepared to serve diverse communities, including those that have been historically underserved.  

The MPAS is a two-year, full-time professional master’s program. The program curriculum is grounded in PA professional competency frameworks, designed to ensure graduates are graduates are prepared for entry into practice.  

The program is delivered using both online and in-person modalities. Most of the course work is delivered and completed online, with in-person campus blocks dispersed throughout the two years of the program to enable and support essential hands-on skills training, simulations, high-stakes competency assessments, and professional identify formation. Each campus block is one to three weeks in duration, held at the Scarborough Academic of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).  

Year 2 of the program includes 44 weeks of in-person clinical placements in which learners integrate of medical knowledge with clinical practice. These 44 weeks include seven placements in core specialties and three elective placements, held at diverse settings across Ontario. The clinical placements provide comprehensive exposure to the scope of PA practice and ensure that graduates are prepared for professional practice. 

The MPAS is a full-time only program, with mandatory attendance for all components of the program, regardless of mode of delivery. Employment while enrolled in the MPAS is strongly discouraged.   

Program Structure

The MPAS is a two-year program, structured within a 24-month time frame. It is full-time only program, with mandatory attendance for all components of the program, regardless of mode of delivery. Students must reside in Ontario for the duration of the program. Employment while enrolled in the MPAS is strongly discouraged 

The MPAS consists of a unit-based curriculum, clinical experiences and placements, and a research project.  

Year 1

The Year 1 campus blocks and unit-based learning is structured to establish a robust academic foundation, beginning with basic medical sciences and progressively building integrated knowledge in pathology, pharmacology, and clinical reasoning through problem-based and case-based learning. Year 1 learning also covers principles of qualitative and quantitative research, evidence-based medicine, and quality improvement. Mid-way through Year 1, students begin working in groups on their team-based research projects. 

The online unit-based learning is organized according to four units: 

• Medical Foundations 
• Clinical and Procedural Skills 
• PA Professional Competencies 
• PA Research 

Each unit includes sections that integrate unit-specific curriculum, gradually increasing in complexity. 

The 40 hours of in-person longitudinal clinical experiences are based in Ontario, dispersed throughout all three Year 1 semesters. 

Year 2

Year 2 of the MPAS focuses on in-person clinical learning, featuring ten clinical placements designed to integrate medical knowledge with clinical practice, and completion of the team-based research project. 

The 44 weeks of clinical placements include seven placements in core specialties (two in family medicine, and one in each of surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, emergency medicine) and three elective placements, held at diverse settings across Ontario. Under the supervision of clinical preceptors, the clinical placements provide comprehensive exposure to the scope of PA practice and ensure that graduates are prepared for professional practice. The MPAS has partnerships with over 340 clinical sites and 640 clinical preceptors who are either licensed physicians or certified PAs.  

The team-based research projects, supported by faculty mentors, are structured to enable students to focus on a relevant clinical or health systems issue that is of interest to them, design an appropriate investigation (which may be a research study, a quality improvement initiative, or a comprehensive systematic review), analyze findings, and draw evidence-based conclusions. 

Mode of Delivery 

The MPAS is delivered using both online and in-person modalities with most of the course work being delivered and completed online.  

There are in-person campus blocks dispersed throughout the two years of the program to enable and support essential hands-on skills training, simulations, high-stakes competency assessments, and professional identify formation. Each in-person campus block is one to three weeks in duration, held at the Scarborough Academic of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).  

The Year 1 clinical experiences and Year 2 clinical places are held in person at diverse settings across Ontario. 

The hybrid mode of delivery of the MPAS aligns with and supports the program’s social accountability mission by enabling students to live in the locations of their clinical placements, rather than requiring them to move to and live in Toronto full-time.