Medea Valdez, PA-C
Lead Consultant · Clinical Year & B Standards
25+ Years in PA Education
Medea has served as Director of Admissions, Director of Clinical Education, and Program Director — the last role for a decade. Her specialty for the team is the clinical year and the B standards, with the depth across the full set of standards that comes from running a program end to end. She is featured in the Massey blog series on PA Week celebrations.
Dr. Stephanie Bowlin, EdD, PA, DFAAPA
Senior Consultant · A Standards & Institutional Accreditation
35+ Years in PA Education
Stephanie is Interim Senior Vice President for the Division of University Compliance, Ethics, and Culture at Western University of Health Sciences, where she has served in senior administrative roles since 1992 — including twenty years as Dean of the College of Allied Health Professions. She is a former Chair of the ARC-PA Commission (1998–2000) and served as an ARC-PA site visitor for nine years. A WSCUC peer evaluator and site visitor since 2011, she brings institutional and regional accreditation depth that few PA consultants offer. Her doctorate from the University of La Verne is in Educational Leadership; the A standards are her strongest area.
Dr. Vivian Moynihan, MD, MPH
Medical Director · B Standards & Document Review
15+ Years in PA Education · 40+ Years MD
Vivian is the team's physician — a board-certified Ob/Gyn since 1987 with a Master of Public Health from St. Louis University. She served as Chair of the ARC-PA Commission from 2016 to 2018 (Vice Chair 2014–2015, Secretary 2012–2013), giving her direct line-of-sight into how the standards are interpreted from the inside. She has been a PA program faculty member at the University of Toledo, Eastern Michigan University, Mercy College, and Westfield State, with teaching expertise in pathophysiology and clinical expertise in women's health. For programs, she is the right consultant for document review, syllabi review under the B standards, and any engagement that benefits from a former Commission Chair on the team.
Cathy Ruff, MS, PA-C
Senior Consultant · Curriculum & Competency-Based Assessment
25+ Years in PA Education
Cathy is Program Director and Chair of the Physician Assistant Studies program at Rocky Vista University, where she designed a complete competency-by-design (CBME) PA curriculum from the ground up — twenty-eight courses, a full set of entrustable professional activities, and integrated assessments across pre-clinical and clinical phases. She is a 2023 PAEA Master Faculty Award recipient. Her three-part blog series on CBME in PA education — published on the Massey blog through late 2024 and early 2025 — has become a reference for programs moving toward competency-based assessment. She is completing her DMSc at the University of Lynchburg.
Dr. Tina Butler, DMSc, MPAS, PA-C
Consultant · Data Analysis & Mock Site Visits
15+ Years in PA Education
Tina is Program Director at Hardin-Simmons University and Chair of the PAEA Internal Medicine / Family Medicine End of Rotation Exam Review Committee. She holds a DMSc from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and has served as past President of the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants. Her strengths are the ones programs need most often and recognize least — data analysis, detail orientation, organized assessment workflows. For MACS, she leads mock site visits and document reviews under the ARC-PA Sixth Edition standards.
Dr. Jennifer Eames, MPAS, DHSc, PA-C, DFAAPA
Senior Consultant · Accreditation Strategy & Policy
20+ Years in PA Education
Jennifer was the Founding Program Director of the Hardin-Simmons PA Program (2015–2023) — the first new PA program in Texas in more than seventeen years — and led it to continued accreditation, ARC-PA's highest status. She is a past President of the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants, served on the PAEA Board of Directors as a Director at Large, chaired the IAPAE Faculty and Membership Committee, and is a delegate to the AAPA House of Delegates. She is the 2026 VA PA of the Year. Her strengths are accreditation strategy, public speaking, and translating complex standards into actionable next steps — which is also how she teaches at the University of Lynchburg's DMSc program.
Dr. Antoinette Polito, EdD, MHS, PA-C
Consultant · Curriculum Design & Didactic Year
15+ Years in PA Education
Antoinette is Associate Professor at Elon University and previously served as Director of Didactic Education at Valparaiso University — where she authored the didactic-year curriculum, schedule, syllabi, and self-study materials for a program that earned ARC-PA provisional accreditation in March 2018. Her EdD from Northeastern University is in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leading, with a dissertation on how US PA programs teach about obesity. She trained as an Academic Coordinator at Duke and has co-authored seven versions of the PAEA PACKRAT exam. For MACS, she leads engagements where curriculum design and didactic-year assessment are the work.
Dr. Jen Hixon, DHSc, PA-C
Senior Consultant · New Program Development & Accreditation Compliance
35+ Years as PA · 25+ as Program Director
Jen has founded three PA programs — Westfield State University (the first public PA program in New England), Bay Path University, and the School of Physician Assistant Studies at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She has chaired thirteen ARC-PA site visits and served on twenty-four, making her one of the most experienced former site visitors in the field. She is a former member of the United States Olympic Field Hockey Team medical staff (1988 Seoul Games) and holds a DHSc from Nova Southeastern University. For MACS, she leads new program development engagements and provides accreditation compliance review for established programs.
Dr. Johnna Yealy, PhD, PA-C
Consultant · New Program Development & Program Startup
20+ Years in PA Education
Johnna is Assistant Dean, Program Director, and Professor in the PA Program at Lincoln Memorial University's Chattanooga campus — her fourth PA program directorship after the University of Tampa, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Bethel University. Her published research includes one of the few peer-reviewed analyses of the development cost of inaugurating a PA program (Journal of Community Medicine and Health Education, 2016). She is a Major in the US Army Reserves and has been mobilized to Kuwait (2020) and Winn Army Community Hospital (2021). Her PhD from California Trident University International focuses on Global Health Education and Research.
