Physician Assistant Studies department chair receives Presidential Award

By Kate Hunger

Thirty years ago, Paul B. Allen, Sr., DSc, MPAS, PA-C, FAAPA, FSAPA, associate professor, chair and program director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at UT Health San Antonio, would not have guessed his future included leading an effort to increase the number of health care providers in the Laredo area.

In fact, Dr. Allen wasn’t expecting to work in health care at all. When he joined the U.S. Army, he was selected for training as a Special Forces medical sergeant, not as a Special Forces weapons sergeant, as he had hoped.

“Once I understood that this was the thing I was destined to do, it made me look at it with the appropriate amount of respect and caused me to study harder because of that responsibility,” he said. “I never wanted there to be a bad outcome because I didn’t study enough.”

With the encouragement of mentors, Dr. Allen progressed in both his military career and advanced education, becoming a PA, deploying multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a doctoral degree, holding numerous leadership roles and eventually leading postgraduate education for the U.S. Army Physician Assistant branch. Dr. Allen retired as a major from the U.S. Army Medical Specialist Corps after 27 years of military service.

Dr. Allen is the recipient of the 2022 Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Service to the Institution.

“He shines at UT Health San Antonio, where he chairs the physician assistant program, and in Laredo, where he developed a similar program,” said David C. Shelledy, PhD, RRT, RPFT, FAARC, FASAHP, dean of the School of Health Professions.

Dr. Allen’s nomination for the Presidential award specifically referenced his leadership of the interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff that created the PA studies campus location in Laredo. The program successfully matriculated the first cohort of new PA students to The UT Education and Research Center at Laredo in 2021.   

“It was a huge team effort,” Dr. Allen said. “It was a department, university and system effort to provide this for Laredo because we recognized the need for health care providers in the Laredo and Webb County area.”

Read more about the 2022 Presidential Award winners here.