Kathleen Flach, M.Ed, MMS, PA-C
Program Director
Office Hours
Tuesday: 3 – 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 3 – 5 p.m.
Thursday: 3 – 5 p.m.
Friday: 3 – 5 p.m.
Ari Chowdhury, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor
Medical Director
Kelsey Cozby, MMS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor
Director of Didactic Education
Office Hours
Tuesday: 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wednesday: 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Ashley VanZant, MSPAS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor
Director of Clinical Education
Office Hours
Tuesday: 7:45 – 9 a.m., Noon – 1 p.m., 3 – 4 p.m.
Wednesday: 7:30 – 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., 3 – 4 p.m.
Thursday: 7:30 – 9 a.m., Noon – 1 p.m., 3 – 4 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 – 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Contact via email to schedule an appointment.
Jason Lewis, MMS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor
Principal Faculty
Office Hours
Monday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Tuesday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Mark Kaiser, MSPAS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor
Principal Faculty
Office Hours
Monday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Tuesday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Bethany Lemmon, MMS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor
Assistant Director of Clinical Education
Office Hours
Tuesday: 2 – 4 p.m.
Wednesday: 2 – 4 p.m.
Thursday: 2 – 4 p.m.
Friday: 2 – 4 p.m.
Laresa (Reecie) Dern, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology and Physician Assistant Studies
Office Hours
Monday
2 – 4 p.m.
Wednesday
9 a.m. – Noon
Friday
1 – 4 p.m.
Kendra England
Program Administrator
Michelle Dorland
Clinical Education Specialist
Our mission is to educate students to become physician assistants who are innovative leaders in the profession, practice evidence-based medicine, and are dedicated to facilitating healthy futures for the residents of southwest Missouri and beyond.
The Drury University Physician Assistant Program seeks to support each student’s unique style of learning within an accelerated, highly structured, and intense educational environment. We strive to be student centered and to provide opportunities for growth and collaboration with faculty. Our educational environment as reciprocal where all who participate bring experience and knowledge to the learning space. We endeavor to model and instill in our students leadership qualities and the values of professionalism required of a practicing physician assistant. We are committed to rigorous self-examination and continuous enhancement of the student experience.
To provide excellence in medical education through innovative educational strategies that produces competent graduates who are leaders that practice evidence-based and preventive medicine to improve access to health care in southwest Missouri and beyond.
The Drury University Physician Assistant Program will strive to instill these core values in students through our curriculum and training:
Drury University is fully committed to upholding and advancing the creation of a diverse and inclusive environment where every member of our community will treat each other with dignity and respect. We recognize that diverse experiences enrich our institution and all who pass through it. We honor, welcome and respect all identities and perspectives.
At Drury, we define diversity as the differences that characterize people and communities, including age, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, veteran status, ability, religion, political beliefs and other ideologies. Inclusion is how we engage these differences to create a welcoming community and expand opportunities for cultural knowledge. Educational and workplace equity refer to providing opportunities that enable everyone to receive what they need to be successful as they work and learn at Drury.
The Drury University Physician Assistant Program aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. We are committed to establishing an environment that invites, welcomes, and celebrates everyone’s diverse backgrounds and talents, and the contributions these attributes lend to our culture. The Drury University PA program is a safe and welcoming community for faculty, staff, preceptors, applicants, and students, and we seek to create a culture that values the robust exchange of ideas that enriches the learning environment and experience.
Because our desire is to foster a culture of belonging, we are committed to ensuring all faculty, staff, and students feel they are part of an environment that values their personhood and the many different aspects that make them unique. We will celebrate what each person brings to the learning environment that makes us all better and challenges us to be our best selves. To ensure we are actively pursuing an inclusive culture, we welcome constructive criticism that allows us to increase awareness of our natural biases, and forces us to assess our speech, actions, and activities, and commit to identifying and mitigating bias.
DUPAP is housed in Cox Hospital North, adjacent to the main Drury University campus, in a newly remodeled space with classrooms and a skills lab. The beautiful main Drury University campus has a cadaver lab and additional resources such as a library, fitness center, health center, dining facilities, and study spaces.
Address: 1423 North Jefferson Avenue, Springfield, MO, 65802
