Joe Newcomb PA-C, is the director of aviation medicine with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He was voted chair-elect for the Physician Assistant Professional Advisory Group (PAPAG) with the Public Health Service, a role he assumed in 2022.
The PAPAG provides advice and consultation to the U.S. Surgeon General through the Health Services Professional Advisory Committee (HSPAC) and chief health services officer on issues relating to professional practice and personnel activities of commissioned officers in the physician assistant professional discipline.
The PAPAG promotes cooperation and communication among health professionals. This year, the PAPAG will be researching and clarifying the issue of state licenses versus national certification and what dictates PAs’ scope of practice within the PHS.
Newcomb said this is related to their ability to help people during emergencies. They are looking at the barriers that stop them from helping people.
“We are concerned with making sure that PAs ability to provide medical care is based on education and experience,” he said.
“Our commissioned officers are doing amazing things at a very junior rank, flying from Lakeland, Florida, to Bethel Alaska. The unit places them in charge of figuring out the mission’s logistics, how they are going to refuel the aircraft, how they are going to assign crews and scientists, and their transportation. It’s a lot of responsibility.”
Joe Newcomb PA-C medically supports those who study hurricanes, snow melts, and perform coastal mapping.
“The most interesting part of my job is flying through hurricanes. When you come up through the eyewall, you see the blue skies above, and all around you is a wall of violent storm. NOAA has completely geared the WP3 aircraft to fly through these conditions,” he said.
Newcomb’s current responsibilities include ensuring that 300+ NOAA officers are healthy enough to fly these great distances. He is also in charge of their primary care – and most recently, given the pandemic, also evaluated a lot of their families’ issues. PAs are versatile like that.
NOAA is currently sponsoring him through the DMSc to further his education.
He said that everything he learned in the DMSc program helped him in his current job. For example, he was able to install an electronic health record program for NOAA.
He said that he used the methods he learned in his first semester of the DMSc program to develop a viral surveillance protocol. The protocol is now being used by NOAA pilots and aircrew.
“Unfortunately, there is no real social isolation you can do in an aircraft. The pilot and the navigator cannot wear PPE because of the instant need to put on oxygen if the cabin depressurizes, and also the need to be able to communicate clearly at all times. This is why we developed the surveillance program. We test every single person who comes into the building once a week; flyers are tested every five days,” he said.
Newcomb has an aviation background and has been in military service for 34 years. He completed PA school through the U.S. Army and was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service.
“Right after PA school, I was sent to the bush in Alaska for two and a half years. In the remote areas of Alaska, there are no road systems connecting villages, and the providers in the community health centers there all function very independently,” he said.
In the Alaskan bush, PAs and NPs function as the 24-hour urgent and emergency medicine providers, along with being the local family practice providers. He explained a great example is that in one day, he did a prenatal exam at 6 a.m., and did a post-mortem exam at 6 p.m. the same day. It is “cradle to grave” medicine, he said.
As far as his future is concerned, Newcomb envisioned a possible return to Alaska.
“I would like to go back to Alaska, work part-time as a PA, and teach health sciences in a community college setting. Again, having a doctorate will be necessary for that. There are a few other possibilities on the horizon, but a doctoral education, specifically the DMSc, fits perfectly into all of them,” he said.
