Dr. Dan Johnson never considered being the medical director for the physician assistant program at the University of Lynchburg.
That is, until the day former graduate studies dean Edward Polloway called to say he might have found the program's first medical director. Johnson invited Polloway to Lynchburg General Hospital, where he worked, to talk about the job candidate. Polloway told Johnson he was the best man for the job.
“I was expecting him to come and tell me about somebody they had decided they wanted to get, and he said, 'We think the right person is you.' I was really like, 'Whoa, I’m not ready for this,'” Johnson said.
With some reservations, Johnson agreed to come on as the interim director for the program, which UL launched in 2014 and which had its first cohort of students in 2015, until the university was able to find a “qualified medical director.”
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Johnson explained in an interview that after about two or three years, he really enjoyed serving as medical director.
Two years turned into four years, he said, and four years turned into eight years.
“I mean, we were going places; we were building a wonderful, great program,” Johnson said. “So I said, ‘Yes, sign me up, I'll serve as your official medical director.’”
Johnson took over in October 2012 and worked as director and served in that role until his official retirement at the end of December 2022.
Polloway said he sort of recalls this story.
“I don’t recall twisting his arm, however, maybe I verbally twisted his arm, I don’t know,” Polloway joked. “It seemed to me like it all just fell in place ... and of course we were thrilled.”
Current Dean and Chair of the School of PA Medicine Jeremy Welsh was the first full-time employee for the program, hired by Polloway and Johnson.
Welsh explained when he and Johnson first got together and started brainstorming, the current PA building on Monticello Avenue near main campus was a shoe distribution center or warehouse. They got the chance to design the space together and build out what they were looking for in an academic setting.
In the development of the program, Welsh said Johnson was pivotal in getting feedback from different community organizations and medical centers, which gave a sense of what organizations were looking for in a PA.
“Dr. Johnson was really part of this thing every day, all day in the early days and really brought that knowledge to us,” Welsh said.
Welsh said the program started with 25 students in one incoming class and had that for several years. After a few years, that number grew to 30, 35 and 40 currently. He said currently there’s 80 to 120 students total in the program.
The program currently receives 1,200 to 1,500 applicants per year for 40 available seats, an increase from 700 or so applicants at the start.
The doctoral medical science program started in 2017 and that program grew from 20 to 400 students per year, according to Welsh. The program and path created with the doctoral program was unique, something he and Johnson worked closely to create.
In all, about 300 students for the master’s program and about 2,000 students from the doctoral program have graduated under Johnson's tenure, according to Welsh.
“Dr. Johnson has not only had an impact on those 300 PA students that have come through the building, those 300 PA students will now see thousands upon thousands of people in their medical career and Dr. Johnson continues to have that influence as that number builds,” Welsh said.
Johnson said one of the greatest things he did as director was to establish a relationship with the local Free Clinic of Virginia.
Each semester, he would take first-year students to the free clinic to work and see patients with him during the fall semester. In the spring semester, he allowed them to see the patients with his oversight and supervision.
“It’s one of the highlights of the PA program, I think,” Johnson said.
Dr. David Truitte took over Jan. 1 as the new medical director for the program, a position he said he’s “thrilled” to step into.
He said when Johnson first presented him with the idea, he asked, “Dan, are you sure you want to ask me to do this?”
“For him to ask me for that position, I was like 'Wow, what a great opportunity for me,’” Truitte said.
Truitte said in his experience working with Johnson, he is very deliberate and methodical in his approach to things.
“The program, that is the program, is due to the work of a lot of people, and Dan is one of the major components to that in my opinion,” Truitte said.
Polloway said in an interview, "I don't think you could really measure the impact he had on getting that program going and how it developed."
Looking back at his journey, Johnson said he never expected to go into academics as a medical provider, adding it found him.
Johnson said looking back at the growth of the PA program since its start in 2012, “it certainly has been an unbelievably rewarding experience.”
The best part to him is seeing PA students grow, graduate and take jobs as “great, high-skilled PAs.”
“It’s great just to see them in their work environment,” Johnson said. “I think that's so rewarding for me to see those guys out here working hard … not only here in Lynchburg, but here in Virginia and throughout the United States.”
Johnson said retiring was something he thought about for a long time.
“I just felt like it was time and I felt like that, you know having a guy like Dave truly step in was what the program needed,” Johnson said.
When asked to reflect on his time working with Johnson, Welsh said, “It’s not a job for him; this is a lifestyle. It's a path that he picked and I think if we all can be a little bit more like Dr. Johnson, we're in a good place.”