LSU Health Shreveport PA students to receive scholarships through LDH H.E.R.O. Grant

Through the program, up to six LSU Health Shreveport Physician Assistant students will receive scholarships covering tuition and mandatory fees in exchange for a commitment to practice for two to three years at participating rural hospitals following graduation. The initiative will also establish new rural clinical preceptor sites, helping alleviate a growing shortage of primary care training placements for students across many healthcare disciplines.

The H.E.R.O. Fund provides two-year grants to health care education and training programs that increase student enrollment, expand training capacity, and prepare more Louisianans for careers in high-demand health professions. Since transferring to LDH in 2024, the H.E.R.O. Fund has supported dozens of partnerships between educational institutions and health care providers across Louisiana to address workforce shortages and improve access to care.

“Louisiana needs a strong health care workforce to support our communities and a growing economy,” said Governor Jeff Landry. “These investments create opportunities for Louisianans to pursue rewarding careers while addressing critical workforce needs across our state. By expanding our health care workforce, we are strengthening our economy, supporting our communities, and building a healthier Louisiana.”

Together, the grant awarded to LSU Health Shreveport and hospital partnerships involved represent a total investment of more than $343,000 in workforce development, including $171,921 in H.E.R.O. scholarship funding and nearly $171,800 in matching in-kind support from participating hospitals through clinical instruction, mentorship and student housing.

“This project addresses several challenges at once,” said Sharon Dunn, PT, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Health Professions & Sciences. “It creates new scholarship opportunities that reduce financial barriers for students, expands the number of primary care clinical training sites available to our PA Program and helps place highly trained providers in rural communities that need them most. Most importantly, it creates a sustainable model where graduates can eventually become preceptors themselves, helping train the next generation of Physician Assistants.”

The initiative was developed in response to increasing demand for clinical training placements as health professions programs continue to grow throughout Louisiana. Over the past several years, securing sufficient primary care preceptor sites has become increasingly challenging for healthcare education programs nationwide.

“This opportunity is truly life-changing for students,” said Mandy Porter, MPAS, PA-C, Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of the Physician Assistant Program. “These scholarships provide greater financial freedom while allowing graduates to serve the communities they care about most. For students who come from rural Louisiana and want to return home to practice, this program creates an incredible pathway to do exactly that.”

The LSU Health Shreveport Physician Assistant Program, within the School of Health Professions and Sciences, was Louisiana’s first accredited PA program. The 27-month Master of Physician Assistant Studies program prepares graduates to provide comprehensive primary care services under physician supervision and has consistently achieved first-time board examination pass rates between 95 and 100 percent over the past five years.

The award marks the second consecutive successful H.E.R.O. grant awarded to the LSU Health Shreveport School of Health Professions & Sciences. In 2025, SHPS received H.E.R.O. funding to establish Louisiana’s first hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy program in Lafayette, expanding access to physical therapy education in Southwest Louisiana while addressing workforce needs across the state.