Linda Reed, EdD, PA, Appointed Chair; David Maness, MD, Named Medical Director
Linda Reed, EdD, PA, has been named chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at UTHSC. David Maness, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at UTHSC, is the new medical director for Physician Assistant Studies.
The Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Program at UTHSC, the only such program in the state associated with a public university, welcomed its first class of 26 students in January 2014. The mission of the program is to provide highly trained health care practitioners to work with physicians in treating illnesses, ordering lab tests, prescribing medications and making rounds at hospitals and nursing homes. The PA profession evolved in response to the national shortage of primary care physicians.
Dr. Reed joined UTHSC in July, coming from Baptist College of Health Sciences, where she was a professor and dean of the Division of Allied Health. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in the Physician Associate Program at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City, a Master of Education degree from the University of Oklahoma, and an EdD in Higher Education Administration from the University of North Texas.
“I felt very strongly there needs to be a PA program in West Tennessee, and that UTHSC is the best place to have one,” Dr. Reed said. “I made the move because I wanted to help the program.”
Prior to working at Baptist College of Health Sciences, Dr. Reed spent 10 years at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, where she was an assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, while also serving as the PA program’s associate director and academic coordinator. Before that, she was director and admissions coordinator for the Physician Assistant Program and chair of the Medical Science Department at Alderson-Broaddus College in West Virginia.
One of her first acts in directing the PA program at UTHSC will be successfully moving it from provisional accreditation as a new program to the regular continuing accreditation afforded established programs. In his role as medical director, Dr. Maness will be a key player in that effort. While continuing as Family Medicine chair, he will also be responsible for ensuring the PA educational program meets medical practice standards.
Dr. Maness served as a physician in the United States Army for 27 years, achieving the rank of colonel before retiring early to accept the Family Medicine position in the UTHSC College of Medicine. Dr. Maness attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. In 1980, he graduated from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa. He completed his family medicine residency at Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center and a Faculty Development Fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Maness obtained a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
He served in many academic, administrative, clinical and leadership roles during his military career. In his final military assignment, Dr. Maness served as the dean of the United States Army Medical Department Center and School in San Antonio, Texas.