Posted:  Fullerton, CA, February 27, 2013

		The Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO), has named key administrators and faculty to its new School of Physician Assistant Studies.  They are:  Medical Director Daniel May, M.D. and Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator Don Ragsdale, MPAS, PA-C.  The two clinicians and educators join Associate Professor, Assistant Dean and Founding Director of the School of Physician Assistant Studies Teresa Thetford, PA-C, RNP, MS, as the core group responsible for establishing the program. "The addition of Dr. May and Don Ragsdale to the new School of Physician Assistant Studies is a proud moment for SCCO," said Vice President of Interprofessional Affairs John H. Nishimoto, O.D., M.B.A.  "In August 2011, the College announced plans to start a two-year Master's level Physician Assistant program and we are well on our way to bringing that plan to fruition.  These three individuals along with Founding Director Teresa Thetford, bring incredible expertise and enthusiasm on which to build our program."
Key administrators and faculty of the School of Physician Assistant Studies at the Southern California College of Optometry include (l-r):  Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator Don Ragsdale, MPAS, PA-C; Medical Director Daniel May, M.D.; Assistant Dean and Founding Director Teresa Thetford, PA-C, RNP, MS; and SCCO Vice President of Interprofessional Affairs John Nishimoto, O.D., M.B.A.

The national PA accreditation standards require that all PA programs have a Medical Director who is a licensed physician.  In November 2012, the College named Daniel May, M.D., as the Medical Director for the School of Physician Assistant Studies.  Dr. May, who practices in nearby Yorba Linda, is well known at SCCO having taught the Clinical Medicine course at the College for 17 years.

Dr. May earned his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine, and completed his residency at the University of Southern California.  He's active in the community and participates in medical missions to Latin America.  Since 2011, he has served on SCCO's Board of Trustees.

Physician Assistant Don Ragsdale, MPAS, PA-C, is one of the two Principal Faculty recently named to SCCO's School of Physician Assistant Studies.  As an Assistant Professor and Clinic Coordinator he'll teach and take the lead in developing quality PA clinical education sites.  He joined SCCO on February 4.

Ragsdale received his Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska and has been a practicing PA in the United States Air Force, at Kaiser Permanente, and with El Proyecto del Barrio in Azusa, CA.  He brings a rich educational and clinical practice background that spans two decades to his role at SCCO.  Ragsdale also served as the PA Clinical Coordinator and Assistant Professor for Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee, and as an Adjunct Faculty for the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

SCCO has applied for accreditation pending approval from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on the Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).  SCCO anticipates matriculating its first class in August 2014, pending WASC approval and accreditation–provisional from ARC-PA.  Accreditation–Provisional is an accreditation status for a new PA program that has not yet enrolled students, but at the time of its initial accreditation review, has demonstrated its preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with the accreditation Standards.

About the Southern California College of Optometry
Established in 1904, SCCO is a private, non-profit, educational institution dedicated to educating today's minds to provide tomorrow's eye, vision and health care.  SCCO grants a four-year, professional degree, Doctor of Optometry (OD) and a Master of Science in Vision Science (MS).  The College announced, in August 2011, its plan to start a two-year Master's level Physician Assistant program, the first step in the development on an interprofessional health care campus.

SCCO has applied for accreditation pending approval from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on the Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).  SCCO anticipates matriculating its first class in August 2014, pending WASC approval and accreditation–provisional from ARC-PA.  Accreditation–Provisional is an accreditation status for a new PA program that has not yet enrolled students, but at the time of its initial accreditation review, has demonstrated its preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with the accreditation Standards.

The College's superior clinical education program provides patient care experiences in community optometric clinics; exposure to the delivery of optometric care in multi-disciplinary settings; and experiences in practices serving a wide variety of ethnic and socio-economic patient groups.  SCCO owns and operates two premier eye and vision care centers – the Eye Care Center located on its campus in Fullerton, CA, and the Optometric Center of Los Angeles located on Broadway at Martin Luther King Boulevard.