GA-PCOM Welcomes U.S. Army Major Harrison and the Training with Industry Program

(SUWANEE, GA – March 12, 2015) Training with Industry (TWI) is a U.S. Army wide program that provides training opportunities to competitively selected officers across career fields. As part of the program, Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine welcomes Major Randolph “Scott” Harrison, who is working to assist the Georgia Physician Assistant Program’s Site Director. The College is preparing for the upcoming accreditation visit by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) on June 30, 2015.

TWI is an Army wide program initiated in 1940 in an effort to improve communications between arms manufacturers and the U.S. Army. TWI partners include companies like Google, General Electric, Coca-Cola, and Amazon, as well as medically related organizations like the American Medical Association, American Physical Therapy Association, American Dietetic Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Group Health Cooperative and National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Medical officers have participated in the program for many years, and recently the U.S. Army Specialist Corps made the decision to offer this training to a Physician Assistant (PA) for the first time. In June of 2014, Major Harrison became the first Army PA to be selected for this role.

Originally from Waterloo, Iowa, Major Harrison attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology. He then received a commission as an Active Duty Officer in the Medical Service Corp in 1997. In 2004, he graduated from the Interservice Physician Assistant Program with a bachelor’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies and then earned a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies a year later. In addition to his work at TWI, he is assigned to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants in Johns Creek, Georgia.

Working over the next six months to assist Dr. Nancy McLaughlin – the Assistant Director and Georgia Campus Site Director – in the ARC-PA Accreditation preparation will allow Major Harrison to understand the accreditation process in greater detail and prepare him for his upcoming military assignment. He will be teaching at the Interservice Physician Assistant Program in San Antonio, Texas, following his service at GA-PCOM.

About GA-PCOM

Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) is a private, not-for-profit branch campus of the fully accredited Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a multi-program institution with a 116 year tradition of educational excellence. Located in Suwanee, GA-PCOM offers the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree, the doctor of pharmacy degree and a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. The campus includes the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, an osteopathic manipulative medicine clinic, which is open to the public by appointment. For more information, visit www.pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500.

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