Immediate Past President – Gerald A. Erickson, DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA


Immediate Past President
Gerald A. Erickson, DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA
Chattanooga, TN
[email protected]

“The Foundation’s mission and vision align closely with my personal beliefs and identity. As a healthcare provider having a deep seeded sense of benevolence and wanting to address community needs and improve health outcomes with compassion are integral parts of my personal character. Having the opportunity to assist the progress of those core beliefs by bringing together and enabling PAs with their expertise to do so through philanthropy and service is an honor and privilege.”

Gerald (Jerry) A. Erickson Jr., MMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA, serves as immediate past president of the PA Foundation Board of Trustees. A member of the Foundation’s Lifetime Legacy Circle, he has served on the organization’s Program Committee and Grants and Scholarships Committee. He most recently served as president for the Board of Trustees. He has served as chair of the AAPA Constituent Relations Work Group, Reference Committee and House of Delegates Advisory Committee on Social and Professional Issues.

He has served two terms as the president of the Fellowship of Christian Physician Assistants and has served on the Georgia Association Physician Assistant (GAPA) Board of Directors as secretary and member-at-large. He started his medical career as a medic in the US Army, and is a longtime member of the AAPA House of Delegates, the Veterans Caucus of AAPA, Physician Assistant Education Association, Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants and the Physician Assistants for Latino Health.

Jerry is currently working in urgent care and is an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the Lenoir-Rhyne University PA program in Hickory, N.C., where he was the founding director of didactic education. Prior to that, he was the associate clinical coordinator at the Mercer University PA program in Atlanta, and he has been involved with teaching at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and the U.S. Army.

His clinical interests include community health and pedagogical research. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Medical Science. He has published articles in the Journal of the American Academy of PAs and Clinical Advisor, as well as given CME and poster session presentations at GAPA conferences.

Jerry is a 2003 graduate of the Emory University PA program, where he was an academic medicine fellow. A National Health Service Corps scholar, he is the recipient of a 2003 Emory University Leadership Award and is an inductee of the Pi Alpha national honor society for physician assistants. He earned a U.S. Army Expert Field Medical Badge in 1992.

Deeply committed to community service and missionary work, he has done several medical mission trips in Mexico. He has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, Kare for Kids, and even helped build an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” house.

He has a wife, two kids, and two dogs. He is active with his church, and loves to tinker with small construction projects.