African Heritage PA Caucus
Stay Connected

First African-American to Chair NCCPA Board

Posted about 5 years ago by Camille Dyer

Courtesy of NCCPA
Robin Hunter-Buskey Becomes First African-American to Chair NCCPA Board
 
 

Distinguished physician assistant Robin Hunter-Buskey, DHSc, PA-C, is now Board Chair of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Board of Directors. She is the first African-American elected to that position in the organization’s 43-year history. As a Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), she is also the first USPHS member to serve in the position.

 

Hunter-Buskey joined the Board of Directors at NCCPA in 2013 as a PA Director-at-Large. In her role, she chaired the Communications Advisory Workgroup, and has served on the Financial Integrity and Compensation Committees.

 

Hunter-Buskey is the Southeast Region Advanced Practice Provider and PA representative to the Mid-Level Advanced Practice Provider Advisory Board for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP), where she has worked since 2003. During her service with the FBOP and USPHS, she has responded to international and domestic emergencies in leadership roles.

 

Professionally, Hunter-Buskey has served on several health professional boards and committees. In 2005, she was the first and only PA elected to the Federation of State Medical Boards. She has also served as President of the New York State Society of PAs, President of the PA Foundation, and as a member of the North Carolina Medical Board.

 

“What Robin has achieved and contributed to the PA profession throughout her impressive career is groundbreaking,” said Dawn Morton-Rias, Ed.D., PA-C, NCCPA president and CEO. “Her deep commitment to the profession and years of leadership experience will help us navigate a challenging health care environment and transition into a new frontier of certification methods.”

 

During the span of her career, Hunter-Buskey has been a champion for helping the underserved. She helped to implement many programs to improve the health care of inmates, including the care of inmates with diabetes, improved transportation of inmates to reduce costs of specialty consultant services and the development of other preventive health care initiatives. In 2012, she was selected to represent PAs working in the FBOP correctional facilities throughout the United States.

 

“I am proud to stand for a profession that needs greater diversity so that more PAs represent their patient populations,” said Hunter-Buskey. “I am also proud to lead this board that is making pivotal decisions to modernize our certification programs and offer alternatives in assessment.” 

 

Hunter-Buskey holds two Bachelor of Science degrees, one in Physical Therapy and another in Physician Assistant studies from Stony Brook University, a Masters of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska and a Doctor of Health Science from A.T. Still University.