Application Cycle for 2025-2026 AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship is Now Open

Find funding to advance your research. Apply before it’s too late!

May 9, 2025

By Mariya Marinova

Leading research is a vital way PAs can demonstrate their value as experts in medicine and advance the objectives of AAPA. To support PA-led research, AAPA offers financial assistance through fellowships and grants to PAs interested in research. Applications open this spring!

The AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship

The AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship is a collaborative PA education and workforce research capacity building program. The goals of the Fellowship are threefold:

• Develop a cadre of PAs skilled in PA education and workforce research,
• Encourage utilization of PAEA and AAPA data to generate research of interest to the PA profession and community of PA scholars, and
• Provide future research mentors for newer faculty to sustain the PA workforce and education research pipeline.

[Support AAPA’s original research on the PA profession – join or renew today]

The AAPA-PAEA Fellowship provides 20% of the recipient’s base salary (up to $30,000) to each fellow’s institution to secure protected time for research. Fellows are expected to use the release time to develop their research skills by completing a research project under the guidance of a mentor, engaging in educational activities, and broadening their knowledge of PA education and the PA profession.

“The allotted time has been critical to my ability to complete research (and thus nearly complete a dissertation),” said 2024-2025 Fellow Quinnette Jones, DrPH, MSW, MHS, PA-C. “The sessions offered through the fellowship have also provided wonderful networking opportunities in addition to content. I am truly grateful for the fellowship!”

[Apply for the AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 2, 2025]

For more information on eligibility, applicant evaluation criteria, and application requirements, please download the 2025-2026 AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship guidelines.

The AAPA Small Research Grant and Scholars Program

AAPA also offers the Small Research Grants program to support research for PAs who otherwise do not have access to institutional resources.

As AAPA and state chapters advocate for practice modernization, research focused on the safe, high-quality, cost-effective care that PAs provide to patients is crucial. In 2025, AAPA has allocated $75,000 to the Small Research Grant program to support this research for PAs who do not have access to resources such as time free from teaching or clinical practice, access to graduate student support, internal funding mechanisms, and/or grant writing resources. Applications for this program open on May 16 and run until July 27.

“This grant funding has allowed my department chair to recognize me as a researcher capable of generating supplemental income through grants, which adds legitimacy to my time dedicated to research instead of clinical work,” Small Research Grantee Cynthia Griffith, MPAS, PA-C, said. “With this grant, I have also been able to connect teams of researchers to collaborate and study PA outcomes. This outcomes data is much needed in my specialty (Dermatology).”

Mariya Marinova is AAPA’s Research Program Manager. You can reach her at [email protected].

You May Also Like
AAPA Fellowship and Grant Funding
The Top 3 Reasons You Should Take the 2025 Salary Survey
Type 1 Diabetes Diagnoses Are On the Rise: What Is the PA Role?